Sundays of Lent

In the Armenian Church, each Sunday of Lent is devoted to a specific time in human history and conveys a basic Christian truth. These six Sundays embrace the whole of human life from birth to death, as well as the greatest events in the human story from the creation to the end of the world. Think of these Sundays as a movement through time and especially space. First, we are in the beauty and joy of Paradise: sunshine, nature teeming with abundance, animals, people and God all in harmony with one another. Then we move to a dark time, mist and clouds hanging low as we stumble to regain our footing. From there we labor up a long, steep embankment onto a grassy plateau and through gardens and vineyards and places of human cultivation and the sweat of labor. Finally, we scale a steep rise on a path that disappears into the blue sky and through the gates of a heavenly and unimaginably glorious City. This is the human journey. This is the Lenten journey. As the Lord said: Follow me!