Today, Friday before Lazarus Saturday, marks the end of the Great Fast. The 40 days are now complete. Within the hymnology of the Church, we hear, "We have completed the forty days that profit our souls. Let us now beseech the Lover of mankind to enable us to be witnesses of His Holy Passion, that we may glorify His mighty work, His wonderful plan for our salvation. Let us sing with one heart and one voice, 'Lord, glory to You!'"
Tomorrow, on Lazarus Saturday, we move toward the Great Feast of the Lord's Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem. And while the Great Fast is over, the more weighty fast of our Lord's Passion Week now begins in earnest.
Let us offer as encouragement to all the fact that the time has grown short indeed. The time of our Lord's Resurrection draws near. Inside the next eight days, we will walk with Him to Bethany. We will be witnesses of Lazarus exiting the stinking tomb which held him for four days. We will wonder at the cleansing of the Temple, of the withering of the fig tree, of the woman who washes His feet with her tears. We will be astonished at the treachery of one who for so long was so near to Him. We will be present at His institution of the Holy Eucharist, and we will literally take that bread and wine directly from His hand. We will witness the treacherous hand dipping in the bowl with Him. We will be given the example of His washing our feet. We will go with Him to Gethsemane, and see His Holy Blood flow as sweat from His brow. We will see Him carried away by soldiers of the Temple. We will stand with Peter and John as they listen for what is happening at the unholy council of the Sanhedrin. We will be called to watch in horror as the soldiers force thorns into His brow, and strip Him naked for lashing and scourging. We'll see Him laid upon the beam, nails driven into His Holy and all-Pure Body. We'll listen to Him pray for His persecutors, asking the Father to forgive them, and we'll wonder how God can do this! We'll hear Him quote Scripture as He pours out His life for us. We'll hear His agonized cry, as He takes His last breath. We'll see His Mother and beloved Apostle weeping. We'll feel the earth tremble, and see the sun darkened, and hear of the temple veil torn. We'll stand watching as Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus lovingly prepare His lifeless Body and place it in the tomb. And we, like the soldiers assigned at the request of the treacherous Sanhedrin, and watch at His tomb, waiting for what we will pray to happen again in our sight, and that is to find that carved cavern filled with light and empty and discarded graveclothes.
And these are the reasons that we, especially in THIS week, having declared the Fast to have ended, begin to Fast anew, with even greater intensity. For unlike the Apostles, we know where our Lord is going, and what He will endure, and we wish to stand in faith and love with Him to bear witness again of all these things, freed from all earthly encumbrances. There is nothing that must tie us to the "here and now". There is only what our Lord is doing, and what it means to our salvation.
May we all have such a blessed Passion Week, and be granted His blessing to be witnesses at that empty Tomb!
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