BEGIN THE JOURNEY WITH FORGIVENESS

BEGIN THE JOURNEY WITH FORGIVENESS   We stand at the threshold of the most sacred journey of the year. We call today Forgiveness Sunday. Tomorrow is Clean Monday, the beginning of our Great Lenten Journey. And in the wisdom of the Church, we receive a fundamental truth: We cannot begin Lent without a forgiving heart. We can fast and pray and struggle with spiritual asceticism but if in our pride we hold on resentment, bitterness, and grudges, or even if our past hurt and even trauma don’t allow us to forgive, then we are trying to run forward in our spiritual race while chained to the past. This is why the very first step into our Great Lenten journey is not dietary, it’s not about fasting, but it is relational. It is deeply personal. It’s about opening our hearts up to a loving God. Yet we can only do that when we open up our hearts to our fellow brother or sister. In today’s Gospel story, we hear Jesus Himself say, “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you don’t forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you.” Notice what He does not say. He does not say if you fast perfectly, If you attend every Lenten service, or if you give more charity and do more good deeds. Of course, all of these play a central role in our Lenten journey. It all begins, however, with forgiveness and mercy. God’s mercy and forgiveness to us, and then our forgiveness and mercy to one another opens our doorway into Paradise. When we hear “but if you don’t forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you,” this doesn’t mean God’s forgiveness is transactional. It means that when we don’t forgive, we close our hearts and can’t receive the forgiveness of the Lord. Think of such forgiveness in relation to Adam and Eve. We remember today the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. This is not just ancient history. This is our story. And what happened in the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve forgot God. They turned away from Him. They chose their own will over communion with the Lord, the Source of Life. And the moment humanity turned away from the Source of Life, death entered the world. Remember that sin is not merely breaking rules but it is turning away from Life Himself. Every time we cling to resentment… Every time we refuse to forgive… Every time we harden our hearts… we repeat the movement of Adam choosing to turn away from God and thus, being cast out of Paradise. Because Paradise is our intimate communion with God. Paradise is walking with the Lord daily and dwelling in His love. We taste the Kingdom of God here and now in our daily walk with Christ. And our return to Paradise is the central purpose of Great Lent. In our Bible Study this past week, one of our parishioners described Great Lent with a beautiful image – she said it is like a vacation, a time of joy and renewal. That’s a nice way to look at it. One should never look at Lent as a gloomy religious exercise, or simply as a time we give things up, and surely not as some type of punishment. Great Lent is our return back into Paradise. Yes, it’s a time of sorrow but also of deep joy. Sorrow as we reflect on our many sins but joy in the mercy and grace of God that we receive. In one of today’s hymns, we hear how “Adam sat outside Paradise and wept…” Adam weeps because he realizes what he lost. He sits outside of Paradise crying and wondering if he can every go back. Well, Great Lent is precisely the response to this dilemma. God calls us to wake up, remember what we have lost and then repent and turn back toward Him. The Church lovingly tells us, “It is time to come home.” We hear this clearly in today’s Epistle reading from Saint Paul: "Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; the night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” The Great Apostle warns us with urgency. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. Salvation is nearer now. In other words: Now is the time to act! Not next year. Not when life slows down. Not at a different stage of life. Not when things are more convenient. But NOW! Great Lent is God’s gift to shake us awake from spiritual slumber. Yet before we take even one step on this journey, the Church stops us at the door and says, “First, forgive one another!” Because resentment is spiritual poison. We can fast strictly. We can attend every Lenten service. We can make full prostrations. Yet, if our heart remains hardened toward any brother or sister, then our fasting becomes empty. Saint John Chrysostom bluntly warned “the one who fasts but does not forgive is like someone who builds with one hand and destroys with the other.” Forgiveness is never optional in the Christian life but essential. Of course, if we’re honest, we can agree that forgiveness is not always easy. To forgive another doesn’t mean we pretend nothing happened. We are not saying that we weren’t hurt and forgiveness won’t instantly remove the pain or allow us to blindly trust another again. Forgiveness implies something much deeper. It means we release the other person into the hands of our merciful God. It means we refuse to allow bitterness to remain in our soul. Through forgiveness we choose freedom over captivity. When we refuse to forgive another, we remain imprisoned by our own bitterness and pride. When we forgive, we become free. And Great Lent is all about freedom. Freedom from our typical lifestyle that too often leads us away from God and enslaves us. We are invited to a radical change for the next 40 days - to slow down; to simplify our lives; to become more intentional; and to focus on what truly matters. The world is noisy, fast, distracted, and spiritually exhausting. It fragments our lives. Lent invites us to step out of that current and enter a different rhythm where we becoming whole once again by praying more, fasting with purpose, giving more generously, repenting more deeply and forgiving more freely. All of this leads us back to God. So, let us stand on the threshold of Great Lent and do the following. Begin with forgiveness. Who am I angry with? Whose name tightens my heart? Where am I still holding onto the past? Bring that person before Christ and ask the Lord to help you forgive. Then enter Great Lent intentionally, not casually. Through our prayer, fasting, confession, and acts of mercy, take small, concrete steps that will change our heart over time. And always remember the ultimate goal – to encounter the living God in new ways. Make every prostration, every act of forgiveness, every sincere prayer, and every hidden sacrifice lead us one step closer into the Kingdom of God. Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. May this Lent not pass us by but truly change us, bringing us back into the joy of Paradise.