The Third and Fourth Sundays of Lent: Adoration of the Cross and John of the Ladder of Divine Ascent

ADORATION OF THE CROSS

Opening Prayer: "Let us greet the Fast with joy, for the beginning of the spiritual contest is at hand. Let us lay aside the comforts of the flesh; let us make God’s gifts of grace increase within our soul; let us suffer with Christ as His servants, that we may be also glorified with Him as children of God. And may the Holy Spirit, dwelling in us, give light to our souls." (Matins: First Tuesday of Lent).

I. The Third Sunday of Lent: "Sunday of the Cross"

The Lenten period is one of being crucified and resurrected with Christ: Through the forty-day Fast, we too are in a way crucified, dying to the passions and self-will.

Acts of Christ and Acts of the Church:
"Since its beginning the Church had been occupied with infusing into its own body the acts of Christ’s life so they would become life-giving acts to all its members" (Matthew the Poor, The Communion of Love).

Baptism-Fasting-Crucifixion:
"It is extremely important to accept and to feel the power of each of these threes acts in our depths and draw from Christ their action in us as they worked in Him, so that His same life may identify with ours. The ultimate aim of baptism, of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and of fasting is that Christ himself may dwell in us: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20) (The Communion of Love).

Christ and Baptism:

  1. Our old nature in Adam is cut off, and our new nature in Christ is put on.
    "All those who have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, Alleluia" (Gal 3:27).

  2. To be clothed in Christ:
    "For in Him (Christ) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness of life in him, who is the head of the rule and authority. In him also were you circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead" (Col. 2:13).

  3. We are filled with the Holy Spirit:
    Children of Spirit not of the flesh (Romans Chapter 8). * Baptism grants us spiritual fullness: a grace is given.

Christ and Fasting: Christ fasted for forty days and conquered temptations of the Devil setting the example for the Church to follow. This is the biblical basis for a forty day fast.

Purity: to keep oneself unstained by the world.

The three temptations of the world which can "stain" us (I John 2:16):

  1. The lust of the flesh: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (Mat. 4:4).
  2. The lust of the eyes: "You shall worship the Lord your God and him alone shall you serve" (Mat. 4:10).
  3. Pride of life: "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (Mat. 4:7)

Spiritual fullness grants (by fasting) victory over flesh by walking in the spirit.

Christ and the Crucifixion / Self Renunciation:
"Fullness with the Holy Spirit, which Christ consummated by baptism, elevated the flesh to the level of extraordinary fasting, (i.e. total deprivation of food and drink, utter seclusion and prayer. He thus raised the flesh to the stage of the Cross" (The Communion of Love).

"The hour is come for the Son of Man to be glorified: Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant be also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor him" (John 12: 23-26).

St. Paul: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

Question: What are the obstacles which keep us from adopting the will of God?

Question: How are we to accept death?

Hymn for Study: "Raised upon the cross, O Master, through the wood you have quenched the flame of sin; suffering death by your own free choice, you have slain the enemy. Therefore I pray—put to death the desires of my flesh and bring to life my heart, cleansing me from all stain through the fast that transforms the passions, for you are merciful" (Matins: Wednesday of the third week).

JOHN OF THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT

I. The Fourth Sunday of Lent:

St. John Climacus St. John of Climacus was the Abbot of Sinai (6-7 century). He is the model of a Christian Ascetic: Ladder of Ascent. His text is an appointed Lenten reading to be read during the meals in a monastery.

The Ladder: serves as an image of our pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jacob’s ladder, (Gen. 28:12). The Theotokos, the ladder which united heaven and earth.

The Structure of the Ladder:
Steps 1-3: the break with the world

  • Renunciation
  • Detachment
  • Exile

Steps 4-26: the active life:
(4-7 the four fundamental virtues)

  • Obedience
  • Penitence
  • Remembrance of death
  • Joyful sorrow

Steps 8-26: the passions and their contrasting virtues
(passions that are predominantly non-physical)

  • Anger
  • Malice
  • Slander
  • Talkativeness
  • Falsehood
  • Despondency

Physical and material passions:

  • Gluttony
  • Lust
  • Avarice
  • Insensitivity
  • Fear
  • Vainglory
  • Pride-Blasphemy

Higher virtues of the active life

  • Simplicity
  • Humility
  • Discernment

Steps 27-30: the contemplative life

  • Stillness
  • Prayer
  • Dispassion
  • Love

The ladder should not be taken literally but figuratively:

"One can reach the top in ascent, even while still working one’s way up from lower down and, by the same token, still be on the lower rungs and yet have reached the top" (Ascent to Heaven by John Chryssavgis; Holy Cross Press).

Text from Scripture, the revelation of his passion: "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise" (Heb. 6:13-20 and Mark 9: 17-31).