Author: matthew

Townsville

Townsville, located in North Queensland, is currently home to 45 Coptic Orthodox students studying at James Cook University and 10 families. FOCUS JCU is a group that promotes fellowship and enables the youth to celebrate, cultivate and stay close to their Orthodox origins. The youth in Townsville gather for daily prayers as well as weekly Bible studies, yo
uth meetings, midnight praises and social outings. The words of David the Psalmist are indeed true, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)

As all drastic changes in life, living away from home is initially challenging but an undeniably rewarding experience. The greater sense of independence and responsibility prompts the youth to rely more on God as their Father who protects them and supplies all their needs. The youth cannot deny the significant spiritual, physical and social growth they undergo when living interstate.

Initially, when there were only a few students and families, a priest was flown up every 3-4 months to pray a mass in a hired college hall. However, over the last 4 years, God has blessed the congregation in number of ways and granted them their own church in 2012, St Mary and St George Coptic Orthodox Church. By the grace of God, the services have dramatically increased to meet the demands of the rapidly growing congregation. We are excited to announce that we have initiated discussions with builders to establish a multi-purpose function centre on church grounds for Sunday school, functions and a place of residence for priests visiting every fortnight.

Glory be to God Forever, Amen

The Holy Spirit

By: Monica Gerges

This Sunday marks the end of the Holy Fifty days after the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead; but as you are all likely aware, it also marks the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Holy Apostles and essentially, the birth of the Holy Church. The feast of the Pentecost is one of the major feasts of the Lord and although it signifies the end of the fifty gluttonous non-fasting days, it should also act as a reminder of, not only God’s abundant love for us shown through the sacrifice of His Son for our salvation but also that, as Christians, the Holy Spirit dwells and works within each of us.

Interestingly, the day of Pentecost and the gift of Holy Spirit to the Apostles from God un-coincidentally falls on the day that the nation of Israel received the 10 commandments from God on Mount Sinai and manifest the establishment of their covenant with God. The incarnation and crucifixion of the Son signified the beginning of the new covenant between God and his creation which was to replace the old Mosaic covenant. However, despite the new covenant beginning at the crucifixion, I don’t believe it was truly professed to the world until the day of Pentecost and as such, its declaration should provoke us to recall what the covenant Jesus established for us truly entails – love – and since Jesus is God and God is love, I’ll let him explain:

“Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

Here, Jesus explicitly explains the greatest form of love and beyond this, He shows us this great love when He is hung on the cross for each of our sakes. In any case, giving up one’s life for a friend speaks volumes but the fact that the one and only, pure and blameless God humbled himself, was incarnated and took the form of man just to lay down his life for you and I is something I find completely incomprehensible.

“You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven: for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:43-45)

Again, Jesus give an instruction and leads by example when he says “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do?” (Luke 23:34) as He was on the cross. This too is one of the greatest displays of love; Jesus’ love for those who crucified Him was so fierce that He not only asks for their forgiveness but excuses them of their sins. This is the extent of God’s love for us! He chose, by His own will, to come and save us from our sins and despite the fact that we fail to please Him time and time again His love for us never dwindles or fails. He gives us hope that, despite our weaknesses and our imperfections we are strengthened and purified through Him. And though the affliction of sin may be heavy, we will always find rest in Him.

This is the message of the new covenant established by Jesus on the cross and finally proclaimed on the day of Pentecost. For the Jews, the feast of the Pentecost commemorates the establishment of their covenant with God, but for us it signifies the replacement of one covenant with a better one – a one where salvation and eternal life is already won, where forgiveness is unbounded and love is infinite.

From the day of the ascension to the day of Pentecost, the Apostles waited in prayer and prepared themselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit. St Isaac the Syrian says:

“The power to bear Mysteries, which the humble man has received, which makes him perfect in every virtue without toil, this is the very power which the blessed apostles received in the form of fire. For its sake the Saviour commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they should receive power from on high, that is to say, the Paraclete, which, being interpreted, is the Spirit of consolation. And this is the Spirit of divine visions. Concerning this it is said in divine Scripture: ‘Mysteries are revealed to the humble’ [Ecclus 3:19]. The humble are accounted worthy of receiving in themselves this Spirit of revelations Who teaches mysteries.”

So we see that for the Holy Spirit to truly dwell within the apostles, they had to reflect Christ in both humility and purity. Likewise, we too aim to purify and humble ourselves this Sunday in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. (It’s important to mention that the Holy Spirit already dwells in those who have been baptised and the feast of the Pentecost can be considered more a resurgence of the Spirit within us.)

The Church in her wisdom has appointed for us the Prostration prayer to be prayed following the Divine Liturgy on Sunday. After the purification of our hearts by the Divine Liturgy we are physically humbled in prostration, the combination of which provides optimal conditions for the revival of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. The prostration prayer is made up of 3 prostrations, one for each member of the Holy Trinity. This, in some ways, is comparable to the sacrament of baptism which involves 3 immersions into water, one for each member of the Holy Trinity. This similarity is significant because it is during the sacrament of baptism that the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in the individual and hence the prostration prayer itself is an imitation of the Holy sacrament of Baptist. So let us be imitations of Christ that the Holy Spirit may work in us as it did in the Holy Apostles that we may be lights unto the world.

Glory be to God forever. Amen

The Lost Sheep

By: Catherine Girgis

Have you ever felt a little out of place in social situations? Just standing there awkwardly, hoping someone will involve you in a conversation. If this is you, know that you are not alone. Although our church is filled with wonderful youth, sometimes it’s hard to fit in. You wonder whether they will even notice if you’re there or not; but this is your first mistake.

The reason for our presence in church is often lost amongst all the social aspects.

Is there ever a time where you have skipped the mass and come to church after, just to hang out with friends or attend an outing?

Ever skipped the talk at youth meeting and come for the gathering?

Many of us are guilty of forgetting the real reason we come to church – to communicate with our heavenly Father, and to gain insight into the life we should be living. If this were the real reason we were coming to church, then no matter how hard it can be to feel unwanted, we would still stay because we know we are wanted by the Lord.

Have you noticed someone just disappear from the church community? Someone you barely see anymore? Now I urge you to think, did this person ever seem uncomfortable or unwelcome? I am asking this not because I expect you to be always focusing on how others feel (although this is something we should always be aiming for) but because when people become distant, there is quite often a reason which they were trying to share but you may have missed the signs completely.

A lot of people like to play the blame game as to why these people have strayed, but the important thing to note, is that as Christians we are called to search for the lost sheep, not place blame for why they are lost in the first place. If we are being totally honest with ourselves, there are two parties to blame for our youth going astray – us and them.

