A slave to sinfulness

One of the most prominent themes of the Lenten season that we hear often in its hymns is the idea of our slavery to sin and the need for us to make an effort to overcome this slavery. Yesterday at the sermon during Divine Liturgy I spoke a bit about Moses and what he stood for. Most of us remember that he brought us the 10 commandments but sometimes we forget that he led Israel from the bonds of slavery to the promised land. We forget all of the things he accomplished and sacrificed so that his people could be free.

For us, today, Jesus Christ is our own Moses. It is the sacrifice of the Cross, the event for which we are preparing ourselves, that opens to us the promised land, the kingdom of heaven.

The Israelites understood their slavery. They felt it every day as the Egyptians lorded it over them. Today, we don't necessarily see or understand that we are slaves. We are unable, or even unwilling, to see the grip that sinfulness and the passions have on our lives. We are oblivious to the sinful way of life that has become the norm for us.

Our goal in this Lenten season is to be able to see and understand that we are sinful. We fast and we pray so that we can learn discernment, the ability to see how we truly live, to see ourselves how we truly are.  As human beings we have an infinite capacity to rationalize away all of our thoughts, words and deeds, even the things that we don't do, but we should. We need to pray and to fast so that we can stop ignoring our own sinfulness and see it for what it is and begin making the effort to better our lives. The most dangerous thing we can do in our spiritual life is to decide that we are doing just fine, to stop making an effort to get closer to God. Then we are truly lost. Then we abandon all hope.

I ended my sermon yesterday with 5 points that I said were a road map for a successful Lenten season. I think they also make a fine road map for a successful spiritual life so I would like to share them again here:

1. Live simply.

2. Live generously.

3. Care deeply

4. Speak kindly

5. Leave the rest to God.

God bless you.