Awaken to the Light: Embrace Lent with Purpose
In this inspiring sermon, Joseph Stoeghofer encourages believers to awaken from spiritual slumber as they enter the meaningful season of Lent. With a focus on repentance, humility, and forgiveness, he highlights how Lent is not about outward discipline but the conversion of the heart.
Transcript
In today's epistle, St. Paul says to his readers and to us today, "It is high time to awake out of sleep. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us cast off works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Great Lent begins tomorrow. We are standing at the threshold. The church does not encourage us to drift into this season casually or unprepared.
As Father Nicholas has been reminding us, we need to be prepared. The readings we've heard in the leadup to Lent show us how to enter it properly with repentance, humility, mercy, and forgiveness.
The night is far spent. When Paul speaks about night and day, darkness and light, he's describing a spiritual reality. In the Gospel of John, the Lord declares, "I am the light of the world." He is the true light who enlightens everyone. The night is life without Christ—a life of indifference, slavery to the passions, spiritual drowsiness. Last Sunday, in the parable of the sheep and the goats, we were given a confronting glimpse of that darkness. The goats ignored Christ in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, and the prisoner. They were cast away. It's a sobering thought. Perhaps we don't fully grasp how serious it really is. And then in contrast, how extraordinary it is to belong to the good shepherd as one of his sheep. So when Paul tells us to cast off the darkness, he means get rid of it. Not tomorrow, but now where our treasure is.
In today's gospel, Christ tells us that storing up treasures on earth means living for what doesn't last—wealth, pleasure, comfort, reputation. St. John Chrysostom warns that a life of excess and indulgence becomes a kind of slavery. And as Ecclesiastes reminds us, earthly things fade away. They are soon forgotten. Instead, we are to store up treasures in heaven. Treasures that last forever. That treasure is humility, repentance, mercy, and forgiveness. These are not forgotten by God.
The church has prepared us. For the past 3 weeks, the church has been preparing us step by step. The Pharisee and the publican taught us humility. The prodigal son taught us repentance. The sheep and the goats taught us mercy. And now on the eve of Lent, Christ teaches us forgiveness. That is no accident. The church has been shaping our hearts carefully, preparing us to enter the fast in the right spirit.
Fasting in the heart. St. John calls fasting a divine commandment. Divine meaning from God. The first sin of humanity involved breaking a fast. Adam fell through disobedience in the area of food. Fasting is a powerful medicine. Like the scalpel, it can bring healing, but if misused, can also cause harm. Christ warns us not to fast like the hypocrites who make a show of it. St. Augustine says that pride can hide not only in wealth and luxury but even under sackcloth and ashes. We must not deceive ourselves into thinking that simply because we fast, we are holy. That was the Pharisees' mistake. He fasted and he exalted himself and he left unjustified. The publican who humbled himself went home justified.
Receiving the weak. St. Paul tells us not to judge one another over matters like fasting. And St. Augustine comments, we are to welcome the weak, supporting them with our strength rather than assuming we can see what is in their hearts. We are to receive one another rather as the father receives the prodigal son patiently and without condemnation just as God receives us. And if it's justice we want, Christ himself will come as judge. Everything we've heard today, brethren, leads us to the heart of the message. To put on Christ is to forgive. The night is pride, judgment, and clinging to what passes away. The day dawns when we show mercy, love our neighbor, and support the weak, even when we've been wronged.
The prodigal was embraced in mercy. The sheep acted in love towards those in need. Paul tells us to carry the weak in humility. It is clear this is the pattern Lent sets before us. Forgive as we hope to be forgiven.
Great Lent is not about proving our discipline, our strength, or righteousness. It is about the conversion of our hearts. So as we begin the fast, let us cast off the works of darkness. As Paul says, put on Christ and forgive from the heart. Then when we stand before him, we will not fear the judge, but recognize in him the loving Father whose mercy we have begun to reflect. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
