In a very real way dear ones, when we miss a Sunday, we miss the joy of Pascha!  We deprive ourselves of Christ’s joyful presence in our lives!  We deny ourselves the Holy Eucharist…Christ Himself!  We deny ourselves the inner change that comes from the descent of the Holy Spirit.  We reject the peace that can only be found within the walls of the Church and in the presence of Christ…in favor of a war torn, broken, and confused world, that has no answers. 

True and full happiness and satisfaction cannot be found in the world…but only in the love of God.  To think otherwise is insanity. 

If you are a “Sunday only Orthodox Christian”, you are deluding yourself into thinking that this journey through life, and into a real and meaningful relationship with God Himself, only requires you to sacrifice 2 hours on a Sunday morning to come to the Divine Liturgy.

It is about this time, in the middle Great Lent, where those who have been taking their spiritual lives seriously begin to feel weary and overcome by their struggles to fast. It becomes harder to give alms and even to pray.  It’s an annual tradition that every Orthodox Christian experiences: Great Lent around this time doesn’t always feel “Great”. 

For many of us sitting here today, this is an image of our own relationship with God.  We know He is nearby… “everywhere present and filling all things”, yet we place so many barriers between us and Him, that He feels almost inaccessible at times.  Instead of trusting in Him, we trust in man-made institutions and ideas.  Rather than making our relationship with Him a priority, we focus on our careers, our possessions, our comforts and entertainments.  Instead of repentance from sin, we would rather remain paralyzed by what sin does to us and to the rest of the world.