Category Image Judging




Today is the Sunday of the Last Judgment . It is the third Sunday in the Lenten Triodion - or the runup to the beginning of Great Lent. I would heartily recommend following the link and read all about it at the Archdiocesan website. I'll just share a few thoughts of my own, for whatever they're worth.

The last two Sundays have been focused on repentance, humility, and frankly a host of other things which keep priests in good sermons for year after year. One aspect of both Sundays is that there was an element of judgement of one individual by another. First the pharisee stands in judgment of the publican , then the older brother stands in judgment of the prodigal . Today however, is a bit different. Now judgment is come from the Lord. No longer is the penitent sinner being judged by the self-righteous, now all are judged by the Great Judge. Interestingly enough, next week is Forgiveness Sunday, which hopefully I'll have an opportunity to address next week. One key I noticed about the judgement story we heard today is that the people are being judged precisely by how they treated the poor, sick, and the sinners (read prisoners, although at the time the poor were seen as sinners too, ISTR as their state reflected a lack of God's favor upon them). Treat them well, and the judgement goes well. Treat them poorly (like the pharisee and the older brother), and well...

All of this is meant to prepare us for Lent, put us in the right state of mind. The main focus of Lent is our purification in preparation for the coming of Pascha. This is done through fasting and increased devotion to prayer. One of the risks that comes with this process of prayer and fasting (particularly the fasting) is to find ourselves sitting in judgment on other people. We find that they don't fast properly or enough, or maybe too much, or whatever. We also find ourselves at risk for being less tolerant of others in general, as we deprive ourselves of all of the fat, meat, etc. that we normally consume. In other words, we discover that its easy to be loving to others as long as all of our desires are being met. Note how self-centered that sounds. Lent can be a time to have a bright light shone on the state of our soul. Is it a soul of self-centeredness, or a soul of other-centeredness?

Now, none of this is meant to say that we should never "judge" in the sense of discerning false teachings, or correcting our brethren. Scripture and the Church Fathers speak extensively on this. The issue here is the sitting in judgement phenomenon of condemning others. That is not our job. If we see someone sinning, our job is not say "they'll burn in hell," but rather "what can I do to help them." Even this latter statement should only follow something akin to "gee, what is it that I'm doing wrong."

Finally, today is also known as Meatfare Sunday. The day we say farewell to meat until Pascha. Similar to what in the West is known as Carnival or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday, as the Lenten fast - but not Lent itself - begins on Ash Wednesday in the West). Lent hasn't quite started yet, but we need to train a bit. So this week, we go without meat. Starting next week (the day after Cheesefare Sunday), Great Lent begins and we say farewell to dairy products as well, along with fish, wine (and anything stronger than wine), and oil except on some special days. So, tonight we'll go out for dinner as part of what may become a new tradition for us. One last big steak dinner to tide us over.

- the icon is a Russian Icon of the Last Judgement from the Novgorod school. Click on the picture to visit the gallery where this icon is on display.

Posted: Sunday - February 11, 2007 at 02:09 PM          

©