My dear people, as we enter the season of the great fast let us remember why we honour this great fast! Our faith whilst being founded on the sure foundation of our Lord and Saviour’s resurrection is the source of our joy – the God-man came down to Earth and showed His love for us! This is the source of our gladness- for truly without the love of the All-Holy Trinity we would be nothing. Remember, the fact that the All-Holy Trinity allows us the ability to have a relationship with Him is a sign of His love! We are not a people that are destined not to know the love of the All-Holy Trinity - for ‘God so loved the world that He gave us His love personified’- in the second person of the All-Holy Trinity (John 3:16). Then why is the great fast of Holy Lent so important? Well firstly, often in our lives we realise our imperfections, we often realise that we can and do fail; in that, we do not do what is right– this is unavoidable as we are human! Indeed, even the greatest Saints sinned and oftentimes were tempted in the worst possible ways! Then what made them so different from the average person? Put simply they knew that they fell many times a day – yet, they knew that the All-Holy Trinity was loving and would forgive their wrongs and importantly they were not afraid to approach the All-Holy Trinity in prayer and ask His forgiveness! The All-Holy Trinity always accepts the prayer of a sincere heart as shown by the many times our Lord and Saviour accepted the cries of the poor, sick and sinful!
This our fast is then a time for us to refocus our lives and put the All-Holy Trinity back as our compass! Remember, we the faithful are on a journey towards theosis – the fulfilment of our baptismal promise – this promise being full perfect communion with the All-Holy Trinity forever! This is why we fast because through the trial of fasting we come to know our flaws, but we also willingly are connected to Christ in His Death, Burial and Resurrection! By imitating Christ, we through our fast are brought closer into communion with Him who is all-perfect! This is why our Lord and Saviour commanded us to take up our Cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34)! Part of taking our Cross is to deny ourselves - remember our Lord and Saviour Himself went into the desert and fasted (Luke 4: 1-13; Mathew 4:-11) so to should we follow His example – as it is in the desert of fasting we come to a deeper understanding of His will for us.
Finally, let us make this period of the Great Fast a time where we offer up prayers for all as well as doing what we can to help others- for to help and pray for others is one of the greatest acts a Christian can do!
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