With all the festivities of Shrove Tuesday (for those Orthodox Christians following the Western Rite), I am reminded of that late medieval Spanish ditty composed for that day: Hoy comamos y bebamos porque manana ayunaremos (Today let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we fast). Of course, you Russians have your blini fests (birreta tip to Huw Raphael).
Thinking ahead, of course, I ponder upon my lenten discipline-spiritual readings, meditations on Scripture and the Fathers, fasting, giving more towards efforts to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, etc.-in essence, living as we should live throughout the year. A fair amount of that time is ususally given over to what we should get rid of from our lives, i.e. a spiritual spring cleaning.
For this purpose, I will be posting a number of meditations on St. John Cassian's On the Eight Vices, from his Spiritual Conferences, beginning tomorrow (Ash Wednesday). I will make a few forays into Dante's Divine Comedy and St. Maximus the Confessor. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment