My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

HAVE MERCY UPON ME, O GOD ACCORDING TO YOUR LOVINGKINDNESS..." (Psalm 50 [51])

This is a psalm of repentance and God's mercy, and a prophecy about salvation through baptism (vv. 2, 7). Of all 150 psalms, this is the one most used in Holy Orthodox Church. It is a psalm of repentance said three times daily--Orthros (Matins), Third Hour, and Compline--as well as in every Divine Liturgy, where it is recited by the Orthodox priest as s sign of repentance while he censes before the Great Entrance.

The Orthodox Christian seeking to establish communion with His Creator approaches Him with profound humility and meekness. No one is worthy of addressing God without first repenting of one's sins and cleansed of them. We return to our heavenly Father the same way as the prodigal son by saying "I will arise and go to my Father, and will say to Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before You, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of Your hired servants" (St. Luke 15:18-19).

I am penitent and not righteous. Great and Holy Lent is a time of penitence. In the first centuries of the Church, the 'penitents', or sinners who repented publicly, were solemnly reconciled with the community of the faithful during this period of Lent. Are we not all, in different degrees, sinners and penitents? This holy period which leads us toward Pascha is certainly a time that is very appropriate for repentance and cleansing. Holy Lent will, therefore, be an opportunity for us to truly examine our conscience and reconciliation with the Lord.

Holy and Great Lent is also a time of spiritual growth and of illumination. The weekday divine services of Great and Holy Lent are characterized by special Lenten hymns of a penitential character. The Royal Gates to the Altar area remain closed to signify man's separation through sin from the Kingdom of God. The church vesting is of somber color, usually purple. The daily hymns are also of an intercessory character, entreating the Almighty God through His Saints to have mercy on us sinners.

In Orthodox Spirituality, life's journey is a continuous devotion of self to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It begins with the pre-baptismal prayers for infants and it ends with the funeral service. The Divine Mysteries (Sacraments), prayers and the ascetic way of life (fasting, purity and marital faithfulness) are means of sanctification that gives us a genuine taste of God's Heavenly Kingdom while still on earth.

A well-known prayer of the Orthodox Church speaks of the spirit of God being "present in all places and filling all things." This profound affirmation is basic to Orthodoxy's understanding of God and His relationship to the world. We truly believe God is with us. In the Compline service during Lent, we chant: "God is with us, know it you Nations and be submissive, For God is with us."

We, as Orthodox Christians, believe that God is truly near to us. Although He cannot be seen, God is not detached from the world that He created. Through the Persons of the Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit, God is present and active in our lives and in the creation around us. Everything about us testifies of His existence and reveals His unconditional love for the cosmos.

The Christian believer is personally touched by the grace of God through the Mysteries (Sacraments) of the Church. It is called having a Sacramental life. The energy of the Kingdom experienced in the Church is manifested through the divine Sacraments offered in faith. The Almighty and Loving God touches, purifies, illumines, sanctifies and deifies human life in His uncreated Divine energies through the sacraments.

By active participation in the Sacraments of the Church, the believer is prepared for future life when he or she will be in constant communion with God. The Holy Mysteria are at once inward and outward in character. Redeeming and sanctifying grace is transmitted by visible means. The material things are made into vehicles of the mysterious power of the Divine grace of God the Holy Spirit.

The divine Sacraments are indispensable for the salvation of the Christian believer. Salvation is accomplished by the Lord in cooperation (synergy) with humanity. It is important, however, to understand that the Mysteries are neither magic nor mechanical operations. Faith in the Triune God is essential and necessary for the sought after salvation.

During Great and Holy Lent the Orthodox Christian must prepare spiritually to receive the Mysteries of the Church and be sanctified, healed, and renewed. The Orthodox Christian approaches the Mysteries (Sacraments) with the "fear of God, with faith and with love." Care must be taken that one approaches the Holy Body and Precious Blood of the Lord Christ and spiritual understanding. In the New Testament, those who receive Christ's Holy Body and Precious Blood unworthily are said to bring condemnation upon themselves. "For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep" (literally, "are dead"; 1 Corinthians 11:30).

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in Christ's Holy Diakonia (Ministry),

The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George