Lent...then what?

Your post made me think of something. So before Lent there is a week were we are not allowed to fast! But why is this? Why would the church tell us this? That fast free week is right around (I believe) the Publican and the Pharisee. From what I have heard/read, it is there to remind us (before our upcoming spiritual trek through Lent) that we should watch ourselves from becoming spiritual Pharisees! There is also Bright week right after Pascha, and really the Feast right after the Pascha service, were we are called to rejoice in God\'s blessings to us! This of course doesn\'t mean that we should lose where we have gained from our Lenten expirence or become little pigs, or lazy in our readings or prayer. But it does mean that we should be obedient even in the \\"feastings and rejoicings\\" of the church because they also are there for good reason....to keep us in check from becoming spiritually prideful, despondant and so on. (And note: that any extra spiritual work should be approved by your priest, to make sure that none of us fall into blinded spiritual pride.) Everything in the church is done for our benefit, thank God for His Blessings! God Bless!

I think that the things we do during lent, like you said, to get us closer to God shouln\'t be sumthing we do once a year for lent. Prayers, readings, and meditations should be a daily thing that we do. That way instead of \\"stocking up\\" we could just do it all year. On the other hand, the parts of lent such as withdrawing from meat and dairy, I think, are just to support us and give us a little boost to help with prayers and meditations.

Lent and then the laundry. Spirituality is something we should internalize and practice in our everyday life. True spirituality should be something that transforms us. If we are truly being transformed then as the Lord said you can\'t hide your lamp under a bushel.

I look at it like this.Lent is part of the unseen warefare we conduct in our lives.It is ongoing and constant.It is not just one 40 day period then stop but continuing to fight the struggle partiularly when we are getting ready to celebrate ourLords Ressurection. The book Unseen Warefare is excellent reading .

Michael: are you saying that you pointed out that sermon without trying it out? Karate: being a Coptic Orthodox we don\'t have the same structure for Lent as maybe OCA ((what you wrote sounds like OCA\'s structure). We don\'t have a week before Lent when we don\'t fast at all. Nevertheless we agree with being careful about spiritual Phariseeism. You are right too about feasting when the church is feasting. God gave the Jews feasting days in the Old Testament and He said (or even commanded them) to feast and rejoice those days. However, one can easily lose the spiritual state gained in Lent if not careful. It\'s often a complaint that we feel spiritually stronger during Lent than after. So how do we keep the balance? Buffoo: true! So is being baptised and being a new creation. Yet we still sin, repent and confess. It\'s an ongoing thing. Are you saying that if what we receive during Lent is not kept after, then that means it wasn\'t true spirituality or we weren\'t really transformed?

I think it\'s a little dangerous to do a consistent fast - ie 365 day Lent. my priest back in my hometown said when he was young, and new to the faith, he was in Greece. While there, he met some young people... and they went to confession every week... he asked \\"why do you confess every week...? you didn\'t do anything wrong..\\" they replied \\"well... it\'s like taking a shower... if you take a shower once a week, you feel clean once a week... if you take a shower every day, you feel clean every day. the same can be applied to fasting, I think. The more often we fast, the more insight we can gain from it. BUT (big \\"but\\") - is it good to be in the shower constantly? Speaking literally, of a shower, obviously not... but speaking of confession - are you ONLY pure when you\'re confessing to the priest? obviously not. Are we ONLY holy when we fast? obviously not. I think it\'s really important to learn about when the Church fasts - but also, as mentioned above, when the Church FEASTS... it is our fasting that keeps our feasting in perspective of what it is - something joyous! It is hard to rejoice when we torture ourselves on a diet of wheatgrass and lentils. The prodigal son\'s father killed the fatted calf - not the fatted watermelon. and I think it\'s important to make dialogue with your priest or spiritual father why it\'s important to feast, too. (in addition to all the, many, mentioned advice of seeking the right fasting regiment) if I have misrepresented the faith in anyway, forgive me... I\'m not a theologian... please correct me if I\'m wrong.

This is only my second Lenten fast. Hopefully after lent I will be stronger in my faith, closer to God relationally and less judgmental of my brothers/sisters. I believe each of our pre/post Lenten experiences our individual and our reflective of where we are in our walk with God. We are each at different levels of understanding and experience and should be careful not to compare ourselves one to the other (unless for inspiration sake). Like the vegetation world becoming dormant during the winter months, nourishing and growing it\'s root system, in preparation to the coming growing season, I see the Lenten season doing just that in us...ever growing closer to God, yet taking on the ability and means, to do so. humbly in Christ, Jenn Elizabeth

After so many weeks of extra services, fasting etc, and Holy Week, then cold turkey withdrawal!

May be I am looking far ahead when I should be focusing on the here and now.

\\"Pray without ceasing\\" -- Jesus

You are of course right about trying to keep what we gain from Lent. But of course we have to be careful. I am in the Bulgarian church. I don\'t know much about the Coptic church, or even how the OCA church does things...but I\'m sure that the Bulgarians do have differences with both. I think basically what I was trying to say is, keep talking with your priest. Many people have fallen because they have taken on too much, without the guide of spiritual father to guide them. Some people with the guide of a spiritual father can continue on certain spiritual feats outside of Lent, others are advised not to do so. There are good reasons for this, of course. Sometimes different people are told to fast differently or do different prayers...each helpful to the each person. But all are advised by a spiritual father. I even remember reading about Elder Cleopa who told a very exited young monk, \\"Do not do 3,000 prostrations! Do 100 for now, and say morning and evening prayers, and the prayers to the mother of God. Learn to love your brother. And do not do anymore!\\" He knew what the young monk really needed to begin, and stay on the right path. I think to keep the spiritual balance the spritual father is the way to go. Because most times (in every aspect of life) we can be lazy or go overboard. God bless!

In one of the Holy Week services in the Western Rite Vicarate of the AOA, there is what appears condemnations: Jesus is speaking to a Christian recounting what has been done spiritually for him. Then the question is put to the Christian as to why in light of what has been provided, why a victorious life is not being led. The most accusatory and condemning statement is then made: \\"What have I done wrong, testify against me.\\" According to what one\'s station is in life, aged, infirm, young, etc., Orthodoxy grants economy in fasting, lest the practitioner is overwhelmed,. And thus the enemy of souls bolsters his accusations and attacks. In other words; under wise council, we do what we\'re able to accomplish faithfully. Put in other words it reads thusly: We do what God speaks to us about; be it television, food, reading, internet, etc., etc., etc... The spiritual ideal is that there be no let down, drop off, or reneging of any part of our ascetic struggles. But God knows our hearts, for it is He who designed, made, and redeemed each of us. Quite often then in practice; there is always some point where we\'re specifically convicted, to continue fighting the good fight of faith. The asceticism need not be some grand endeavor, but like the majority of our life, one small step at a time. We then are fortified in faith by what God has himself done in us, so that on the great day of Pascha, having confessed our sins, we may confidently receive the Lord of All. The short version of all that is this: After Great Lent, we keep on shedding the dis-obedience/sin, of the world, flesh, and the devil!!!

This is my third Lent. I was thinking that I would be sensing some routine or repetitive \\"going through the motions\\" by now, but I\'m not getting any of those vibes at all. If anything, Lent is renewal - and as such, it will always have a bit of \\"spring cleaning\\" feel to it. Lent is an annual shaking of my life\'s snowglobe - it puts things in motion that need to be in motion - it allows a renewed perspective on things that I have always known to be there, but over time had gotten buried by sediment.