Great Lent 2026: From Table to Heart

We’re now in the first week of Great Lent.

In this episode, I read the 2026 Great Lent message from His Eminence Metropolitan Saba, followed by a brief reflection on one central thread to carry with us as we continue the fast.

Lent is not merely abstaining - it is a movement from the table to the heart, from discipline to repentance, and from deprivation to love.

• Great Lent Message from Metropolitan Saba, 2026
  
  

Transcript

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This is the All Around Growth Podcast, a quiet space for Orthodox Christian living, formation, and reflection through the rhythm of the church. I'm Rob Kaiser. Let's begin. We are now in the first season of Great Lent. The fast has begun, the services have changed, and the rhythm of the church has shifted. Last week our Metropolitan shared a message for the season, and I want to read it with you today, and then share one thread to carry with us as we continue through this first week and through the Lenten season. The message from Metropolitan Saba is titled Great Lent twenty twenty six, and it reads as follows. Beloved in the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, by the grace of God we welcome the season of holy lent, this blessed time which the Church has appointed for us as an opportunity for renewal, repentance, and a sincere return to the depths of the heart, where we encounter our Lord in an atmosphere of stillness and clarity. This helps us to reorder our priorities and to realign our lives with our pursuit of the true life that is in Christ. It is a time to remember that fasting as we have received it from the living tradition of the church is not an end in itself, nor is it merely abstaining from certain foods. Rather it is a comprehensive spiritual journey whose aim is the liberation of the inner person and the reordering of our relationship with God, with ourselves, and with others. That we fast not to humiliate or punish the body, but so that the body may become obedient to the spirit. We fast because we ourselves are in need of fasting. Through it we grow spiritually and humanely. Our inner depths are healed, and our hearts are enlarged to receive the grace of God. God does not need our fasting, but he rejoices in our return to Him with a humble heart. That we were created for the heavenly kingdom, and fasting helps awaken this deep longing within us. It purifies our spiritual vision so that we may view our lives in the light of eternity. For this reason, the church calls us to live Lent within its communal framework, not as an individual effort or a selective choice, but as an experience lived by the community of believers across the generations and walked by the saints as a path toward true freedom. That our commitment to the church's fasting guidelines is not merely formal, but a call to move from disciplining the table to refining the heart, and from external abstinence to inner purification. True fasting leads us into the depths of ourselves where we confront our weakness, confess our sins, and open our hearts to the work of grace. That fasting is inseparably linked to prayer and the works of mercy. There is no fasting without prayer, and no fasting without love. Through prayer we lift our hearts to God, and through mercy we translate our fasting into a living act of love, especially toward the poor and the needy. Therefore the church calls us to share with others what we save through fasting, transforming abstinence into giving, hunger into communion, and deprivation into love. That our contemporary world, with its excessive consumption and false sense of fullness, is in urgent need today of the spirit of fasting as a path to freedom, balance, and the restoration of human mastery over oneself. We are not of this world, even though we live in it, and fasting teaches us to use the goods of the world without becoming enslaved to them. Fasting, my beloved, is the provision for the journey towards the glorious pasca, where the mystery of redemption becomes a living reality within us, and the resurrection of Christ is transformed into an inner resurrection that renews our lives. Let us live this holy season not as a negative act of deprivation, but as a positive journey toward God, filled with His presence, renewed in spirit and growing in love. I ask the Lord on your behalf to grant us all an acceptable fast, sincere repentance, and a humble heart, so that we may together attain the joy of the resurrection. Wishing you a blessed fast and a holy season, I remain your Father in Christ, Metropolitan Saba, Archbishop of New York, and Metropolitan of all North America. Now what I heard all the way through his message was a shift from the outside to the inside. Simply changing what's on the table to letting God refine what's inside us, what's in our hearts. Lent Lent isn't a performance, and Lent is not some private self-improvement project. The church gives us a shared path of returning to Christ through prayer, repentance, and mercy. And you can think of mercy as almsgiving. And fasting is also a part of that journey. This message from Metropolitan Saba also lines up with what I learned were the classic three pillars of Great Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. And in his message, he made the key point that Lent is not all about fasting. And fasting is about far more than abstaining from certain foods. Fasting is a practice of self-control. It helps us notice what controls us. It helps us slow down our wants and our desires. And it helps us start to become more patient and loving. And when we become more loving, what we do on the outside starts to change what happens on the inside. So this week, I'm trying to. I'm holding one simple question near my heart. And that question is, what can I convert into mercy? And what I mean is what can I save? What can I skip? What can I withhold so that that becomes or or or changes into mercy? And how can I give that away? And then one small practice from that question is what can I do? What is something what is one act that I can participate in? Something concrete. Something hidden. Something I don't talk about. This is almsgiving. This is the mercy. And this is a way that we let abstinence become love. In closing, and in the words of Metropolitan Saba, may the Lord grant us an acceptable fast, sincere repentance, and a humble heart, so that we may together attain the joy of the resurrection. Thanks for listening. All Around Growth is a quiet, ongoing work, offered without urgency and meant to be received at your own pace. Until next time.