First Tuesday in Great Lent

Kathisma1 (Psalms1-8)

“What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels; with glory and honour hast Thou crowned him, and Thou hast set him over the works of Thy hands.” (Psalm 8 )

In his book, Eucharist: The Sacrament of the Kingdom, theologian Alexander Schmemann reflects on the mystery of Chrismation and writes that it is the oil of coronation. Man was created to be the ruler and king of all God’s Creation. In the Fall, this divinely given vocation was twisted and perverted. In sin, the passions arose in the heart of man and mankind became a slave to the Creation instead of its king.

When we desire to use God’s Creation for ourselves and crave to have our passions and appetites satisfied by created things, then we become the slaves of Creation. An old bit of folk wisdom certainly applies: “Make sure that the things you own don’t own you instead.” But that is exactly what has happened to us – all of us. How can you be a master over food if you are a slave to your appetites? God did not make you a slave; He gave you dominion over all the earth. When you are chrismated, you are anointed to be a king. You are crowned again and restored in a mysterious way to that glory for which you were intended from the beginning.

And now here we are: fasting. If we are masters over the animals, then why can’t we kill and eat whatever we want? Is it as a holy king and caretaker of Creation that you would kill and eat, or as a slave to your appetites?

And now here we are: giving alms. If we are truly intended to be kings over all the earth, and if we are sons of God and heirs and all that is His is ours, then why must we give away the riches He has given us? It is precisely because we are kings and because all things are ours that we feel no need to cling to them.

Great Lent is a time to reclaim your rightful place as a ruler over all Creation. It is a time to realize the mystery that you are made an “anointed one” in your chrismation. It is a time to cast off the slavery that belongs to the age that is passing away and live in the kingship and freedom of the sons and heirs of God in Christ. It is a time to war against the passions and appetites that would make you a slave where you are rightly a king.

Clean Monday

Kathisma 1 (Psalms 1-8)

“Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the pestilent. But his will is rather in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1)

The Psalter opens with an invitation. The Law of the Lord is one path, and the way of sinners is another. One path is wisdom and leads to everlasting Life; the other is folly and leads to eternal death. One path brings solace and comfort in trials; the other brings the pain and misery of sin’s consequences. In judgment (or on Judgment Day), the one who has walked the path of the Law of the Lord shall stand, while the one who has walked the path of the ungodly shall perish.

You are invited during this Great Lent to meditate on the Law of the Lord, and more than that – to delight in it! The Psalter begins with this invitation because the Psalter is itself a divinely given expression of the Law of the Lord. This is the hymnal of the Church. This is the Liturgy of the Church. We say them, chant them, pray them, and meditate upon them.

Why? Why do we meditate on this Law? Is it because we desire to be blessed (and the Psalm does promise such blessing)? No. We delight in the Law of the Lord because we desire the Lord Himself. In meditating upon His Law we learn to know Him better, just as we learn to know a friend or spouse better as our relationship with him or her unfolds in time. In the Psalter we can meditate upon the will, the desires, the very Personality of our Lord Himself! Blessed is the person who so desires to know the Lord! Who is this Lord who turns everything on its head? The Theotokos, filled with the Holy Spirit, sang of Him that He fills the hungry with good things, and sends those who are satisfied away empty. Do not be satisfied! This is the invitation of Great Lent! Do not be satisfied! Search for God. Seek His face as a lover searches for his beloved, not as a drudgery, but because he delights in her and desires her. Where will you search? The Psalter’s invitation is a neon sign that says: “Here! Look here! Meditate on this Law and you will learn to know the Lord and His Wisdom!”

Today is only the first day of Great Lent. Don’t look at the days ahead as a drudgery or a chore. Instead, hear the words of the invitation and be filled with delight in the Law of the Lord. When the season seems long or you lose your focus, pick up your Psalter and read Psalm 1 again.