O Lord and Master of my life, free me from the spirit of idleness, curiosity, love of leadership, and idle talk
And bestow upon me, Your sinful servant, the spirit of chastity, humility of thought, patience, and love
Yes, my King and my God, grant me to know my sins and shortcomings, or else I will judge my brothers
For you are blessed forever, Amen.”

This prayer by Saint Fram the Syrian deserves par excellence to be called “the Lenten prayer.” It is read at the end of every fasting prayer from Monday to Friday, and it occupies an important position in the services because it enumerates in a unique way all the elements of repentance, both negative and positive, and because it serves as a “touchstone” for our personal effort in fasting.

The main disease that hinders repentance is unemployment, which is that strange laziness, that passivity that always convinces us that no change is possible. It is, in fact, a deep sarcasm that answers every spiritual challenge, “Why the fatigue?” It makes our lives a wasted effort. It is the root of all sins because it poisons spiritual energy at its original source.

The second mistake is despair and despair. The Greek word has been translated as curiosity because despair leads to distraction, and curiosity is one of the results of distraction. The Fathers considered this state to be the greatest danger to the soul, as it is impossible for a person to see anything good or positive, but rather makes everything negative and a source of pessimism. Despair is the suicide of the soul that makes a person helpless. To see the light and desire it.

It may seem strange that unemployment and despair fill our lives with the love of leadership, making life empty. We compensate for the emptiness by adopting a wrong attitude towards others. If God does not polarize my life, it inevitably becomes selfish. If God is not the master of my life, I become Lord and master of myself, the absolute center of my world, my thoughts. My desires, my opinions, the love of power is a basic deviation in my relationship with others, the effort to submit them to me. This may not always appear in control, it can appear in indifference, lack of respect for others, and contempt for them.

Of all creatures, man alone was given the gift of speech, and all fathers see in it the seal of the divine image in man, because God Himself has been revealed as a “word” (John 1:1). The greatest gift is itself the greatest danger. The word saves and kills, inspires and poisons. It is an instrument of truth and an instrument of lies. It actually creates a negative or positive effect. When it deviates from its divine origin and purpose, it becomes invalid.

These four things are the barriers that prevent repentance. We seek to remove them, but only God is able to remove them, so we cry out to Him from the depths of despair: O Lord and Master of my life.

After that, prayer moves to the goals of repentance, which are also four. Firstly, chastity and its meaning is not limited to sex. Chastity is the opposite of unemployment. The true precise meaning of the Greek word is the total integrity of the entity. Unemployment is a waste of our energies, our inability to see the total and comprehensive totality of the entity. So its exact opposite in immorality or sexual excess is not seen by man. Except for lust, and the body is estranged from the spirit. Christ restores totality in us by restoring to us the true peace of values by returning us to God.

Lowness of mind, humility is the fruit of the integration of being. Above all, it is the victory of truth within us and the erasure of all lies. God gives His grace to the humble and resists the arrogant. How does a person become humble? The answer is very simple: by contemplating the divine humility in the incarnate Christ, in whom God once and for all revealed His glory in humility and His humility in glory. We learn humility by contemplating Christ, who said, “Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” We learn from him when we measure everything by him and return everything to him.

Chastity and humility are automatically followed by patience. He who does not have patience is quick to judge others, measures everything according to his mood, only cares about himself, wants his life to be successful with speed. Patience is indeed a divine virtue. God is patient, not because he is tolerant, but because he sees the depths of what exists, because the truths of things are revealed to him while we are because of our blindness. We don't see it. The closer we get to God and the more we respect all creatures, the more we become patient.

In the end, love is the fruit of every spiritual struggle and the pinnacle of Christian virtues, the religion of love. The new commandment is “Love one another.” The Master added, “And by this everyone will know that you are my disciples.” Sin is separation and isolation because it is the absence of love. Love is not just a general human concern, but rather a personal and tangible love for real people whom God places. In my way, Christian love is to see Christ in the other human being, to love him as he is, a personal love that goes beyond what is external to participating with him in divine love. Only God is able to grant love, which is the goal of all spiritual preparation and practice.

All of this is brought together and summed up by the concluding prayer in which we ask God, “Grant me to know my sins and my faults, or else I will judge my brothers.” The only danger in the end is pride. It is not enough for me to see my faults, because this virtue itself may turn into pride. Spiritual writings are full of warnings against subtle forms of distorted piety that It leads to real arrogance under the guise of humility and self-accusation, but when we see our faults and do not condemn our brothers, or in other words, when chastity, humility, patience, and love are one in us, only then can we destroy pride.

About the book “Great Lent”
By Father Alexander Schmemen
Quoted from Orthodox Heritage Magazine