Reflection on Clean Monday

After a month of preparation, we begin the forty days of Great Lent. During these days of ascetic struggle, may we all take refuge in the prayers and instructions of the holy ascetics who have gone before us. May we guard ourselves against all temptation by the Cross of the Lord. May the Mother of God be a joyous presence during this time, as we greet her with the cry of “Rejoice!” And, through the fast, may Christ our true God reveal to us his great mercy, a mercy which will take on its definitive form in his Pascha.