On the Sunday of the casting out of Adam and Eve from Paradise, HG Bishop Ioan Casian spoke to the faithful of St. George's Cathedral in Saint-Hubert about the purpose of the Christian life and of the elements that give a true sense to the fasting period.
“St. John Cassian speaks in one of his conferences about Ava Moise on the purpose and the means to achieve the purpose of the monastic life. He says, resuming the teachings of the great Father of the Egyptian wilderness, that the goal of monastic life is the kingdom of heaven and the means by which it is achieved is the purification of the heart. This purpose by extension remains valid for any Christian. This is why we at this beginning of the Great Lent think that its purpose is the encounter with Christ resurrected on Easter night. The purity of life is the tool by which it could be reached. We acquire it using the means that the tradition of the Church gives us - fasting, reading the Scripture and the lives of the saints, prayer, prostration, charitable deeds etc. They contribute to the building of inner edifice of the man who is on the path of conversion, coming back into himself and turning towards God. And in this path, one needs to understand the spiritual - ascetic strategy, the need for faith and the persevering effort to reach the proposed goal. The heart that has God present through prayer and faith always is renewed in the spiritual attitude of forgiveness transforming its relationship with the neighbor.
There are three elements - forgiveness, inner fasting and the heaven as the treasure of the heart - which are put before us today in the Holy Gospel and which draw our attention to the importance of the fast as an authentic experience both exterior and interior.
Forgiveness is a fundamental element without which a true fast cannot be started. St. John Chrysostom says that 'nothing makes us looking more like God as our desire to forgive those who harm us.' God's forgiveness in His Son and His sending among us in incarnation are essential to the work of God for restoration of our human nature. Forgiveness is the gesture God makes toward man both for breaking His commandment and for the sin of hatred, the result of which was the crucifixion of Christ. The forgiveness we give to those who have wronged us rises us to the divine stature because in it we look like God because He is the only one Who can truly forgive. The forgiveness of God is present in our forgiveness.
Fasting is an essential condition of the purification we expect during the Great Lent. Fasting was given to man in Paradise. The true fast is not outer but inner. St. Augustine speaks of the fact that ‘pride lies in the pump of worldly wealth but also in the false display of serving God’ by drawing attention to one own action. Fasting means subtracting the surplus that is not necessary for us in order to share with others more needy. Fasting means managing the time devoted to our own needs and giving it charitably to the neighbor.
The intention of the human heart is another important element that defines the quality of fasting. Fasting means directing the inward and outward attention to the true target, that is to God and the kingdom of heaven. The intention with which something is done is important because it gives the character of the action or deed. ‘If someone does something with the intention of a profit on earth - says St. Augustine - the heart of the one is still on earth.’ The intention of man in his spiritual pursuit raises him or lowers him and sinks him into materiality.”
At the Divine Liturgy together with the bishop of Canada, were concelebrating Fr Daniel Sandu and Fr Adrian Manea. The psaltic group led by Valentin Botu gave the answers at strana.
