The weekend immediately before the beginning of the Great Fast, which is called Cheesefare, we are called to offer forgiveness to all in our lives. Why? Because we cannot truly grow spiritually if we are at odds with others. We hear this in the Gospel we use this weekend: if you forgive the faults of others, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you. How can this be true, you may ask, since our Father unconditionally loves us? The simple truth is that if we have not experienced offering forgiveness we do not have the ability to accept forgiveness.
Our Church also remembers this weekend the story of the exile of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Why? The story is meant to remind us that we must grow in our likeness of God, as clearly seen in the Person of Jesus and not think that we can achieve this on our own. Remember the story clearly suggests that Adam and Eve wanted to be like God but thought they could achieve this without God. Our human personalities can fool us to think that we can achieve this likeness without God’s help.
The Great Fast, a period focused on personal transformation, is meant to help us become aware of our true need for God and that this earthly life is meant to help us grow in His likeness with, and only with, His help.
The general theme of the Great Fast is personal transformation with the help of God. During this time, we will be called to focus our attention on how Christ lived as a man. The 40-day period ends with us living again the suffering and death of Jesus with a very definite emphasis on how He handled it. He handled it with nobility and courage. He did not let the hatred and cruelness of others diminish His love for them. Hopefully be living this with Him, we will gain the courage to live in the same manner.
Our Epistle this weekend comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul states: Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. Our Gospel clearly tells us that any ascetical practices we use to help in our personal transformation should be done in such a manner that others do not know what we are doing. So let us begin this 2016 Great Fast with a determination to become more like Jesus, unconditionally loving and forgiving others. Let us discover for ourselves God’s desire to help us be more like Jesus and His willingness to help us in this effort. You will never regret observing the Great Fast.