We are told: It is
no big deal to eat non-Lenten food during Lent. It is no big deal if you
wear expensive, beautiful outfits, go to the theatre, to parties, to masquerade
balls, use beautiful expensive china, furniture, expensive carriages and
dashing steeds, amass and hoard things, etc. Yet what is it that turns
our heart away from God, away from the Fountain of Life? Because of what do we lose eternal
life? Is it not because of gluttony, of expensive clothing like that of
the rich man of the Gospel story, is it not because of theaters and
masquerades?
What turns us
hard-hearted toward the poor and even toward our relatives? Is it not our
passion for sweets, for satisfying the belly in general, for clothing, for
expensive dishes, furniture, carriages, money and other things? Is it
possible to serve God and mammon, to be a friend to the world and a friend to
God, to serve Christ and Belial? That is impossible. Why did Adam
and Eve lose paradise, why did they fall into sin and death? Was it not
because of one evil?
Let us attentively
consider why we do not care about the salvation of our soul, which cost the Son
of God so dearly. Why do we compound sin upon sin, fall endlessly into
opposing to God, into a life of vanity? Is it not because of a passion for
earthly pleasures? What makes our hearts become crude? Why do we
become flesh and not spirit, perverting our moral nature?
Is it not because of a
passion for food, drink, and other earthly comforts? How after this can
one say that it does not matter whether you eat non-Lenten food during
Lent? The fact that we talk this way is in fact pride, idle thought,
disobedience, refusal to submit to God, and separation from Him.
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