Sunday of the Second Week of Holy Lent

The Gospel according to St. Matthew (4: 1-11)

    “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' "Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.' "Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.' "Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”

    + My Lord Jesus Christ… Who fasted for us forty days and forty nights…

    + I wish You would lead my steps during these Holy Forty Days while I am under your protection… Hold my hand, O my Master, and take me to the wilderness… And even though this might be challenging in the body… allow my spirit to enter the wilderness of fasting.

    + The pressures of daily life and its worries and occupations have surrounded my soul… It almost suffocates the spirit inside of me.

    + The surrounding sins and the power of evil and heated battles fill the universe now… Selfish thoughts taking the shape of ambitions and departing from truth with cunning and devilish powers.

    + Pleasures with flames almost burning up the whole world and there isn’t anyone to extinguish… Running after lies and glory of a false world.

    + Fake glory and looks that hide behind them heaps of corruption… These surround my soul O my master… How can I, the weak, face pressures like these and waves of a roaring sea and strong winds able to drown even the strong.

    + My soul has been consumed from all the fights… I entreat You, crying… I need peace from You… Calm my soul and rebuke the waves to cease.

    + Take me, O my master, with You and in You and enter with me to the wilderness of the fast… There I shall stay with You forty days and forty nights…. Seeing no one but You… Yes my Master… I want to see none but You… There my soul is calmed and I discover within my weaknesses and You heal the wounds of my soul…

    + There I say to my body take what suffices you and there my spirit does not miss the chance of repentance and repairing what has been corrupted within it… Heal O my master… with Your fasting, the deficiencies of my fast… Let my fasting be acceptable to You.

    + Many years my fasting has only been the changing of food. These have counted for me losses not gains as my spirit has earned nothing from my fast… My habits have not changed throughout those years, neither have my behaviors and I have not approached towards You. So then after my fasting ends, I return back to my earlier life.

    + I desire that this year can differ from the years that have passed… Since I have no program nor wish nor promise that I will do anything… I have failed through all this, yet I will present myself to Your hands so You would work… Neither I, nor anyone, can save ourselves… Yet You are my Savior.

    + I am trusting and believing that You will teach me during this Holy Forty Days… Teach me to pray like the beginners… Pour out within my heart words of prayer so that Your Spirit may pronounce them within me… Kindle my heart so it walks within Your praise and love.

    + Teach me the prayer of the heart… Adopt my heart and purify it my Lord… The everlasting sins and lack of love of the neighbor have ruined it. It has been polluted by the idols of the nations who do not know God… But my heart loves You, O my master… Sanctify it with the sanctity of fasting on my behalf.

    + Teach me quietness, calmness, and silence. Enough of the multitude of speech… It does not lack from sin… Train me, O my master. I have grown tired of the falls of the tongue and the sins of the tongue. Unless the heart is fully sanctified, it is impossible for the tongue to speak of good things.

    + Routine has even conquered the Spiritual practices so I come to church and partake of the mystery of your Holy Sacrifice… Yet just like, to some a habit, I have lost the most delicious fruit of Communion and Confession.

    + Would you be so gracious O Lord to remove the scales off the eyes of my heart?… You who opened the eyes of the blind, so I can regain sight and behold Your lifegiving mysteries so I confess my sins and gain redemption?… So I can partake of Your Holy body so I can be morphed and changed and grow every day?… So that when I have come to the conclusion of the Forty Days, I can emerge victorious with You, protected by You… So the tempter would escape me…

    + Hearken and listen O my Lord and God… Amen.

Fr. Louka Sidarous

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