THREE PITFALLS OF OUR LENTEN JOURNEY

 

“I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were not able,” so the man says to the Lord, when he explains the circumstances concerning his mute son.  The man came to the disciples of Christ, seeking the cure of his son, but they were not able to heal him.  The cures, which are recorded in the Gospel are the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lord earlier gave the disciples the power to heal the sick and drive out demons.  Therefore, the disciples are surprised, because they try to cast out the demon without success.  Perhaps, the disciples, having had great success in casting out these evil spirits, began to feel powerful and sufficient in their own persons, as if they did not need the Lord. Perhaps they began to be proud in their new ability.  The Lord reminds them that they need humility. They need to recognize their weakness and nothingness, since they are creatures, who do not exist in the same sense that God exists.  Before the Being of God, their being is like nonbeing.  Their inability to heal the demoniac proves to them that they are dependent on God.  In the same way, we have come to the middle of the Fast.  In these weeks, we have begun the battle against our passions, and perhaps we have had success on account of our efforts, but we must recognize that our success in this battle comes to us through the Lord’s grace and energy.  If we think that our progress is our accomplishment, we lose the entire profit of the Fast.  This is the first pitfall of the Fast, which the Enemy has placed in our path, so that we lose the benefit of this time. In a similar way, this is a key, which allows us to understand our other accomplishments.  Our accomplishments in this world are God’s gift, just as He Himself told us: “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”

When the Lord hears that “the disciples were not able,” He says: “O faithless generation! How long will be with you? How long must I endure you?” The Lord is clearly upset, but why? Is He upset because the disciples tried without success to cast out the demon? No, He is upset, because the disciples do not have confidence in God. They have full confidence in themselves, but no confidence in the Lord. Contrariwise, we must have deep confidence in God in order to have success in this battle. Here, the Lord speaks with great frustration, because His Heart is grieved on account of His disciples’ faithlessness. But we must recognize that His Heart is grieved, because He loved the disciples so deeply. Never would He have abandoned them, despite the fact that they would abandon Him on the day of His crucifixion.  In the same way, the Lord will not abandon us also, despite our failings and faithlessness, although His Heart is grieved, because He knows what we are able to become through communion with God. The second pitfall of the Great Fast is the temptation to believe that God will abandon us in the time of our suffering and our trial.  This is a temptation of the Enemy, who tries to create doubt in us. The battle against the passions is full of suffering, because we must continuously choose what our nature hates, but our God is with us during this trial, and He strengthens us. Just as it is in Lent, so is it also in our whole earthly life. God will not abandon us in our suffering, but, on the contrary, each suffering is most precious, because it is able to be joined to the suffering of Christ and become a way to greater perfection, helping us to fulfill the command of Christ: “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

The Lord Christ says to the man: “everything is possible to one who believes.” This expression of the Lord is perhaps the greatest challenge of our spiritual life, since we need a sincere faith in order to receive the answer to our prayers, in the destruction of our passion, just as in other circumstances.  There is no greater work, which the human needs to accomplish, and we need to begin this work with faith. We must be careful so that we do not accept a faith that is less than that, which believes, “everything is possible to him, who believes.” This is a constant temptation, and it is the third pitfall of our Lenten journey. There are different degrees of faith. For example, there is the faith, which believes that a few things are possible. Then there is the faith, which believes that many things are possible, and most things are possible. These are imperfect faiths, but perfect faith believes that ALL things are possible to one, who believes. We need to encourage the growth of this faith in us and in other people.