In this
week the Holy Church, as in the past weeks, inspires us with the necessity to
offer "to Christ our God"; "gifts that are pleasing",
"a pure fast and abstinence from evil", abstention from "anger,
wrath and every sin", "tears and prayer, to works of compassion, and
to a contrite way of life, to upright thoughts and a pure way of life".
In
particular the Holy Church, calling us to avoid foods, as "the begetter of
passions ", and to love fasting as "the mother of virtues ", in
detail it opens, "if it is good, if it is great, if it is grace given by
God", it is a fast.
"Let
us love the fast", sings the Holy Church, "it makes the stubborn
passions of the soul to wither, and gives us strength to do the works of God;
it makes our mind ascend to heaven, and gains for us the forgiveness of our
sins". "By fasting Elisha gave back to the Shunnamite her child
alive", "Daniel in the den tamed the wild beasts with the muzzle of
abstinence: let us also subdue the passions by fasting", "for this
strengthens the body, and illuminates the mind and heart".
Together
with this during all the days of this week the Holy Church prays to the Lord
that He grant us to see His Cross. "With our flesh cleansed by
abstinence," cries the Holy Church, "and our souls enlightened by
prayer, O Lord, grant us to look upon Thy holy and honorable Cross"
"and to reverence it uncondemned with fear and love", "to kiss
it with undefiled lips", "in psalms and songs let us celebrate the
light", "in our illumination". In such a way it follows that the
third week is essentially a sort of Forefeast to the Cross of the Lord.
By Sergei V. Bulgakov
Source: www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/03/third-week-of-great-lent.html
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