I know how difficult it can be to feel left out and unwanted, but this is where we are blinded by the world.

We are never truly left out or unwanted in church because it is the house of God – the One and Only who is always seeking you out, who will never make you feel like a burden or unwanted, but quite the opposite.

He so desperately wants us and yet we, when we feel left out among our earthly friends, leave the only One who we truly know always wants our company, by avoiding the church completely. Look at it this way, when you love a group of people and you don’t feel this love back, it hurts. But this is what we are always doing to our Heavenly Father – no matter how great we may think we are, we are human. We sin, and sin is both unloving and rejecting of the love we most definitely don’t deserve.

I urge you, no matter how left out you feel to come to Christ and you will feel a love like no other – one that never fades. No matter how unchristian you may think the Christians around you are, come to Christ for He is perfect and the One we should be aiming for.

To those of you who feel comfortable in the social life of the church, this is a blessing which you should not take for granted, but I ask you this – do you think Christ would be happy that you are the stumbling block which leads people astray?

This may seem harsh to say but if we are being truthful, most of the time this is the case. I know it seems unreasonable to always be worrying about who is left out and who feels unwelcome, but this is precisely what Christ wants us to do. I can guarantee you it will be much more enjoyable to be in the company of friends; but we are we really called to live a life of comfort, or rather a life of sacrifice?

I tell you this not so that you serve without love, because if you serve without love it would be better not to serve at all. People who initially feel left out, will not feel more welcome but rather more of a burden, if we serve without love. I urge you instead to truly show interest in this person, and truly try to make them feel comfortable. Introduce them to others, include them in your conversations – after all Christ came for the sick, and we must follow in His footsteps and truly serve those in need.

So if you are feeling excluded – pray that the Lord may give you the comfort of His inclusive family, and that you may feel His love always. And if you feel included – pray that the Lord may give you the wisdom to be able to serve those who don’t, so that you may partake in His world, and truly be a part of His family.

Glory be to God, Amen

Ascension

By Mina Shehata

Little attention is given to the ascension of Christ. It is often overshadowed by the Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, and eclipsed by the present workings and future Second Coming of Christ. Celebrated in our ravenous post-“seyami” (fasting) agenda after the Feast of the Resurrection, it typically comes and goes and we are still munching on our Tim Tams; planning how to best gluttonize ourselves in our final days of non-fasting…

Saint Augustine of Hippo once said:

“the ascension is a festival which confirms the grace of all the festivals together, without which the profitableness of every festival would have perished. For unless the Saviour had ascended into heaven, his Nativity would have come to nothing … and his Passion would have born no fruit for us, and his most holy Resurrection would have been useless.”

Hold up. Let’s re-read that again.

Is St Augustine really saying that without the Ascension, Christ’s birth and death are “nothing” and “useless”?!

Clearly, there’s a dichotomy between the way we treat this major feast, and the way the Church views it!

Before we begin exploring it, I pose the question, “How many days after the Resurrection did the Ascension occur?”

“40 days… that’s a no brainer!” would be the typical response.

But are you sure?

Let’s explore.

Three passages of Scripture (John, Luke and Acts) best express this historic event.

John 20: 17-26 (set on the day of the Resurrection) states:

“Jesus said to her [Mary Magdalene], “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God… Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Interestingly, the word “ascend” is used in the present tense. Was Christ at that very moment in the process of His ascension, with Mary Magdalene retaining Him?

Bearing in mind that Thomas was not with the disciples when Christ appeared to them, let’s continue reading:

“And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”

More questions rouse interest. Where was Jesus in these eight days? Wasn’t He ascending a week ago? Why does Christ permit Thomas to touch Him, but not Mary as He is “ascending”? Is it because Christ had already ascended by the time Thomas met Him?

So I’m praying that these questions made you go back and re-read the passage (bonus points if you opened up the chapter!). Although we can’t adequately address any of these questions just yet, we get the impression that John almost portrays Christ as ascending on the VERY day of the Resurrection.

As strange as this sounds, this unity between the Resurrection and Ascension is not as foreign to our Church as you might think. Up until the 4^th century, the early Church celebrated the Resurrection and Ascension as one feast (that’s right, for approximately 300 years!). In fact, the entire 50 days between the Resurrection of Christ and the Pentecost was the celebration of both the Resurrection and Ascension feasts. The early Church saw these events as one process and one movement for our salvation.

Before you dismiss this connection as fastidious, let’s turn to Luke’s account^] (Lk 24: 13- 52):

“13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day [day of Resurrection] to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem… So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him… Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight…33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.”… 50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

Note, that the events of this passage all occur in the same day! Analogously to John’s account, Luke says that the Resurrection was on the same day as the Ascension – it’s just made more explicitly!

Lastly, let’s examine our final account of the ascension, Acts 1: 1-9.

“The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God… Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

Here we read of the renowned 40 days. It’s worthwhile remembering that the book of Acts was written by Luke, the author of the gospel of Luke (whom we just read our second passage from). So how can Luke in his gospel say that Christ ascended the very day of his Resurrection, while in Acts it says it occurred 40 days later? It’s the same author?!

How do we reconcile all of this?

Is there a contradiction?

No!

Father Daniel Fanous insists that in reality we’re looking at three different events that illustrate the active continual process of the Ascension. What does that mean?

When Christ tells Mary Magdalene that “I’m ascending to my father” it’s truly because He ascends then. When Christ meets Thomas eight days later, He truly descends before then to meet and strengthen our “doubting” brother Thomas. This ascending and descending process continues throughout the 40 days – almost as if Christ is bringing the grace of Heaven to earth, and earth to Heaven; paving the way for humanity to partake of Him. And at the end of the 40 days, Christ ascends for the final and complete ascension.

St John Chrysostom comments on this final ascension on the fortieth day, saying:

“On this day all mankind was restored to God, the long warfare and prolonged estrangement was ended”.

Quite often we believe that the resurrection was the summit and completion of salvation, however St John Chrysostom points out that this was a process that was completed at the Ascension. Thus, the Ascension does something drastic for us; it marks the entrance of resurrected humanity in Heaven.

We see that while the incarnation meant the self-humiliation, self-renunciation, and self-abnegation (Phil. 2:5-11) of Christ, the ascension into heaven was the removal of these restricting factors and the resumption of that fullness of glory before the Incarnation. The Ascension was undoubtedly an important event in the life of Christ marking the conclusion of His earthly ministry, and the opportunity for the permanent descent of the Holy Spirit for all humanity thereafter.

St John Chrysostom continues:

“We are not worthy of even earthly dignity, but we now ascend with Christ to a Heavenly Kingdom…we in Him are also raised to Heaven”.

