Perhaps it sounds strange that in the Church we preach the Gospel of Judgment. And yet, that's what we do. We confess that the Day of the Lord is not fear, but hope, and we declare with the whole Church: "Amen, yes, come Lord Jesus" (Rev.22,20).

If this is difficult for us to articulate, then something important is missing from our Christian consciousness. No matter what we say, we are still heathens dressed in evangelical clothing. We are still Christians for whom God is a God "from without," for whom His coming is darkness and fear, and whose Judgment is not our redemption, but our damnation. We are Christians for whom meeting the Lord is a terrifying event, and not what they long for, what has become the purpose of their lives. If we do not realize this, then Lent cannot be joy, because Lent brings with it Judgment and responsibility: we judge ourselves in order to change him, so that he can reach the Day of the Lord, the Resurrection, with an open heart , in faith, ready to celebrate the fact of her arrival. Every coming of the Lord is a judgment!