“Clean Monday” is an intriguing label isn’t it?
I thought so when it came across my internet feeds. I like the idea of starting the week, clean and right before God and people. That’s a useful thought anytime but I was ignorant that today is Clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent, as Eastern Catholics and Eastern Orthodox refer to the Lenten season. For those of you who have been observing Lent in various ways in the Western church, you are a little over halfway through your Lenten observation this year–following is some encouragement to get you through it.
For those of us in the middle of Lent, it is a good time to recommit to a focus on our Lenten devotions, a time when I pray we’ve all been looking more closely at how we might become more all that Jesus wants us to be. I have daily, less-than-a minute Lenten devotions on YouTube that I encourage you to check out (go to the “Shorts” section) and subscribe to, but for Clean Monday, I wanted to share more.
To do that I’m going to read some comments from Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis, from his blog https://myocn.net/author/fr-stavros-akrotirianakis/ along with my comments on it [in brackets]:
The purpose of Great Lent [which for the Western church is what we simply refer to as “Lent”] is to prepare the faithful to not only commemorate, but to enter into the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. The totality of the Byzantine Rite life centers around the Resurrection. Great Lent is intended to be a “workshop” where the character of the believer is spiritually uplifted and strengthened; where their life is rededicated to the principles and ideals of the Gospel; where fasting and prayer culminate in deep conviction of life; where apathy and disinterest turn into vigorous activities of faith and good works. [For all of us this idea of a workshop is helpful, not in the sense of “works” as something we do to achieve our salvation or to gain favor with God but a workshop in that it provides a tangible way to train our wayward selves to become more like Jesus—Fr. A goes on….]
Lent is not for the sake of Lent itself, as fasting is not for the sake of fasting. Rather, these are means by which and for which the individual believer prepares himself to reach for, accept and attain the calling of their Savior. . . . . . These rules exist not as a Pharisaic law, “burdens grievous to be borne” Luke 11:46, but as an ideal to be striven for; not as an end in themselves, but as a means to the purification of heart, the enlightening of mind, the liberation of soul and body from sin, and the spiritual perfection crowned in the virtue of love towards God and man.
[He repeats the idea] Great Lent is intended to be a “workshop” where the character of the believer is spiritually uplifted and strengthened; where their life is rededicated to the principles and ideals of the Gospel; where fasting and prayer culminate in deep conviction of life; where apathy and disinterest turn into vigorous activities of faith and good works.
Lent is not for the sake of Lent itself, as fasting is not for the sake of fasting. Rather, these are means by which and for which the individual believer prepares himself to reach for, accept and attain the calling of their Savior.
It’s easy to make Lent about us, about how we are giving up various things. Instead, we need to remember that saying no to a tangible item or action isn’t in itself, a virtue, but saying no to ourselves and what we want is a reminder that God is God and the purpose of our lives is to please Him and not ourselves.
It is also a time when along with giving up we spend more time in prayer and in the Bible and in intentional obedience where we allow God to surprise us with the joy and peace that comes when we, with sometimes faltering steps truly desire to be all He created us to be.
Think about the progression of faith in the following verses:
Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 1 John 2:6, ESV
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:20, ESV
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18, ESV
Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Ps 16:21
Continue your journey through Lent on this Clean Monday as you look forward to Easter. Start again if you need to, recommit more fully to growing in your obedience and love for God this Lenten Season.
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