Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Imagine, if you will, a great harbor of the 16th
or 17th century in Western Europe during the
age of exploration, and you are on the docks
getting ready to board a great clipper ship.
You are on the docks. The journey is before you.
And the church is the grand sailing vessel that
all of us will board together. Because the seas
of Lent are not just done individually, but we
go through it together. We're in the harbor.
The sails are trimmed, ready to fill with winds,
with spiritual winds. which will carry us across
the vast seas of Lent. And our destination is
the great and holy Pascha, the resurrection of
our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, the
conquering of sin and death, the land of life
and love and light. But first, we must travel
across the vast waters of Lent, Journey before
destination. And so on this day, on Forgiveness
Sunday, we prepare to launch. But we are not
unprepared. Thousands of voyages have gone before
us, and the experience and wisdom of our predecessors
is with us. They have provided us with maps and
charts containing their wisdom and experience.
And you may ask, how have they helped us prepare?
Well, over the past month, we have been given
Zacchaeus Sunday with the lessons of Zacchaeus.
And the Sunday of the publican and the Pharisee
and the lessons we learned. And the prodigal
son Sunday. And of course, the Sunday of the
Last Judgment. And these gospel lessons have
meant to help us prepare for this sea voyage
ahead of us through Lent. Two great commodities
have been recommended to us. Repentance and humility.
Repentance for our sin and self -centeredness.
and humility before God, acknowledging our wretchedness
before God, that without God we would be lost,
that we need to return to him with a humble heart,
seeking his will, that his will be done on earth
as it is in heaven. And so we have brought on
board our ship sacks of humility and barrels
of repentance. And now this Sunday, we are helped
again and instructed in the importance of forgiveness.
Indeed, later today, forgiveness vespers will
occur. We will put into practice forgiveness.
And if at all possible, be here. Be here for
that great Vespers today at 1 o 'clock, for there
is no better way to prepare for the journey of
the next 40 days. The Gospel reading for today
from St. Matthew begins with these two verses.
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your
Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if
you forgive not men their trespasses, neither
will your Father forgive your trespasses. There
is no other way given to us but forgiveness.
No excuses we need to forgive. We are still at
the docks, and now to untie the ropes and to
cast off into the harbor, forgive. Not just small
things. Forgive everyone for everything. Saint
Tikhon of Zdonsk says this, Beloved Christians,
we speak here of a serious matter in which consists
either eternal salvation or eternal destruction.
We speak of the forgiveness of sins for which
we sigh to God daily. But sighing and even tears
are useless to us if we do not forgive our neighbors
their transgressions. And further on in his writing,
he says, submit your will to the will of God
and overcome evil with good, overcome pride with
humility, with meekness and patience, and hate
with love. This is the Christian victory. And
so now we prepare to launch on these vast seas
of great Lent, going together, knowing that our
grand vessel is stocked with repentance, humility,
and forgiveness, and we sail together across
those vast And we come together as a crew as
we sail. We have services to be a part of. We
are gifted with 8 a .m. daily mantens and the
Wednesday pre -sanctified, sometimes Friday pre
-sanctified liturgies. And this week, if perhaps
you find yourself lacking still in humility or
repentance, come. to the evening services of
the great canon of St. Andrew of Crete, who leads
us on those Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday nights
into our hearts where we can truly repent. Our
schedules can be busy, but attend what you can.
And today at 1 p .m., come back and be blessed
and be forgiven. and forgive others. May God
bless us all on this great voyage. Glory to Jesus
Christ.