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(excerpt from Fr. Alex's talk during the parish mission)
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Let's begin, as we enter into a time of reflecting on the glory of the cross. What better way to start than with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Father, you have given us the great gift of your Son who on the cross showed his profound total love for us. May our time together draw us deeper into that love, allow us to recognize the deep true meaning of the cross in our own lives.
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Why are we here? What is the point of the fast? What is the point of today - of the veneration of the cross? Are we insane? An entire day dedicated to venerating an instrument of torture and murder? And during the fast, we spend weeks doing something that most people, if they were to hear about, would probably define us as clinically insane. Of having some form of mental disorder. Why would you intentionally give up food that's healthy for you? That taste good? Do things that physically are difficult and painful? Things that actually are not good for our health?
So often, especially if we grow up in the faith, we do fast but we never ask 'why'. And that can lead to a lot of problems.
We can very easily get a false image of who God is during the fast. We can think of Him as some masochistic God who just likes suffering. And you need to earn 'it', show how much you love God by just being miserable. Like some drill sergeant, if you have a hard enough boot camp, you'll finally be able to graduate.
We almost get this idea of a bipolar Jesus. We have Jesus who's very kind and gentle, "oh, let the children come to me; my yoke is easy, my burden is light" and then: "give up everything you like, wake up at 3 A.M. and do a holy hour; no meat, no dairy; deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me".
How can the same God who says: "because the father has loved me, I have loved you" also look you in the face and say: "deny yourself, take up your instrument of torture and your instrument of murder and follow me"? What does it have to do with love? Because if it doesn't, then we are the most pitiful because we're making ourselves miserable for no reason.
Jesus's words and any form of sacrifice and prayer or almsgiving must come first from a deeper desire of our heart, from a longing. That is the meaning and the reason why we're here. Because if it doesn't start with God wanting to fulfill the deeper desires of our hearts then we should probably start seeing a counselor. Because there's nothing good about just needless suffering. And it's only within the context of our hearts that anything of the fast makes sense. And ultimately, the deepest desire of our hearts is a desire for love, to be loved and to give our own selves to love. That is the deepest desire of our heart, that is where any meaning comes from.
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