Daily Journey Through the Great Fast With the Early Churchنموونە

My father of confession opened up the door, smiled, and asked if I was ready. I walked in and soon I forgot all the fancy wordplay and excuses and spilled everything out - my mouth couldn’t move fast enough. The weight on my chest was starting to feel lighter. We spoke for a long time; he sat there listening when I needed it and related to me when necessary. By the end, my priest read the “Absolution of the Servants” and looked up with a smile to say “congratulations, white as snow”. The sweetness of that love! I felt at peace. I felt I belonged. I felt like I wanted to tell the world, share that same feeling, the joy and happiness, the good news with everyone!

There are moments in our lives that stick and this was one of them. I had been moved by the Holy Spirit to inch closer to God’s love; that’s what His love does to you. Come as you are, be prepared to be changed, for the Holy Spirit, Who is sweet and so gracious, will draw you closer to love the Lord, and how can we, tasting of that sweetness, still harbor fear of suffering?! We will have a sweetness in us that will take away all the bitterness of fear and suffering!

What a feeling it must have been to be in need of God and to have the God-Man, Jesus Christ, fully Divine and fully Human, waiting for her at the well. She would go to the well at the hottest time of the day to avoid the stares, comments, whispers and pointing - little did she know when she went to the well burdened she would leave there changed, accepted and unburdened - she ran to share that feeling, the good news of acceptance...she had even left her waterpot, the very burden and shame she carried because of her sins.

The Samaritan woman met her Messiah there and He saw her for everything she was and He accepted her as His own child. What I have found interesting was when the disciples came back to the well they found Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman – “and they marveled.” [John 4:27] At what? Why are they all of a sudden surprised? Of course it was that she was a woman and a Samaritan. The fact was that the Jews and the Samaritans hated each other - centuries of opposing one another, we can understand why the disciples marveled but Jesus rose above the social and religious restrictions of a man speaking with a woman but also a Jew speaking with a Samaritan. Could it be that the joy of this story doesn’t just benefit one, but many? The will of God is to unite all people to Him, even those that have been separated by evil. This is why the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ suffered, so that he could gather together all the children of God who were scattered.

In the Orthodox tradition, this Samaritan woman was baptized by the disciples and given the name “Photini”, meaning “the enlightened one.” St. Photini became a missionary in her town, to the Samaritans and to Carthage in North Africa. She was known for her zealous and brave Christian teachings. She would ultimately give her life for the Lord Jesus Christ by refusing to deny Him and His teachings - she, as an enlightened one, gave that light she received to everyone and anyone that would listen, even standing before Emperor Nero and proclaiming to him, “O most impious of the blind, you profligate and stupid man! Do you think me so deluded that I would consent to renounce my Lord Christ and instead offer sacrifice to idols as blind as you?”Thatis the glory of the Gospel:that it transforms people from living a life of sin, a life of darkness to a life of joy, a life light.It transforms that most hardened sinner into a most zealous gracious saint.

How has His work in you been a work in others? Are you meeting Him at the well? Maybe you are running back to the town to tell the world about Jesus Christ. Maybe you are on the outside witnessing God’s divine plan bringing all His children together. Wherever you are, do not forget: do not lose your awe of the Gospel. Glory in the Gospel and share the Glory of the Gospel.

“I beg and beseech you, Lord: grant to all who have gone astray a true knowledge of you, so that each and every one may come to know your glory.” [St. Isaac the Syrian, 7th century Bishop of Nineveh and theologian]