First, meatfare and cheesefare weeks are kind of like Mardi Gras, in the sense that we do enjoy things like meat and cheese more than normal as we prepare for Lent (at least I do).  However, there is a markedly different feel to this time of year.Our scripture readings for this period are pretty heavy: the Publican and the Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, the Last Judgement and the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden.They serve to, for four weeks, remind us that we are the pharisee, the prodigal, the goats and Adam.  There isn’t really anything to party about here.  All of this leads up to Forgiveness Vespers.  After we have focused on our “missing the mark” for four weeks, we admit that the path of healing begins with repentance.  Thus, each person repents to and begs for forgiveness from each other member of the parish.

Second, Lent in the Western context often focuses on what is being “given up.” The Orthodox tradition speaks much differently, we talk about what we get: healing, joy, prayer, mended relationships.  These are the byproducts of our fasting because we know the goal: Pascha!  One may ask, how do you get mended relationships from fasting?  Well, several ways.  First, our limited eating should focus also on saving money.  This money should then be spent for alms so that we can help the poor around us.  But more than just money, we should donate our time as well.  When we do these things, we begin heal the dysfunctional social relationships that have created things like poverty and, hopefully, we make a new friend in the process.  Second, we are reminded that food is made for the body, not the body for food.  In realizing this, we begin to heal from our enslavement to our passions which drive us to sin.  What relationship is mended from this you ask?  Why our relationship to God!  Our passions are given to us to love God, yet we choose to love ourselves instead and fill ourselves to the brim as though God would not provide the next meal for us.  To restrain the passions is to free them so that they might find fulfillment in Him who is the source of all things.  This is why Lent is such a great joy (though a difficult joy to be sure)!