Sunday of Cheesefare or Forgiveness Sunday

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The Great Fast is often identified with fasting, and, while this is an important means, the real focus is holiness. Here are some important factors in holiness, in becoming like Jesus, which should be our central focus in this season of spiritual growth.

Notes

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Title and Theme

What Does Holiness Look Like?

Outline and Body

When we talk about the Great Fast, we are talking about holiness

It originated as a preparation for baptism, that is, for regeneration and forgiveness, which was at Easter

Others fasted along with the catechumens, for they both accompanied them and worked out their own holiness

And, of course, quite a number felt called to pursue holiness full time - in the desert, in the monastery, in the hermitage

But what does holiness look like?

We know what it is not: “not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy”

We know what it is: “Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light . . . put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” - it is looking like Jesus

There are some things on which we can have a variety of opinions: e.g. “One believes he may eat anything, while the weak man eats only vegetables.”

Probably, as in Daniel 1, the concern then was with impurity in eating meat gentiles slaughtered

But meat was also a luxury and rejecting it was a form of humility and a way to control the passions

Monastics east and west often ate no meat, except for those who were sick

However, it was not a rule for all, except during certain days of abstinence in which those who can, both east and west abstain - it is not something to judge others by, for while we know what is generally good, we do not know their reasons

There are other things about which we should have a unity of opinion

Holiness includes forgiving others - this is the teaching and example of Jesus - “ if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you” - that should certainly be a focus of our fasting time

Holiness is a consonance of the inward and outward, and many practices should be hidden: “when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 ¶ that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” - we examine ourselves for acting a part before others when our hearts are not really submissive to God

Holiness is a focus on the ultimate and the permanent and a finding of our security in God: “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” - that is a hard one, for it calls for action on our part

As we start the Great Fast, remember that it is not that we are giving up something (other than sin), but that we are pursuing something - holiness, preparation for and experience of unity with God

Examine yourselves; make your plans by this standard; and have a growth in holiness in preparation for a joyous celebration of the resurrection

Fasting from certain foods, perhaps reduction in all foods, should play a part, for so says Church tradition, the experience of the ages, but it may be a small part that simply assists us in focusing on the most important things in growing in holiness.

We want to finish the Great Fast holier: our goal is to finish life as saints indeed

Readings

Epistle

Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition Chapter 13

11 ¶ Besides this you know what hour it is, how it is full time now for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed; 12 ¶ 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; 13 ¶ let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 ¶ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Do Not Judge One Another

14 * As for the man who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not for disputes over opinions. 2 One believes he may eat anything, while the weak man eats only vegetables. 3 ¶ Let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him stand.

Gospel

Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition Chapter 6

14 ¶ For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; 15 but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Concerning Fasting

16 ¶“And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 ¶ that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Concerning Treasures

19 ¶“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rusto consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rusto consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Notes

Our Venerable Father Cyril, Bishop of Catania; our Venerable Father Auxentius, Hegumen

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