Desiring to commune with the Divine Pascha . . .
let us pursue victory over the devil through fasting.
(First hymn of the aposticha for Vespers, Thursday of the first week of Lent)
Having thus been encouraged and inspired by the memory and veneration of the Cross on which Christ suffered for our sakes, we are persuaded to continue our own Lenten effort, to carry on bearing our cross for His sake, and to walk with our Lord to Calvary, that we may truly participate in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.
Only then, having followed Christ throughout the Lenten journey into Holy Week, will we truly be able to participate in the joy of His life-giving Resurrection.
FROM THE MIDDLE OF LENT, the Sunday of the Cross, we begin to see our journey’s end, and the radiant feast of the Resurrection comes into view. Lent is a journey to Pascha.
It is thus a season of joyful expectation. If we take Lent seriously, the journey is arduous, but this only makes Pascha all the more radiant and joyful.
But throughout Lent, we are never allowed to forget the Resurrection, which fills all things, all ascetic labors, all solemnity, sorrow and contrition, with gladness and brightness.
It would be a mistake to think of the sacrifices of Lent in purely negative terms—in terms of struggle and deprivation. We are to think of Lent as liberation. Lent calls us to sacrifice many of those things which, while they tend to occupy such a central position in our lives, while they seem to us to be so important, are in reality things we can do without.
Lent is thus the rediscovery of that which is most essential in our lives. In this rediscovery, we return to God and to the very meaning of life.
Thus; having stripped ourselves of all that is petty and futile, having cast off the burdensome baggage of our worldly and often complex lifestyles, we can truly experience Lent as liberation and purification, as the necessary, fruitful, and wonderful journey to the joy of Pascha.
~Vassilios Papavassiliou, Meditations for Great Lent: Reflections on the Triodion
