A Sermon for Quinquagesima: The Final Call to Prepare for the Great Fast

Jesus Christ Restoring the Sight of the Blind

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

Introduction 

As we stand on the threshold of Lent, the Sunday of “Quinquagesima” - so named because it falls fifty days before Easter - rings out as a final summons to prepare our hearts for the journey of repentance. In the Western Orthodox tradition, this is the third and final Sunday in the “Gesimatide” season, following “Septuagesima” and “Sexagesima”, and it serves as a bridge between the season of Epiphany and the Great Fast. 

Our lectionary reading for this Sunday brings us the Lord’s solemn words: “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem” (Luke 18:31). Christ speaks to His disciples of His coming Passion—His betrayal, suffering, and death—yet they do not understand. So, too, does the Church set before us the path of the Cross, and so often we, like the disciples, fail to grasp its meaning. 

A Season of Dying to Self

The pre-Lenten season reminds us that Lent is not a sudden imposition but a gradual descent into humility. The Western tradition, shaped by the wisdom of the Latin Fathers, has always emphasized that the spiritual life must be cultivated in stages. St. Benedict reminds us that the monastic life is a “scola virtutum”, a school of virtue, where the soul is trained in obedience, prayer, and self-denial. Similarly, the Gesimatide season has prepared us through readings that recall the labors of the Christian life: 

- Septuagesima spoke of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), reminding us that salvation is by grace but requires perseverance. 

- Sexagesima reflected on the sower and the seed (Luke 8:4-15), teaching us that the Word of God must take root in a heart free from worldly distractions. 

- Now, on Quinquagesima, we hear of Christ’s journey to Jerusalem, while St. Paul exhorts us to charity, the highest of all virtues (1 Corinthians 13). 

This last message is essential: fasting, prayer, and almsgiving are meaningless without love. The great ascetics of the Church, from St. Anthony of Egypt to St. Benedict and St. Francis, remind us that external observance must be accompanied by an internal transformation. St. Paul warns that we may give all our goods to the poor and yet be nothing if we have not charity (1 Corinthians 13:3). 

The Healing of Blindness: A Call to Spiritual Sight

The Gospel for Quinquagesima also recounts the healing of the blind man outside Jericho (Luke 18:35-43). Just as the disciples could not comprehend Christ’s prophecy of His Passion, so too was this man unable to see—until he called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” His cry is the model for our own Lenten journey. We must recognize our blindness, our need for grace, and cry out with the same fervor. 

This healing is deeply symbolic. Jericho, in the Old Testament, was the city of worldly power and pride, the first to fall as Israel entered the Promised Land. Spiritually, Jericho represents the city of the flesh, the old man that must be cast down. To be healed outside Jericho is to leave behind the blindness of sin and enter into the light of Christ. The blind man’s words, “Lord, that I may receive my sight”, should be our own prayer as we approach the Lenten fast. 

The Lenten Fast as a Return to First Love

The discipline of Lent is not about mere abstinence but about returning to our first love - Christ Himself. The traditional Western observance of fasting from meat, dairy, and indulgence is not a legalistic burden but a means of sharpening our spiritual hunger. St. Leo the Great reminds us: 

“What is more effective in drawing us to God than fasting, by which we suppress vice and elevate the mind?” (Sermon 42) 

Quinquagesima urges us to prepare for this fast in love. We must begin now to forgive our enemies, to be reconciled with those we have wronged, and to lay aside the weight of resentment and self-justification. We must remember that fasting from food is nothing if we do not also fast from sin. 

The Road to Jerusalem

Christ’s words, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem”, are a call to every Christian soul. Lent is our ascent, our journey to the Cross, where all false attachments are stripped away. The Western Orthodox tradition, with its deep sense of penitence and preparation, does not rush us into Lent but leads us step by step, ensuring that we are ready to undertake the fast with true purpose. 

As we leave behind Gesimatide and enter into Ash Wednesday, may we take to heart the lessons of this Sunday: 

- To seek charity above all things, for love is the soul of fasting.  

- To cry out for spiritual sight, that we may truly see Christ. 

- To set our faces toward Jerusalem, embracing the Cross as the only way to Resurrection. 

The journey begins now. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.

COLLECT 

O Lord, who dost call us to go up to Jerusalem with Thee, that we may behold Thy Passion and partake of Thy Resurrection: Grant us grace, that, laying aside all blindness of heart, we may with true charity embrace the holy fast of Lent; that, denying ourselves, we may follow Thee in the way of the Cross, and by Thy mercy attain unto the vision of Thy glory; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.