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Holy Week in the Secret Place

Holy Week in the Secret Place

By Shery Abdelmalak

“Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” – (Matthew 6:4)

A wise person once told me that they knew their spiritual life was failing when they prayed more at church than they did at home, this is a sure sign of a spiritual slump. If I go to church regularly, if I serve regularly, these become my norm. I enjoy doing these things. I feel like I am doing good. My outward display to those around me and even to myself is favourable. I don’t feel the need to fix something that doesn’t appear to be broken.

But an honest spiritual life starts in a secret place. There are no hidden motives in the secret place. In your room, with the door closed, where no one knows what goes on. Only God knows for certain, and it is in the stillness of prayer that He listens and our relationship with Him begins. Oftentimes the secret place is sought for refuge from the problems of this world, we gain peace, we gain clarity and we slowly drift away until the next problem comes along. If we use prayer in this way, there is much lost. We leave before Christ’s biggest blessings of grace come to us.

“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 meditate, read, have a service and attend their meetings, but are separated from God. There is no relationship.”
HH Pope Shenouda III

Pope Shenouda is amazed at how much we devalue prayer. All that he lists have an external element attached that distinguishes them from prayer. In prayer, there is no external display and if we are valuing other aspects of our spiritual life more than our internal prayer lives, then it almost begs the question; has my relationship with God even started?

In the holiest of weeks, we commence a spiritual journey to the Cross, we put to death our worldly image and learn to love God from the inside out, no distractions. We must remember that this world is deceitful; what seems to be normal in the world is not what God intended for His creation. This Holy Week presents the perfect time to find Christ in the secret place, while the churches remain closed. Just you and your Beloved.

We spend Holy Week asking the question, “who are You, Lord?” and “reveal my sins to me so that I may be more like You.” We encounter Christ in secret; “We pray not to inform God or instruct God but to ask earnestly, to become intimate with God, to be humbled and reminded of our sins” – St John Chrysostom

HG Bishop Agathon once said that one single night at the monastery was the equivalent of ten years in the world. We know this to be true because of the reformation through prayer under the leadership of Pope Kyrillos VI. Fr Daniel Fanous says, “The broken [Patriarchal] staff, symbolic of a broken church, fractured and profusely bleeding, was placed in Kyrillos’ hands; and there, in twelve short years, it was mended and healed in ways that we will never truly comprehend.” In twelve years as Patriarch, he lifted the mocked Coptic church to the church that has spread to all nations, to nations that cannot imagine a life without it.

Now, a different struggle, a spiritual life without the physical church. Maybe this is how we will be risen with Christ this Holy Week. To start from scratch, in our own home churches, in our cells, we can try to find Christ in the secret place. Maybe now is the time to emulate the words of St John Chrysostom when he said, “When you pray, set aside all turmoil, as if you were being joined by choirs of angels and singing with the seraphim.”

Fr Anthony Mourad says that the sweetness of God is seen in all the ways He has made lemonade out of the lemon that is coronavirus. One of those ways is in the secret place of isolation that we now find ourselves in. For the first time in any of our lifetimes, the church is closed during Holy Week. I don’t want to be anywhere other than the church in this week, but we must make lemonade out of what is the sourest of lemons. If it was in the secret place that Pope Kyrillos VI mended our entire church, Christ can mend and reignite our relationships with Him, to one of pure love, void of all external motives.

Get your favourite deacons from Soundcloud ready! This is a Holy Week not to be missed! For the first few Good Fridays I can remember, Fr Yacoub would recite the Lamentations of Jeremiah and it didn’t feel the same when it wasn’t him, but now I know it will be him, it will be whoever I want it to be, no bad deacon voices this year! (but Jesus still thinks your voice is beautiful, Amen.) When I was in Egypt buying souvenirs, I saw this cute little shoraya that I thought would make a perfect candle holder. The lady selling it and my mum then proceeded to make some not funny Arabic jokes about how I wasn’t allowed to become a priest. That shoraya is now the most sought after object in our entire household. This is a year unlike any other, Fr Elijah told us to get excited for Lent, but now we get excited for a Holy Week that will be spent in our makeshift churches at home. The secret place is all we have left, but it is all we need.