Coupled with verses such as John 14:3, “I [Christ] go and prepare a place for you [disciples]”, Christ illustrates that not only does His ascension highlight His divine status, but by extension allows and invites us to join and partake of Him in this glory.

St Cyril of Alexandria beautifully summarises the Ascension in:

“Having blessed them and gone ahead a little, he was carried up into Heaven so that he might share the Father’s throne even with the flesh that was united to Him”

No discussion of the Ascension is complete without realizing its ties to us here and now, that is, in the Eucharist. For in the Liturgy, the Church with Jesus becomes a community of ascension and oblation, sharing in His heavenly offering to the Father, and manifesting the Spirit who reorganizes created reality around Him. It is in the Eucharist that we witness what actually happened in the Ascension – namely the entire cosmos becoming fundamentally reordered, sanctified and taken up to Heaven to God the Father in Christ.

Taken as a whole, the prayer of the Church is therefore a continual ascent of man towards intimacy with God, a procession upwards in the steps of Jesus the Forerunner, towards the Father. This ascension culminates in the divinization of human nature, not only in the life beyond but here and now. The climax of this divinization is the Eucharistic communion in which we partake of God Himself as he transforms us through this union with Himself.

This mystery of ascending to God can be experienced here and now! Cease this opportunity! Turn to Him with repentance. Don’t forget that!

May we always “lift up our hearts” to the Lord earnestly.

Glory be to God.

Appendix

This pattern of ascending and descending is not novel to the student of the Old Testament. Throughout the Bible we see this underlying motif e.g. Adam and Eve living in an open horizon of divine blessings in the Garden of Eden, however because of their disobedience they were cast out and lived with their progeny in the plains below, in the “land of sepulture” (as referred to by St Irenaeus). A single righteous man through God rescued a wicked nation on the spiritual decline, by being carried in the ark “high above the earth” (Gen 7:17) for forty days. Abram is called from Ur of Chaldees into the hills of Canaan for the renewal of a divine promise for only many generations later to go down to the plains of the Nile to suffer there in Egypt for centuries in servitude. Brought out again by the mighty hand of God having passed through the deep of the Red Sea on dry ground, Moses ascends to the peak of the mountain to the glory of God. Down below the people dance round their golden fertility god, and waste away in the desert. Not until Yahweh establishes on Mount Zion the throne of David, does it begin to seem that the cherubim might at last drop their guard, for Eden to reappear: “Lift up your heads, O you gates be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in” (Ps 2). The story continues: David covets Bathsheba from the vantage point of the palace’s rooftop garden, ending with the sack of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and a return to the floodplains of Shinar. Afterwards under the benevolent Persian regime, a tiny pilgrimage led by Nehemiah ascends Zion once more to restore the walls of Jerusalem and its temple to Yahweh. Then comes a man, the new Adam, the new humanity, who humbles and empties Himself to the extent of taking on our flesh, so that He could complete what was promised long ago. He is seen “coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62) to eventually be “seated at the right hand side of the Father” (Mark 16:19)[1].

[1] Farrow, Douglas. Ascension Theology. London: T & T Clark, 2011. Print.

Tools for prayer

By: Dina Abdelmalek

When asked what virtue requires the greatest effort, one of the desert fathers answered and said “I think there is no labour greater than that of prayer to God. For every time a man wants to pray, his enemies, the demons, want to prevent him, for they know that it is only by turning him from prayer that they can hinder his journey. Whatever good work a man undertakes, if he perseveres in it, he will attain rest. But prayer is warfare to the last breath.”

I don’t know about you, but when I read that, it was quite comforting! I’m glad that the heavies also struggled with prayer. There are so many times where I just don’t feel like praying, or when I do, I don’t know what to say, or I get distracted, but as I read what the church fathers had to say on prayer, I found out that that was okay! We’re meant to struggle, but we have to force ourselves to pray. In fact, The Holy Fathers say that prayer with force is higher than prayer unforced!

Thankfully, we have many tools for prayer and so I’m going to write about a few.

Tool 1. Preparation

Although we seem to make preparations for every other task, we do not prepare for prayer. We take up prayer with our hearts and minds unprepared, with our thoughts and feelings scattered. We need to prepare for prayer! Preparation is a critical tool for success in our prayers. It is the beginning of prayer and “a good beginning is half the work”.

To prepare for prayer we should firstly designate a prayer space, a space free from all distractions. St Theophan then suggests standing for a moment, or kneeling before our prayer space and striving in this time to focus our thoughts and to call to mind the One to Whom we are praying. As we stand before Him, we need to awaken in our souls a sense of reverent awe, having a conviction that God is looking at us, that he is looking at our mind and at our hearts, and that His reward is in His hand.

During this time, we need to reject any sort of resentment we hold in our hearts “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him…” Mark 11:25. We need to detach our hearts from the world, to allow it to be lifted to God through our prayers.

Finally, we need to re-establish our sense of spiritual need, to remember our helplessness and our weakness: were it not for God and His infinite grace, we would most definitely be lost. This will force us to cry out to God in our prayers. We won’t put prayer off, we won’t let our thoughts slide so easily and we won’t let ourselves be distracted, but rather we’ll be pouring ourselves before God.

Tool 2. The Bible-The Psalms

There is no doubt that the Bible is one of the greatest tools in our prayer life. One way we can use the Bible is through the book of psalms. The book of psalms is such a beautiful treasure, in it we find a fit form of divinely inspired words to use in our prayers to address God on each and every one of life’s occasions, words both of repentance and of praise, of thankfulness and of petition, of sorrow and of joy. This makes the psalms one of the BEST tools for prayer. For we can take the words of the psalms upon our lips claiming them as our own. We can offer the words of the psalms to God as our own heart’s utterance, just as though we ourselves have made them up.

The church in its infinite wisdom has given us the Agpeya- a book of prayers compiled nearly entirely from the psalms. When we don’t read it hurriedly, when we pay attention to every word and we let the meaning of each word pierce our hearts, it transforms our prayer life. For example, in psalm 51, when we read “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin” we should let those words pierce our hearts, trying to really feel our sins, our stains and having felt our dirtiness we should then cry out to God in prayer to cleanse us.

Tool 3. The Bible-Bible stories

“The study of words should give place to an immediate dialogue with the living Word himself”- Bishop Kallistos Ware

Another way the Bible is used as a tool for prayer is when we use the stories in the Bible in our prayer. Let me explain myself by giving you a couple of simple examples. When we read the story of the Samaritan woman in John 4, we read “But He NEEDED to go through Samaria”. Jesus elected to go directly through Samaria. So basically, Jesus sought the Samaritan woman out! He sat at Jacob’s Well and waited for her to come for water, knowing that she would. We can use this story when we stand before God in prayer, we can say to Him “Lord, You sought after the Samaritan woman and enlightened her mind, seek after me also, seek after me and enlighten my mind”. In Mark 9:24, when we read the father of the mute child cry out to God “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief”, we shouldn’t just read over that and continue with the rest of the chapter, we should lift up our hearts as we read those words and cry out to God to also help our unbelief and to continue to do so whenever we pray.

