Archpastoral Message - Opening of Holy and Great Fast

 Your Grace, beloved Fathers, brothers and sisters in the Lord,

Once again, with the will and grace of God, the Giver of all good things, we are entering Holy and Great Lent, the blessed period of fasting and repentance, of spiritual vigilance and journey with the Lord, as He approaches His voluntary Passion, so that we may reach the veneration of His glorious Resurrection and become worthy of our own passage from earthly things to “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived” (1 Cor. 2:9).

In the early Church, Holy and Great Lent was a period of preparation for catechumens, whose baptism took place during the Divine Liturgy of Pascha. This connection with baptism is also preserved in the understanding and experience of Great Lent as the period par excellence of repentance, described as “a renewal of baptism,” “a second baptism,” “a covenant with God for a second life,” in other words, a renewal of the grace of baptism and a promise to God for the beginning of a new way of life. The services and hymns of this season associate the spiritual struggle of the faithful with the expectation of the Lord’s Pascha, whereby the forty-day fast radiates the fragrance of Paschal joy.

Holy and Great Lent is an opportunity to become conscious of the depth and richness of our faith as “a personal encounter with Christ.” It is rightly emphasized that Christianity is “extremely personal,” without this implying that it is “individualistic.” The faithful “encounter, recognize, and love one and the same Christ, Who alone revealed the true and perfect human person” (St. Nicholas Cabasilas). He invites all people—and each person individually—to salvation, so that the response of each may always be “grounded in the common faith” and, at the same time, be unique.

I prayerfully wish all of you in our God-protected Diocese of the USA, Canada, and Australia a blessed and salvific Holy and Great Lent 2026.

+Metropolitan Joseph

In Search of Fervent Prayer

Here's a spiritual lesson you can try at home.  Take a candle that has never been lit, and also a lighter.  Using the lighter, pass its flame over the wick.  Note how it does not immediately light.  Do it again.  Still no light, right?  Now, hold the flame on the wick until you confirm that it has lit.  Now, blow the candle out.  Walk away for 5 minutes, then come back and repeat the above.  Note that now that the wick has supported a flame, the candle lights with much less effort.  Now as a final step, light the candle, blow it out, then immediately pass the lighter flame NEAR the wick.  See how the flame leaps to the wick and it burns fully.  What is the purpose of this effort?  A candle is emblematic of our prayers.  If we do not pray, we are like the candle that has never been lit.  The flame must remain with us for a long time for us to show our prayer.  Once we have approached prayer, we are like the candle which has been lit, and it becomes easier for us to support the flame, to engage in profitable prayers.  It takes less to get us going!  Finally, if we are praying but have our prayer interrupted, then re-engage it quickly, the flame leaps to light the way.  So it is with our prayer.  Thank you, St. Paul, for teaching us that we need to pray without ceasing!  (1Thes 5:16-18)

The Second Coming

   The Holy Orthodox Church remembers our Lord’s Second Coming on this Sunday each year—the Sunday that begins Meatfare Week.

The Gospel reading begins: ““When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.”

The words from this first verse of today’s Gospel that always capture my attention are, and ALL the holy angels. 

There is no scriptural reference detailing the total number of angels in heaven.  St. Paul goes so far as to say, But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. (Heb 12:22)  In short, there are so very many of them that perhaps only God Himself could number them!

The next phrase in today’s Gospel says, All the nations will be gathered before Him.  How many people is this?  Given today’s statistics, it is nearly 8.3 billion.  All of those angels.  All of us.  All gathered before the Judge, before one Man.  He returns to do what St. Matthew describes next: He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 

What identifies the difference between a sheep and a goat?

A sheep is one who “does” without taking note of their good deeds.  They feed, they give drink, they shelter those in need.  They clothe those who are naked.  They visit the sick and imprisoned.  The goats also take no note of their “inactions” in not doing for others.  And the fascinating part of the account is that neither sheep nor goat sees their connection with the Lord.  Both ask the same question: When did we see You in need, Lord?  The difference is in the Lord’s answer.  You did (or did not) do it for Me when you did (or did not) do it for….  Those separated as sheep are surprised to find that it was in fact Jesus for Whom they were providing.  Those goats are surprised to find that it was in fact Jesus Whom they were ignoring.  Each group does what they do because of their character (or lack thereof).  Wise virgins wait.  Good servants serve.  Sheep also serve.  The difference compared with nature is that we are free to choose to be a sheep.  We are free to choose to be a goat!

Who are those who benefit from the goodness of the sheep?  The least of My brethren.  The Greek word used for ‘brethren’ carries a connection between people as being joined by a common womb. It is yet another view of the Parable of the Good Samaritan—everyone is my neighbor, and all of us are one people, we have a common Father, we are all brothers and sisters.

Minimally at every Divine Liturgy, but also for most of us within our own daily prayer rule, we pray the Nicene Creed, within which are these words: And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead.  We echo the words of today’s Gospel reading in our daily prayers!  Do we call to mind Matthew 25 when we pray the Creed?  If not, why not?  If not, do we look for the Second Coming as being a certain event, one that looms on the human (and my personal) horizon?