It's been a year since I last wrote. As I read the Church Fathers and the Scriptures in a clearer light I feel like I don't have anything to say, except to say: read them for yourselves and be changed. But, indulge me a few words. Since that time, the liturgical year of the Church has come full circle. It is a wonderful cycle. It is a wonderful rhythm. Great and Holy Lent is set to begin in another week. We've come through this last three weeks of preparation for it. Each year at this time I arrive with a greater sense of what it all means, and with a greater sense of anticipation as to what will be accomplished between now and that Paschal Sunday when Christ is Risen.
For some of us, an annual cycle seems like a long time to keep in perspective. In it's perfection, Holy Orthodoxy has taken care of this. There are weekly cycles, and daily cycles of life that are designed to keep us ever mindful of who we are, who we should be, and Who Is. They all work together to provide the fertile soil that allows us to grow ever more in the image and likeness of God.
Great and Holy Lent is a time of special polishing of that icon of God within us all. To the degree that we yield to the buffing of our souls we become ever more prepared to arrive to our eternal destination.
St. Isaac the Syrian describes this process another way:
"A swimmer dives naked into the sea until he finds a pearl, and a wise monk, stripped of everything, journeys though life until he finds in himself the Pearl, Jesus Christ; and when he finds Him, he does not seek to acquire anything else besides HIm.
May we all, in this special time of the year, become stripped of everything that hinders our finding of this Pearl of great price.