Tool 4. The Bible- God’s promises

Another way the Bible is used as a tool for prayer is by reiterating before God the words of His promises. The church fathers say it is difficult for a man to enter upon a fervent and true prayer with God without doing so. Again, I’ll give an example of what I mean: In Mathew 11:28 Christ says “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” So when we do find ourselves weary and weighed down, we can come to God and say “Lord, You said to come to You when we are heavy laden and You will give us rest, I’m tired, give me rest, give me the rest that You promised”.

Tool 5. Simplicity

The final tool for prayer is to pray simply. Sometimes we feel like we need to make our prayers long, and so we talk excessively in our prayers not realizing that it is better to pray little but often! One of my favourite quotes on prayer is by Elder Macarius of Optina, he says “Pray Simply. Do not expect to find in your heart any remarkable gift of prayer. Consider yourself unworthy of it-then you will find peace. Use the empty, cold dryness of your prayer as food for your humility. Repeat constantly: “I am not worthy, Lord, I am not worthy!” But say it calmly, without agitation. This humble prayer will be acceptable to God. So we need to pray in all simplicity and remember that “One word-from the publican sufficed to placate God, and a single utterance saved the thief” -St John Climacus

I’ll end by saying that true prayer will never be achieved by human efforts alone. In the words of St. Macarius of Egypt: “Prayer is a gift of God, an act of divine grace. Therefore, in your prayer for all other things, do not forget to pray too about prayer.”

 

Whom are you Seeking?

By: Andro Bosse

You have been serving the house of the Lord for a long time.
But have you been serving the Lord of the house?

Christianity is a faith characterised by preaching, but you can say it was spread more through role-models than sermons and teachings. Growing up in the church, we were always told that you cannot call yourself a Christian if you do not serve – if you do not have some sort of service. We read in 1 Corinthians 8:1 “love edifies” so we know that service is not only limited to formal roles and teaching; it is strongly connected to love and therefore all of us are invited to this life of serving.

Friedrich Nietzsche, a famous philosopher, once stated “If you want me to believe in your Redeemer, then you’ve got to look a lot more redeemed.” How you might ask? Fr. Bishoy Kamel once said, “People don’t need to hear about Christ any more, they have heard enough. They rather need to see Christ in us.” If we love someone, the best way to honour them is to use their example. Many people love Pope Kyrillos VI yet very few follow his example, his life of discipline and self-denial. We are called to be servants in the example of the true Servant Christ as St. John of Kronstadt says, “the Lord has become everything for you, and so you must become everything for the Lord.”

Many of us have heard or experienced the huge blessings that come from serving. Yet can service itself be a hindrance to the spiritual life? One of the spiritual fathers said, “You spent your whole life serving the Lord’s house, when will you serve the Lord of the house?” What does this mean? Do we sometimes miss the aim? In Hebrews 3:3 we read the verse “He who built the house has more honour than the house.” Notice that both of the above references do not condemn the service pertaining to the Lord, yet they point to the true purpose of the service – the Lord of the house. This reminds us of Mary and Martha and the war of busyness which fought Martha, with Christ eventually telling her “You are worried and troubled about many things; but one thing is needed.” – Luke 10:41, and this still exists to this present time where we do the same thing. We are sometimes like the Shulamite woman who used to say, “my beloved is mine and I am his.” (Songs 2:16). Yet when she matured in her spirituality she reversed the role, she said, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.” (Songs 6:3). We belong to the Lord of the House – the House of the Lord does not belong to us.

So what does God really want? One of the fathers says that everything we do, should be “in Him, through Him, with Him and for Him – the aim is Christ” Fr. Daoud Lamei in one of his sermons jokingly suggested that the Samaritan woman could easily have been a Coptic woman, she asked Him silly questions – ‘Should we worship on this mountain or over there?’ The same with us, “Are these biscuits fasting or not? If I can’t fast until 2pm can I fast until 12pm.” These questions miss that the aim of everything we do is to attain the one-on-one relationship with Him as the Lord responds to her; “the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.” The Lord also in Isaiah 66 hints to us what He is really seeking from serving Him when He says, “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” It’s as if the Lord is telling us that ‘there is nothing you can do that I cannot do, everything is Mine – I just want you and your heart.” The Lord also says to one of the kings of Judah “because your heart was tender…” (2 Kings 22:18). How cool is that, the criteria with God is simply a tender heart.

Well you might ask, what is wrong if I serve the House of the Lord? Especially if I serve it ‘heartily to the Lord and not to man.’ Is that not a good thing? Well the answer is yes, it is a very good thing. Even the Lord Himself served the House, when He overturned the tables of the money changers it was said, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” Also in Acts 6 we find men who ‘were full of the Holy Spirit” serving tables. I think the difference is that this service came as a result of knowing Him, it came after being filled with Him. I remember when one of the priests here at St Mark’s church was being ordained, he said one piece of advice he received was that his time should be split 2 to 1 – every hour of service should be accompanied with two hours of prayer/personal spiritual time. So it is knowing Him, not necessarily knowing about Him. It is a scary thought that the disciples who spent 3 years with Him did not know Him. On the night of His betrayal they all fled and left Him knowing not that He could bring “legions of angels” to protect Him. When the soldiers came to Him with a crowd having soldiers and clubs, He said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” Let this question be for all of us when we serve, ‘whom are you seeking?’ I was fortunate to have spent some few years studying interstate with a big group of youth. During this time, I can really say that I knew them very well, yet with the Lord how is it that we spend all this time in His house and still do not know Him? The Lord says this verse to His disciples but I feel like He is also speaking to us; “Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? (Mark 8:17).

I love the ministry of John the Baptist and how he was commissioned by the Lord. When the people said to him ‘who are you?’ he knew who he was! He quoted to them an Old Testament verse about himself! “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness…” (Isaiah 40:3). He was chosen by the Lord of the house for a specific role, he did not serve on his own accord. How about us? Do we serve on our own accord? Look at Pope Kyrillos VI who ran away from everything who said “I would have loved to live as a stranger on the earth”, the motto of his life which he used to hang on his door; “forsake worldly pleasures, and God will love you. Renounce what people possess in their hands, and people will love you.” So we see that even letting go of ‘self-appointed’ service which we may be doing to fill a void of boredom or to feel good about our self, we see that when we give it up then the Lord really chases us with His will, with true service. The desert fathers used to advise their children saying, “Refuse any virtue which the devil offers with the intention of destroying another virtue which you have, and say to them,

‘This virtue is good, but for the sake of God I do not want it.’“

One time I asked one of the well-known servants in the Church to help MC a certain church event. He declined, and his response was very touching; “I have had enough taking credit for services I am not involved in.”

