This Sunday has two names, Meatfare Sunday and the Sunday of the Last Judgment. On the surface, it might not seem that the two are related, but when we look at them, we can see a definite connection.
First, the Last Judgment. The Gospel is pretty straight forward. And it perfectly complements our Lord’s earlier mention of the Judgment, from the 7th chapter of this same Gospel. ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,* but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day,o ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name? Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’”
There are many Christians who sincerely believe that we are saved by faith alone, that basically we can do whatever we want, once we’re saved. But these two passages tell a very different story, don’t they? In the passage from the 7th chapter, He tells us that it’s not just lip service to God, but doing the Father’s will. Yes, we need faith, but it must be a faith that leads to works, to doing the Father’s will.
In today’s Gospel, it’s a little more explicit. We should be welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and the prisoner, giving drink to the thirsty. In other words, the Corporal Works of Mercy are the Father’s will. And our Faith teaches us that the Spiritual Works of Mercy are the Father’s will.
This Faith vs Works controversy has been around since the beginning. We read in the 2nd chapter of the Epistle of James, “Indeed someone may say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works”.
Yes, we should look after our brother, look out for our neighbor. But, there’s another one we should look out for.
In the Epistle to the Galatians, St Paul writes, “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me”.
Christ lives in me. Christ lives in you.
Do you feed Him, cloth Him, welcome Him? Or is He just someone, or even someTHING, that you remember on Sundays, and Holy Days? Is He someone whom you remember just when you need something?
St. Catherine of Siena tells us that He’s head-over-heels in LOVE with us. And scripture tells us to love Him with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Christ-in-us is nurtured by good works - the Works of Mercy - through study, and through prayer. And the Church often reminds us of the link between prayer and fasting.
Our Ukrainian Catechism says, “In the Gospels, Christ emphasizes the mutual relationship between prayer and fasting. Both are needed if one is to overcome the influence of the Evil One, that is, if one is to be freed from sin. “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mk 9:29, rsv-ce). The Holy Fathers stressed the inseparability of fasting and prayer: ‘To the measure that you take away from the body, to that measure you will fortify the soul with spiritual strength.’ Through fasting, we restrain and check the outer person so that through prayer, the inner person might thrive. When prayer is separated from fasting, the inner person lacks the necessary conditions for growth”. (Christ Our Pascha 702)
A little later, we read, “Christians have fasted since ancient times. It was and is a way of imitating the forty-day fast of Christ during which he fought the devil’s temptations and overcame them. Fasting as a means of spiritual combat was further developed by monastics, who saw it as a means of achieving purity of heart. Fasting takes hold of the entire being: the body through restraint in food and drink, and the soul through restraint of the passions. Saint John Chrysostom teaches: ‘Do you not eat flesh? Feed not upon indecency by means of the eyes. Let the ear fast also. The fasting of the ear consists in refusing to receive slander and calumnies … For what does it profit if we abstain from birds and fishes; and yet bite and devour our brothers and sisters?’”
As our bulletin reminds us, “Today, traditionally, is the last day for eating meat and meat products until Pascha, though eggs and dairy products are permitted every day during the coming week. This limited fasting prepares us gradually for the more intense fasting of Great Lent”. I would encourage you to remember that fasting is not just abstaining from certain foods, but from, more importantly, from certain actions.
Comments
Post a Comment