The Second Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to St. Gregory Palamas, the 14th century great scholar, monastic and later Archbishop of Thessaloniki, whose central teaching was that through faith, prayer and the sacraments of the Church, Christians experience a personal sharing in the life of God.
Two words sum up the life and work of St. Gregory: “theosis” and “hesychasm”. Theosis, also known as divinization, refers to the transformative process of becoming like God, or participating in the divine nature, through union with God. Hesychasm is a method of prayer and spiritual practice seeking quietude or prayerful stillness before God.
Quiet time with God is one of the most effective means of rising above the daily routine, a way of transcending the imprisonment of human frailties, which is both private and corporate, not just saying a prayer here and there but a concerted serious effort to develop one’s life of prayer. It has been said the power of prayer fulfills or completes the sacrament of our union with God.
This is why this Sunday’s dedication is an essential part of our lenten discipline by which the Church seeks to awaken us to the power of prayer and to the mystery of our “theosis” in Christ.
Please continue to have a fruitful journey through Great Lent.