St. Seraphim of Sarov says, “the true aim of our Christian life consists of the acquisition of the Holy Spirit of God. As for fasts, and vigils, and prayer, and almsgiving, and every good deed done for Christ’s sake, they are only means of acquiring the Holy Spirit of God. Mark my words, only good deeds done for Christ’s sake brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. All that is not done for Christ’s sake, even though it be good, brings neither reward in the future life nor the grace of God in this life.” One of the common phrases that the prophets used to say was, “as the Lord lives, before whom I stand.” They knew whom they served. It should be the same with us. Let us not count it as a day lived or as service if there was no encounter with the Lord. Let us remember that the Lord can say to us, “I do not know you.” (Luke 13:27). Also the devil can mock us by saying, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” (Acts 19:15).

The question is, how do we know if we serve the Lord of the House? The answer is if we have a desire to spend time with Him alone. Pope Shenouda III says, “It is amazing how many people prefer service more than prayer. And reading more than prayer. And contemplation more than prayer. And attending religious gatherings more than prayer. That is why they fail in their relationship with God. They therefore pray, read, have a service and attend their meetings, but are separated from God. There is no relationship.” So our prayer life should be our service to Him. A servant once answered someone who asked him; “How long have you been preparing for this sermon?” And he answered “40 years”, i.e. all his personal experiences during the past 40 years of his life. So we see that what we do in our rooms in private affects the thousands around us, this is how we serve the Lord of the House. On the contrary if we, like Jonah the prophet and the older brother in the story of the prodigal son, become upset when others come back to God or when they find favour in the eyes of God, then how can we say that we truly serve Him? We need to pray with King David, “Enlarge my heart” (Psalm 119:32) & with Sir Francis Drake; “Disturb us O Lord when we are so comfortable with ourselves.”

In conclusion it is good to mention that this topic needs wisdom and discretion along with our confession father. Yet it is safe to say that the best way to serve the Lord of the House is to know Him and to be fixed with Him. When we know Him we know love (because God is love), we know wisdom, we know everything. Let us remember that the most powerful people living in the world today are the ones who can move the hand of God in prayer, when they pray, God listens to them. It is interesting to note that St. Augustine mentions that a priest lying on his sick bed, may be more effective in his service than with all his preaching. With this in mind, let us pray and aspire to be like this and let us say with Pope Kyrillos VI, “Let us disappear so that God can become manifested in His glory.”

 

+

“Dying Daily through the Resurrection”

By: Sherry Mikhail

Christ is Risen! Trampling down death by His death!

“I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31) First let us start by noting that this verse does not say “I die daily in times of fasting” or “in times of want” it just says “daily”. Thus, there is no limitation to the time dedicated to this calling.

During the Holy Pascha Week, the Church teaches us to delve intensely into communal Pascha prayers consisting of readings, prayer and praise. It’s a time for contemplation and for sharing in the sufferings of Christ, eventually leading to the Cross. The Great Lent is the long lead up to this one, Holy week that the church highly anticipates from year to year. And so, we live this week spending every moment sitting under the Cross of Christ whilst seeing the church dressed in black; hearing the Word through the Old Testament prophecies and their precise fulfilment in the Gospels; tasting as we partake of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday; smelling the incense and worshipping via prostrations and strict fasting. By the end of the week, we are finally met with the Glorious feast of the Resurrection of Christ, or rather, our own Resurrection in Christ as we are fully transformed.

Death was defeated on the Cross, and manifested in the new life of the Resurrection. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4)

On the Glorious feast of the Resurrection, we are transformed as we continue with the presence of the Church in us. For the following 50 days, the church is draped in white, the hymns sung are joyful, and the church ceases from fasting and prostrations. A festive procession for the Resurrection takes place on each day leading to Pentecost. And so, all year round the Orthodox Church, in its wisdom, engages us as a whole person in worship through our senses.

Although the church radiates joyfulness in the Resurrection and most noticeably when fasting has ceased, we often overlook our continued need to be fed spiritually. In saying this, let’s not forget the Lord’s prayer; “Give us this day our daily bread” referring here to the ‘Bread of Life’ that is, Christ and His Kingdom.

To be Christ-like means to die on the Cross. Let us die with Him. Dying to all that is of this world in order not to hear His rebuke “get thee behind me, Satan!” (Luke 4:8)

Some things that we have learnt from the journey of Great Lent and Holy week can be extended into the Holy 50 days with adjustments to suit the joyful spirit the Church has set out for us. Just because we have ceased fasting for the coming season does not mean that we may begin to succumb to our laziness. One such exercise that could help may be that when we step into the church, just as we did during Holy Week, we can attempt to free our minds and to enter church with clear goals set so that we may be focused in our prayers. More so, we may continue to bring our problems to the altar, leaving it there knowing confidently that the Lord will take care of it.

Our laziness may be due to another issue. It could be because of the way we consume food, which plays a huge role in our lives, with the Church identifying this in the way it prescribes fasting. Therefore, it is ideal to still consider our eating habits. Continuing to eat reasonable portions is an excellent idea because, let’s not deny it, gluttony is still a sin. We need to be eating according to what our body and health accepts, keeping in mind any health restrictions keeping us from consuming certain foods. We are still called to be both reasonable and sensible in taking care of our bodies. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It is likewise valid to add that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

The Church doesn’t call us to ‘take a break’ from Sunday Liturgies or other spiritual activities otherwise the church itself would’ve taken a few weeks off. The church continues again on Easter Monday commemorating The Road to Emmaus where “He was made known to them in the breaking of Bread” (Luke 24:35). So, let us commune with the Life-Giving Body and Blood of our Risen Lord, who through our union with Him and through the light of His knowledge abides in us and grants us eternal life.

As we can recall, there is a lot of emphasis on the Sunday’s of Lent, but in fact it is still important to understand that the Sunday Gospels during the Holy 50 days are also highly relevant. The first Sunday after the Resurrection, ‘Thomas Sunday’, is so significant that it is considered as one of the Minor Feasts of the Lord unlike any other Sunday in the year (besides Palm Sunday being a Major Feast). Likewise, the Sunday readings during this period are commonly referred to as the “I ams…”, in other words, Christ reveals that His Person is the life, way, truth, water, bread etc. For example, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35); “the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13); “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6); “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” (Jn. 12:46).

