Meatfare Sunday

"When You will come to earth in glory, O God, and all creatures will tremble before You, the river of fire will flow before your judgment- seat, and the books will be opened and all hidden things revealed: deliver me from the unquenchable fire and make me worthy to stand at your right hand, O righteous Judge!" (Kontakion)

Is it really Meatfare already?! Of course, the answer is yes. It seems that no matter when this day falls during the year, I always feel like it comes far to early for my liking. Meatfare Sunday, also known as the Sunday of the Last Judgment, is a celebratory day because, come tomorrow, we are to abstain from meat products until Pascha, or Easter Sunday. I found it oddly appropriate that Meatfare Sunday should fall on Super Bowl Sunday this year and consumed all of the wings and sausage pizza I could handle.

I have also been musing on the wisdom of our Church. The Great Fast Starts up next week (Feb. 15th) and we are to also abstain from dairy products from this time onward. No meat and no dairy is a daunting thought and so the church eases us into the process. Abstaining from all meat and dairy is the most traditional and most rigorous form of fasting (which also includes increased prayer and alms giving). There is a less intense form of fasting which a large portion of Eastern Christians adhere to which proscribes fasting from meat and dairy products on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Great Fast, or Lent as my Latin Brothers and Sisters refer to it, is an intense period of abstinence, prayer and almsgiving. For me, being away from home and from my church, it is something I have found to be a challenge. That is one reason I decided to start my blog again. It is my hope that by keeping a blog I can not only share with others aspects of my Byzantine Catholic faith and heritage, but I believe it will also be a way for me to grow spiritually. I hope to update it a few times a week with some Lenten Hymns, readings for the week and some of my own personal struggles and musings.