On this first weekend of the Great Fast we hear Paul’s words to the Hebrews about FAITH. After he enumerates the faith of many good men that came before Jesus he says: let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who inspires and perfects our faith.

Jesus is truly the one who serves as a model of how to live this earthly life. The Jesus WAY of living helps us to grow in our likeness of Him. Jesus is our Savior and Lord because of how He lived. His WAY of living is the way that God intends all humans to live. It is the way of achieving a participation in the life of God Himself.

Our Gospel story shares the calling of PHILIP the Apostle. When Jesus saw him coming He remarked that Philip was indeed a true Israelite (i.e., who prevails with God) because he had no guile.

It is important to note that in the New Testament Christians are thought of as the New Israel – the new people who prevail with God. The name truly signifies a commitment to doing everything possible to be God’s People.

A second thought came to mind when thinking of the words of Jesus about Philip. I wonder whether any of my readers ever thought about what exactly Jesus meant when He said that Philip was a person without guile. A person who has guile is one who is deceitful and cunning – is the kind of person who uses clever and dishonest methods to achieve something. Usually this means doing everything possible to get what you want.

As I look around our world today, I find that guilefulness is rampant. It seems that it is acceptable to do anything you have to in order to achieve what you want. It usually means being dishonest and deceitful.

So why does the Church share this story on the first weekend of the Great Fast? I believe the Great Fast is meant to help us to become people without guile – people who lead authentic and honest lives and refuse to do things that are dishonest in order to achieve what we want. To be a saint, you have to be a person without guile.

So as we begin this Great Fast, we examine our consciences and lives and assess whether we are people without guile. If we find that we are not, that we are at times dishonest in order to achieve what we want or to deceive people into thinking we are better than we are, then we need to make the elimination of guilefulness as one of the goals of this Great Fast. An honest examination of our lives is called for during the Great Fast. The goal is an honest and true assessment of who we are.

Take this coming week to honestly assess your life.