Furthermore, as mentioned previously, the church does not call any of us to idleness during this season; it is therefore the best idea to keep on reading our bibles and praying from our Agpeyas daily. How else do we enjoy the Resurrection if we do not die daily with Him only to rise again as we wake up every morning in prayer and thanksgiving?

How then can we say that the best proof of the Resurrection is the living Church if we do not immerse ourselves in the teachings and practices the Church is setting out for us? If time allows, let us also pick up a good spiritual book that can further our eagerness to live the resurrection.

“And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” (1 Corinthians 15:14). St John Chrysostom says the following; ‘Although what followed in due course would have been, “but if Christ is not risen, you fight against things evident, and against so many prophets, and the truth of facts;” nevertheless he states what is much more fearful to them: “then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” For he wishes to shake thoroughly their mind: “we have lost all,” says he, “all is over, if He is not risen.” See how great is the mystery of the economy? For thus: if after death He could not rise again, neither is sin loosed nor death taken away nor the curse removed. Yea, and not only have we preached in vain, but you also have believed in vain.’

Let us be joyful in Christ in a way that cannot be taken from us! Let our soul be joyful in the Heavenly Bridegroom and say with the Shulamite of the Song of Solomon, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved’s mine…When I found the one I love, I held him and would not let him go, until I had brought him to the house of my mother and into the chamber of her who conceived me (the Church).” (Song of Solomon 6:3, 3:4)

“Ooh, Heaven is a place on earth!”

“Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth?
Ooh heaven is a place on earth
they say in heaven love comes first
we’ll make heaven are a place on earth
Ooh heaven is a place on earth”

 

In 1987, Belinda Carlisle sung these famous words about a notion we could spend our whole spiritual lives contemplating on – heaven. What exactly is heaven? We know that it is a place where there’ll be no more death, no more sorrow, no crying nor pain (Revelation 21:4); we know also from the book of Revelation that heaven is full of angels, the Archangels, the twenty-four priests, our Queen and Mother St Mary and the ‘great cloud’ (Hebrews 12:1) of all the saints, whose stories and intercessions we cherish so much.

We know that our beloved Lord Jesus Christ desires for all of us to be in heaven with Him, and He even spoke to each and every one of us in John 14:1-3 when He said He is going to prepare a “place” for us there if we would strive on the “narrow path” and be found worthy of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 7:13-14).

For religious sceptics, ‘heaven’ is reputed as a mere fairy-tale and perhaps for many they feel there will be nothing but oblivion when their last breath has expired and they leave this world. However for us, we know the amazingly comforting truth that is contained for us in the Gospel: “…the hope of which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of truth of the gospel.” (Colossians 1:5). The iconic verse John 3:16 also tells us that God loved us all so much that He gave up His life for us: His Son, Christ our King, defeated death by His death, and has raised us up by His resurrection. Therefore if we believe in Him, we truly shall have eternal life in heaven as He promised. This is a great comfort when we experience the loss of loved ones, to the extent St Paul wrote:

“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.”

+ 1 Thessalonians 5:13-14 +

A Place Not Far Off

What about Miss Carlisle’s song? Do we have to wait until our life here has ended to experience the beautiful promises of heaven discussed above? Or can heaven truly be a place on earth?

Our Lord Jesus Christ gives a powerful answer to this question when He said in Luke 17:21, “the kingdom of God is within you.” It is something to be experienced and tasted, right now. From our Baptism, to our repentance and confession before a priest, to our partaking of the Holy Body and Blood of our Lord in the Eucharist – living a life within the sacraments of the Church unlocks heaven on earth for us. When we attend the Holy Liturgy at Church, the heavens are truly open. Attending with us are many that we cannot see; the angels, the archangels, and all the saints that are constantly before the throne of God saying, “Holy, Holy Holy is the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:3).

The Kingdom of God is more than feeling the blessings of the mass or of attending various Church services and Bible studies though, as our Lord said it is within us. A ‘kingdom’ is simply where the king resides, and therefore if we enjoy the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts – truly His kingdom will be within us. Again from Christ’s own lips, we are promised this kind of internal dwelling if we love Him by obeying His commandments:

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home within him.”

 

+John 14:23 +

And again in the book of Revelation, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Chapter 3, verse 20).

God does not force Himself upon us, but honouring our free will, offers us in His meekness the incredible chance to have Him dwelling in us and to enjoy His love. If we will rise from our laziness and from our sins and open the door of our hearts to Him, we will enjoy the kind of intimacy that we read of in the Song of Solomon in the Bible. There we see the Bride (the Church, as well as each of our souls on an individual one-to-one level) imploring the Bridegroom (Christ) saying, “let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth, for Your love is better than wine” (Chapter 1, verse 2) and exclaiming “I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine.” These beautiful images of the bridal intimacy are fitting descriptions of our souls when our hearts have become the dwelling place of our King, Creator and Beloved.

The more we immerse ourselves in true and genuine practice of the sacraments, study and obedient contemplation on God’s Word, and persistent striving in prayer in our rooms – the more the Holy Spirit will stir up this bridal love for God, and we will truly taste heaven on earth. St Theophan the Recluse reflected on this in his work, ‘The Art of Prayer’:

“From the moment when your heart starts to be kindled with the divine warmth, your inner transformation will properly begin. This slight flame will in time consume and melt everything within you, it will begin and continue to spiritualize your being to the full.”

It may feel at times that God is far from us, but really He is right next to us, longing for us to open the door of our hearts to Him –; “…so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;” (Acts 17:27).

Heaven & Palm Sunday

With Palm Sunday being a few days away, it’s worthwhile spending some time in contemplation – understanding the poignant meaning behind Jesus being welcomed as the King of Israel, fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 that the King would come “sitting on a donkey’s colt.” We will experience the kingdom of heaven in our lives as much as we are prepared to welcome Christ as the King of our hearts; to the degree that we are able to place Him as number one – denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him as we were called to do (Luke 9:23).

Our hearts must be a throne for our Lord where He can reign, and that means there can be no contest – no desires, sins, bad habits, passions of the flesh that compete for a space that rightfully belongs to Him. He said this when He charged us, “No man can serve two masters…either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other…” (Matthew 6:24).

To this end St Augustine contemplated and said:

“Therefore whoever wishes to love God and to beware of offending Him, let such a one cleanse the upright intention of his heart from all duplicity. In this way, he will ‘think of the Lord in goodness and seek Him in simplicity of heart’” (Wisdom 1:1).

