In a pastoral visit to St Vladimir’s Seminary, His Eminence Archbishop Mark preaches on a recurring theme found in the Sunday Gospel readings leading up to and through Great Lent: when people encounter the Lord, they choose to either turn away or draw near. Those who drew near in the Gospels – Bartimaeus, Zaccheus, the Prodigal Son – saw the Lord as their Savior and left their old lives behind to follow Him. Archbishop Mark challenges us with the question, “As we approach Great Lent, is our encounter with Christ one that is life-changing, or is it one that we simply have become immune to?”