By f. Ilias Makos
Clean Monday is the first day of Great Lent and the Church urges us to follow the path of repentance, so that we do not “die” by suffocation, drowned in the ocean of a faceless and cruel society.
In order not to “die” from lack of oxygen, wrapped in the rose petals of sensuality.
In order to achieve true repentance, our Fathers advise us to throw away the masks, to get rid of the disguise we wear, to stop the masquerade.
Those things are for our entertainment during the Carnival.
It is clear from life itself that wearing a mask, not a face, is a mental illness, an unnatural and tortuous situation.
It suits us not to have a double life.
It is not worthy pretending all the time, like starring ourselves and having the others as an audience.
We appear to be, not as we are in reality, but as we want others to see us.
So our soul is deteriorating, and we are not ourselves.
With care, we hide our true colours, under the mask, with which we appear to our acquaintances and friends.
In this way, we inevitably live with the misery of compromise.
We know that we wear masks and that the others also wear masks. All is well that ends well.
In other words, we deceive one another.
This is why the repentance is useful during Great Lent.
The simplicity of humiliation, through the recognition of our mistakes and passions, is more valuable than the abundance of hypocrisy.
Let us not hurt our heart, let us not throw it away like something has died long before.
Would it be hard to ask ourselves not to wear a mask for a lifetime?