There is no room for duplicity of heart if we’re truly seeking to taste heaven on earth, to taste the intimacy with Christ our Bridegroom. As Father Anthony Messih from the Church in Washington DC says, ‘we can’t enjoy the kisses of His mouth, AND the kisses of the world.’ We must choose, lest we are guilty of being adulterers and adulteresses by ‘cheating’ on Christ’s unconditional and life-giving love by choosing to give ourselves to the deceitful ‘love’ the world and its ruler the devil offers (James 4:4). If we’re truly to enjoy the heavenly ascent here and now, the extremely heavy burdens of our lusts and laziness must be cast away, so that we can “…lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and run with endurance the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1).

This may be the reason that we all feel so much of an extra spiritual boost during Passion Week: For most of us it’s the only time of the whole year where we drop everything and endeavour to have Christ as our only focus, following His every step to the Cross and to the empty tomb of His resurrection. The extensive fasting and prayer and long Pascha services lift our eyes up to heaven in a way that is so powerful and so unique to this most sacred time for the Church.

Heaven’s Dress Code: The Wedding Garment

We know that when it came to describing the Kingdom of Heaven, our Lord almost always spoke through a parable. A very famous one is found in Matthew 22:1-14, where the King of Heaven is likened to “a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son” (verse 2) and a great wedding banquet is set up. Unfortunately, “those who were invited were not worthy” (verse 8), so the king then invites everyone and anyone, even from the streets and “highways” to attend instead of the original guests (verse 9). Eventually, the story takes a very harsh turn as Jesus talks about a man who was found inside the big wedding party who didn’t get the dress code memo…

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

+ Matthew 22:11-14 +

The imagery is clear: the life of the world to come in the Kingdom of Heaven will be a beautiful and joyful feast with our Bridegroom. Sadly however, many will choose to ignore the invitation, and some will even “make light of it” (verse 5) by mocking the Gospel. But why was the punishment so severe for this man without the garment? How can we make sure we don’t share his fate of losing out on Heaven? What does that garment symbolise? St Gregory the Great offers a beautiful answer:

But since you have already come into the house of the marriage feast, our holy church, as a result of God’s generosity, be careful, my friends, lest when the King enters he find fault with some aspect of your heart’s clothing. We must consider what comes next with great fear in our hearts. But the king came in to look at the guests and saw there a person not clothed in a wedding garment.

What do we think is meant by the wedding garment, dearly beloved? For if we say it is baptism or faith, is there anyone who has entered this marriage feast without them? A person is outside because he has not yet come to believe. What then must we understand by the wedding garment but love? That person enters the marriage feast, but without wearing a wedding garment, who is present in the holy church. He may have faith, but he does not have love. We are correct when we say that love is the wedding garment because this is what our Creator himself possessed when he came to the marriage feast to join the church to himself. Only God’s love brought it about that his only begotten Son united the hearts of his chosen to himself. John says that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son for us.’ (John 3:16)”

 

According to this ancient church father, we must be clothed in love if we are to have the right dress to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And we have heard this before! The famous ‘love chapter’ 1^st Corinthians 13 tells us that we are absolutely nothing if we do not love. No matter how much we serve, how much we know about God, how high our position in the church is, how successful we are, if we even perform miracles, give prophecies or die as martyrs for Christ- if I “have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2)

We are called to love God, and to love all people – this was the summation of the law as we read in the interaction between the scribe and Christ (Mark 12:28-34).

Therefore, experiencing heaven on earth is not a private matter of just our individual loving relationship with Christ, but it must also be practiced “in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18) by loving all others around us; from our closest and dearest to our enemies. The ones that are easy to love, and the ones that are a labour to love. There can be no partiality in how we live out this calling as St James wrote (James 2:8-9). If we fail to love those around us, we are lying if we claim that we love God (1 John 4:20-21). Our patriarch Pope Tawadros II said in a sermon once, “Brotherly love is our crossing to heaven; you can’t reach heaven without loving everyone around you…the core of Christianity is to love your brother.”

 

This is the law of Christ, and the true diagnostic as to whether or not we are His disciples, that we bear genuine self sacrificing love for all members of the body of Christ (John 13:35).

 

St Anthony the Great reflected on this when he said, “Our life and death is with our neighbour. If we gain our brother, we have gained God. But if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.” Likewise St Silouan the Athonite said, “The less one loves, the more one alienates himself from divine life.” It is a very true fact that sinning against one another will rob us of the joy of heaven on earth, it is very much dependent on loving all around us. For this reason we find a very scary verse in Isaiah, where God actually said He would reject our prayers because of the ‘blood’ of our neighbours on our hands, and in cleansing us demands we change our approach to others as part of our restoration:

“‘When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.

‘Come now, and let us reason together,’
Says the Lord,
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.’”

+ Isaiah 1:15-18 +

 

St John Chrysostom gives us a very encouraging description of what it looks like when someone manages to live out this heavenly command of love:

“Do not, I pray, suppose that this sort of love means loving one person only, but instead it is a love for all alike…such a person will live on earth as if it were heaven, everywhere enjoying a kind of serenity, and weaving for himself innumerable crowns! Such a person will keep his own soul pure from envy, wrath, jealously, pride, vanity, evil lusts, every profane love, and every bad temper… the loving person himself will stand with Gabriel himself even while he walks on the earth. This is the profile of one who has love.”

 

It sounds like Belinda Carlisle’s 80’s hit was actually a powerful theological statement! Truly heaven can be a place on earth for us. If we are receiving from the Church the nourishment of the sacraments, if we are focusing our eyes upward on Christ and His Passion and Resurrection rather than the troubles and temptations of this world, and most importantly if we are walking in love towards our Bridegroom and all of those around us – we will find our King will have already made His home within our hearts; bringing the joy of His kingdom with Him. In Heaven love truly does come first, and being called to be the light of the world, it should be our task to make heaven a place on earth.

How to Benefit from Holy Week?

How can we benefit from Pascha week? How can we truly be renewed and transformed by this week which follows the final days of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in such detail and such intimacy?

The Church in its wisdom has set out for us a week full of prayer, worship, singing and reading. It drapes its walls with black and invites us to be transported to the side of our Lord and to share with Him in each moment leading up to His suffering on the Cross; to contemplate on its meaning for me as an individual. It is actually a gift bestowed upon us by the Church. It is a gift because it gives us an opportunity to discover who Christ is in His most intimate moments and it allows us to delve into it, be immersed in it and be transformed by it. And through it we begin to understand the meaning behind each event, and the fine fabric that is woven throughout the whole Bible, epitomised by the clear continuity between the Old Testament prophecies and the happenings in the Gospel. It is through this that we have proof of the Gospel from within. We are convinced of the authenticity of the Bible, with each of the writers of the different books of the Bible writing with one mind and one spirit, despite being separated by centuries, circumstances and contexts.

