We begin this holy season of the year in anticipation of the great spiritual blessings that we will receive through a deeper commitment to God and through our repentance and humility as we live each day in His divine presence. Great and Holy Lent is a very treasured period, filled with moments in which we can focus our hearts and minds on the grace of God.
Through daily prayer, fasting, worship, and offering for the needs of others, and by the grace of God our lives will continue to be transformed by Him and our souls will be drawn closer to our Lord Jesus Christ.
On this first day of Great and Holy Lent, which our Holy Orthodox Church designates as "Clean Monday," we are called to intensify the manner by which we contemplate our lives.
Once again we express our gratitude to God for bringing us to the beginning of Great and Holy Lent. We recognize this as an extension of our time on this Earth to experience another Lenten season, another period to come closer to Him and to His infinite and saving love. We begin the period of Great and Holy Lent on this day known as Clean Monday, an appropriate term that implies purity of mind, heart, and soul.
This purity is paramount to a productive start to our Lenten journey, which we begin with vigilant prayer, fasting, and worship so that we may properly orient ourselves as we enter the Lenten season. Throughout this forty day period, we review with heightened scrutiny our shortcomings, our inadequacies, our inabilities to live up to our full potential as Christians, and the myriad of ways in which we may have fallen short of expressing the fullness of our love to God and neighbor.
Once again the most inspiring season of Great and Holy Lent is upon us, a time in the life of our Church in which we anticipate remarkable opportunities to grow spiritually in Christ. Before all other matters, we are thankful to God for the gracious extension of time that He has given to each of us to live on this, His Earth, that He created out of His love for us.
What is Lent? When did it start and when will it end this year? Why does it run for 40 days? What do people give up for the season?
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Great Lent is essentially two things: Repentance through prayer and Bodily Discipline through fasting. John Chrysostom has written, "Repentance is the medicine which destroys sin; it is a heavenly gift, a force of grace that transforms all.
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