Ash Monday begins at midnight tonight. That makes today, of course, the first Sunday of Great Lent: Cana Sunday. For such a beautiful time of the year, I cannot help but reflect more deeply on today's Qolo from the Antiochene Syriac Maronite rite:
Behold, fasting is at the door,
knocking and calling to us.
Let us go, brothers and sisters, to meet it.
Let us open the doors of our bodies to it
and set our thoughts free,
that it may dwell in our minds.
By fasting, our sins are forgiven
and our misdeeds blotted out.
By fasting, we inherit the kingdom and its bliss
in the company of the saints.
Lent, the crown of the heroes, has come.
Make ready your offerings,
your good and pleasant gifts for it.
For Lent secures for you the concealed weapon
to battle the evil One.
Brothers and sisters,
come and meet Lent with gladness
and accept it in your life and ways,
for Lent secures for you the wings of the spirit
by which you fly to the heights.
Behold, fasting is at the door,
knocking and calling to us.
Let us go, brothers and sisters, to meet it.
Let us open the doors of our bodies to it
and set our thoughts free,
that it may dwell in our minds.
By fasting, our sins are forgiven
and our misdeeds blotted out.
By fasting, we inherit the kingdom and its bliss
in the company of the saints.
Lent, the crown of the heroes, has come.
Make ready your offerings,
your good and pleasant gifts for it.
For Lent secures for you the concealed weapon
to battle the evil One.
Brothers and sisters,
come and meet Lent with gladness
and accept it in your life and ways,
for Lent secures for you the wings of the spirit
by which you fly to the heights.
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