One of the most important things about this week is not to waste it, or to let it pass by without having taken something out of it. If we think about the small number of years we live here as sojourners on this earth, the number of Pascha weeks we attend is limited. And yet these weeks have the ability to change our lives and to allow us to redirect our focus towards what truly matters in our lives. That is, it can draw us nearer to the harbour of salvation, to the only One who is able to save us, to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

But how can we do this? Reflection, Repentance, Revival and Revelation. These 4R’s can be the backbone for our approach to benefit from this week.

Reflection
We must reflect on what our goal is, not what our goal as a church is – for this is clear – but what is my goal as an individual? Do I want to give up a particular sin, do I want to develop a particular virtue or do I want to understand a particular quality of God in more depth? An exercise to ensure I am focussed when I am in church could be stopping each time just before entering the church, closing my eyes and asking myself what do I want to achieve? This can help us to redirect our minds and thoughts, especially when they begin to wander during the service and we start judging the voice of the person singing the psalm, or thinking about when the psalm will end or about what we’re going to have for dinner later.

Repentance.
One of the major answers to the question of what I want to achieve this week must be repentance, and a goal must be to return to God in response to His loving sacrifice. When we realise the great mystery that is before us, that God, the Almighty, the Powerful, the Creator became man for us, and not only did He become man but He was slapped, beaten, cursed, spat upon and crucified all for my sake, then I am forced to consider the magnitude of these events and I am forced to respond. And the perfect response is repentance from the sins which caused my Lord to endure such things out of His love for us.

Revival.
This repentance and renewed understanding of my Lord’s love and sacrifice should lead me to make a commitment to be revived and to rise above the superficialities and trivialities of the world, making a commitment to be in the world but not of this world… to be transformed. And this transformation should lead me to rush to be at the feet of the Lord, learning from His example of humble, obedient servitude.

Revelation.
This all leads to revelation, which is a gift from God where we realise one of His attributes that we had never dwelt or focussed upon, or we receive a revelation which adds to the depth of our personal relationship with Christ. Within this week there is an opportunity for the visitation of the grace of God. But this is dependent on us removing ourselves from the guiles of the devil, by focusing and ridding ourselves of our beloved sins and being decisive in progressing in repentance. If you make this commitment during this week, be sure that the Lord will not disappoint you. But this visitation requires a level of spiritual maturity so that we can truly understand the depths of the events and of Christ’s redemption of us from our sins and from our certain death. Asceticism produces and accentuates this understanding, whereas cheap pleasure dissipates it. And so it is important to understand the importance of fasting as a tool to unlock this depth of understanding of this great mystery of Love. And this maturity is not dependent on age. A little child can grasp this depth, whereas an adult may go many years attending without having truly understood the love of God and the significance of His actions. But this depth can only come if we avoid trivialities and if we shift our focus to the Cross, so that we are constantly reminded of the importance of crucifying our sins and constantly reminded of Christ’s love for us. Each time we stand before the crucifix we can say this prayer “Lord, change me completely when I look at your Cross”.

Now what should our mindset be during Pascha?
We should be focused on the love and hope that comes from being sure of Christ’s resurrection and defeat of the sting of death. Things that give us hope include the fact that Christ is waiting for us to return from whatever struggle or sin we have. During Pascha week we have the opportunity to leave that particular sin or habit at the foot of the Cross both figuratively and literally. There will be a “sin bin” at the foot of the crucifix icon where we can put down a sin which we want to be freed from on a piece of paper, showing we are resolute to rid ourselves of it and that we are awaiting the power of the grace of God to intervene to allow us to overcome it. This sin can then be wiped away and we can be renewed by going to Abouna for confession. If we do this we become Christs, as we attempt to share in His crucifixion, by crucifying our passions. In becoming His, Christ becomes obliged to defend us, to help us, and to take us to the new Jerusalem when we are raised up with Him.

Also, we have hope because we know Christ is always waiting for us to return, because we know He is merciful. How do we know this? Well, there was the Old Covenant, but what came after? The New Covenant! And so we know with God that there is always renewal, there is always a second chance, He is always looking for us to have an opportunity to return to Him. And we are filled with hope because we know He forgives us when we deny Him or leave Him. The perfect example of this is St Peter. Even though He made strong professions of love towards the Lord, we eventually see him abandoning the Lord when it came to the hardship of the Cross. And yet when Christ is resurrected He asks to see Peter. And what does He do? He doesn’t curse him, but He restores him and even entrusts him to become His honest and faithful servant. All of this is offered to us, and Pascha week is an opportunity for us to embrace it.

As a practical tool, how can we measure our love for Christ?
We can measure our love by considering the following: how sincere is your repentance and how quickly do you pick yourself up when you inevitably fall? Do you quickly stand up and pray, and then seek Abouna for confession as soon as possible, or are you relaxed and tell yourself that you’ll see Abouna when you get the chance? How eager are you for prayer? Do you just do it as a duty at night to tick a few boxes, or are you eager to stand before Him, to enjoy His presence, to converse with him, to stand humbly and reverently under the shadow of His wings. How about in attending services like the Pascha services or the liturgy? Are we just attending to please our families or to fulfil a social obligation, or are we doing it to have an encounter with the source of Life and our Saviour. How do you react to your enemies? Do you seek to forgive them, to placate their anger and to win them over or are you seeking an opportunity to get them back, or worse do you treat them with indifference? And importantly do you long and yearn for Heaven so that you can finally be fully in the embrace of Christ, not forgetting that this opportunity is afforded to us here on earth as a foretaste? Pascha week is the perfect opportunity to measure our love for Him and to take active steps to increase our love for Him.

Speaking of those long psalms, practically what should I be doing during them?
These psalms are an opportunity to spend time with Christ, to close our eyes to dwell in His presence in quiet contemplation. It can be a time of simplicity; it doesn’t have to be a time to be academic or a time to let our minds wander. And the inspired, ancient tunes of the psalm which have such power and force are able to facilitate our prayers and contemplation to come from the depths of our hearts and the depths of our beings. What about the busyness and the difficulty in finding a car spot and then in finding a seat? Instead of complaining about something that can’t be changed, embrace the chaos! How boring would it be to just be standing there by yourself or with just a few people. This is our opportunity to see the Body of Christ in full action with all these people from different walks of life gathered together in one mind and one spirit giving glory to God.

Now should Pascha week be a time for mourning at the pain of our Lord, or should it be a time of triumph at the victory of our Saviour?
It should be both with a steady movement from one to the other. We should lament over our distance from Christ and at our sins which put Him on the Cross. But just as weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning, so too does the journey of Pascha Week according to the wisdom of the Church, take us in a movement from such sadness to the inexpressible joy at the abolition of death and the resurrection from the dead in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Glory be to God forever.
Amen