Cheesefast Sunday

In his homily for the Gospel reading for Cheesefast Sunday, Matthew 6:14-21, St. Nikolai Velimirovich shares the fact that, "The Lord does not order us, with the power of authority: forgive men their sins! He leaves it to our free choice, to forgive or not. He will not violate our freedom, to force us to do something, for then our action would not be ours but His, and it would not have the value that it would have if we did it freely and willingly." He is explaining the Orthodox understanding of synergy in which we have our part to do even if God has made all things possible, even the ability to forgive. In our day to day lives we know that we have the choice to forgive or not, but when it comes to interpreting Holy Scripture for some reason, many have bought into the misunderstanding of believing that we are only able to do good deeds, such as forgiving, if God not only give us the grace to forgive, but also gives us the grace to think about forgiving in the first place. And this is in a way that God chooses, apart from anything on our part. While Holy Fathers like St. Nikolai might not get too deep into the specifics of how God's grace is working specifically each time we do good deeds, it is very clear that he believes it is heretical to think that God could violate our freedom and force us to forgive others. And so while we credit God for continually giving us of His Grace, and that we could do nothing, especially good deeds, without His Grace, we must acknowledge that we have our part to do as well, no matter how significant it may be in comparison to what God does. If we would like to think of it as God doing 99.99% and us doing 0.01%, that is helpful in understanding God's great power and immense love for mankind. But when we want to look at our responsibilities as creations made in the image and likeness of God that have been made members of the Body of Christ through Baptism, that 0.01% is everything. It is the part that will decide whether we enter into the Kingdom of God or cast into Hell with Satan and the demons. As far as we are concerned, it is a very important 0.01%.

Continuing with the next part of the verse, St. Nikolai makes the point that God points out what will happen if we do not forgive others their trespasses, that God will not forgive us our trespasses. And then he explains, "where shall we be? We shall live out our days under a mountain of sin, and in the next life the weight of that mountain will grow ever greater through all eternity." What a terrifying thought that explains the torments of Hell, the ever increasing weight of our sins crushing us because of our guilt. With so much warning and patience from God, we will have no excuse at the end of our life for not repenting of our sins and practicing forgiving others that offend us.

On a passage about fasting it is interesting that the lesson begins with a lesson on forgiveness and concludes with a lesson on riches. There is a close link between the three as St. Nikolai points out, "For when fasting is understood in a true, Christian sense and not in a legalistic Pharisaical way, then the forgiving of insults and abstaining from covetousness are a fast, and this the most important fast, or, if you wish, the greatest fruit of fasting. For indeed, there is very little value in abstaining from food without abstinence from the returning of insult for insult and the illusion of eartly riches." He makes an insightful spiritual understanding of the admonition to "Anoint thine head" while we fast, saying, "anoint your mind with the Holy Spirit. For 'the head' signifies 'the mind' and the whole soul, and the fragrant oil with which the head is anointed signifies the Holy Spirit. And this means: fast from all evil thoughts, and keep yourself from all obscene and unnecessary words." And like how we enjoy the feeling of anointing and washing of our body, fasting should give pleasure and joy to our soul. We must first make fasting our own in our mind, heart, and will, and then fulfill it willingly and joyfully in our body. May we begin this Lent with a proper fear of transgressing God's commandments and a determination to fast from all things dangerous for us in our spiritual journey and to imitate our perfect God as often as possible.