{"id":227358,"date":"2019-02-12T11:56:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T09:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basilica.ro\/?p=227358"},"modified":"2019-02-12T12:59:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T10:59:47","slug":"its-not-too-early-to-start-thinking-about-great-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/its-not-too-early-to-start-thinking-about-great-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not too early to start thinking about Great Lent!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year, Great Lent begins on March 11. Because we are caught up in the agitation of everyday life, we often do not reflect on this Lenten season.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Only a few days before Lent we realize that we have not the slightest plan to improve our spiritual life for Easter.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a society defined by the \u2018procrastination habit,\u2019 as regards our professional projects or other, as disciples of Christ we must prove that progress in spiritual life means a daily concern implying efficient planning.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Having the lamp lit\u2019 implies a state of watchfulness that should be harmonized with a very well established spiritual program, of course in collaboration with our spiritual father.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since we carefully prepare the steps for a brilliant professional career, why wouldn\u2019t we do the same when it comes to spiritual life?<\/span><\/p>\n

Christ is more important than any career goal that will end sooner or later, while eternity is never scattered.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this regard, we offer you some tips for an effective preparation for Great Lent that is about to start soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do not leave the Mystery of Confession only for the Lenten period! God to your spiritual father, confess your sins and talk to him about your desire for an efficient organization of spiritual life. Thus, working together with him you can better prepare yourself for the Lenten season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Observe the regulations of the Triodion Cycle that involve preparation for Great Lent by gradually giving up certain foods but not only.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through a sincere introspection you can identify certain dysfunctions in your spiritual life that you have to eliminate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Set specific goals on how you want to practice virtues as an antidote to the passions that affect your spiritual life. In this sense, a real help will be your spiritual director.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aim not to miss any Sunday church service and enhance your private prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Discipline is extremely important in spiritual life, helping us not to deviate in our pilgrimage towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Most Church Fathers have pointed out that a disciplined life leads to Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a final hint, we quote Elder Teofil Paraian who teaches that \u2018the key to spiritual life is the discipline of the mind.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Photography courtesy of Basilica.ro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year, Great Lent begins on March 11. Because we are caught up in the agitation of everyday life, we often do not reflect on this Lenten season. Only a few days before Lent we realize that we have not the slightest plan to improve our spiritual life for Easter. In a society defined by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":227141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[5634,18414,18145,15620],"class_list":["post-227358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-romanian-patriarchate","tag-great-lent","tag-great-lent-2019","tag-spiritual-life","tag-stiri-ortodoxe-en"],"better_featured_image":{"id":227141,"alt_text":"","caption":"Ieromonah care spovedeste la Manastirea Radu Voda din Bucuresti. Foto: Basilica.ro","description":"","media_type":"image","media_details":{"width":1920,"height":1287,"file":"2019\/02\/AGB_0103-BW.jpg","sizes":{"thumbnail":{"file":"AGB_0103-BW-360x360.jpg","width":360,"height":360,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AGB_0103-BW-360x360.jpg"},"medium":{"file":"AGB_0103-BW-890x597.jpg","width":890,"height":597,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AGB_0103-BW-890x597.jpg"},"large":{"file":"AGB_0103-BW-1024x686.jpg","width":1024,"height":686,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AGB_0103-BW-1024x686.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"2.8","credit":"","camera":"NIKON D610","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1490187511","copyright":"","focal_length":"70","iso":"2500","shutter_speed":"0.01","title":"","orientation":"1","keywords":[]}},"post":null,"source_url":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AGB_0103-BW.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227358\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=227358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227358\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227141\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=227358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=227358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arhiva.basilica.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=227358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}