❤️ Psalm 91 ❤️ Fr Yacoub’s Lamentations of Jeremiah ❤️

The Merciful

The Beatitudes Series Part 5

Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy

By Meray Shehata

Jesus tells us that if we are merciful to others, we can achieve mercy from the Creator. How is it that we can be merciful then? Having this ability to be merciful means that we are also in a position to do nothing or even worse to punish others. It means that we have power or a certain stature that’s higher but instead we choose compassion and forgiveness. It means
overlooking what’s easier and in our best interest at that moment to be more Christ-like.

In Leviticus (19:9) it is written “ When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.” Imagine this land is your source of food, your source of money, it’s how you survive. Yet, God has commanded you not to make use of it, He has asked you to be poor, to be hungry and yearn
for more. Instead your profits and all your hard work will go to someone else who may not deserve it, someone who didn’t spend those long nights nurturing the plants and fruits as you did. Someone who while you put in the time and effort for these rewards may have been wasting their time and money away irresponsibly. To aggravate you even more, this person may have laughed at you, spoken evil about you behind your back and tried to poison your fruit. However, your commandment is much the same. Leave some of your profit for others.

What a cruel situation to be in, how unfair could our God be?
Although in reality, how cruel and unfair can we be? Aren’t we the undeserving going to Christ’s field and collecting the fruit without the slightest effort. Haven’t we pierced his side and placed a crown of thorns on His head? Haven’t we crucified Him and watched as His mother cried? Or worse, haven’t we denied Him and claimed that we are the reason that we
are reaping these fruits. How merciless can we be?

Now that we have acknowledged our evil, how is it that we can condemn others as evil? Is it right for us to place ourselves higher than others. Have we really the authority to condemn others when we ourselves were condemned once before? “ Let all the bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind hearted
to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph 4:31-32). Therefore as the sinless and pure lamb was sacrificed for your redemption must you show love and mercy for others.
Is it true though? Is showing love and mercy for the benefit others only? Or is it for us too?

Well for one God has promised us mercy if we show the same. Other than that, has it ever hurt being kind to someone? Maybe in the short term, you lose some time, you might be at a loss financially, or you may not enjoy it at the beginning. Give it time. Give it time to see the blessings pour in from your Saviour. Give it time to witness your life unfold in a way you couldn’t have imagined. Have a little faith, give a little goodness and God will give you unimaginable joy because He will be at your core.

Have mercy in your work as Jesus had mercy on the disciples when they slept rather than pray.
Have mercy in your house as Jesus took care of st. Mary unto His dying breath. Have mercy in your marriage as Jesus sacrificed Himself for His church.
Have mercy with your wealth as Jesus saved humanity without a cent in his pocket.
Have mercy with your children as God so loved us He gave his only begotten Son.
But most of all have mercy in your heart as Jesus has loved you.

Why Do We Really Fast During Lent?

By Father Anthony Messeh

Original post by Fr. Anthony Messeh blog site

In case you missed it, Lent is here. That’s right. Bye bye to hamburgers, chicken wings and ice cream; hello to veggie burgers, bean burritos and fruit salads.

As you’ve probably heard before, Lent is the most sacred time of year. It’s a time during which Orthodox Christians prepare to celebrate and relive Christ’s death on the cross, His burial in a tomb, and ultimately His resurrection from the dead.

But what does that have to do with fasting? Why do we fast for Lent? I mean really…why do we really fast? Why is fasting such a big deal in our church and we do place SOOO much emphasis on it?

If we’re honest, most of us have no idea why we fast. We know we need to fast, but the reasons we’re given often leave us unsatisfied and unfulfilled.

We’re told we need to fast for self-discipline, but what if I’m already a disciplined person? Do I still need to fast? We’re told that we need to “overcome our flesh” – but is that really true? What does that even mean? Does that mean my body is bad and I need to punish it by fasting somehow?

Is all this fasting hoopla really done as some kind of spiritual self-help? Fast and you’ll be more disciplined… fast and you’ll overcome your flesh. Is that really what this is all about?

You’ll be happy to learn that the answer is NO!

Of course self-discipline is a good thing and of course we need to submit our fleshly desires to our spiritual desires; I am not saying those things aren’t important.

But what I’m saying is that those are not the PRIMARY purpose of our fasting. Our fasting is not done primarily for the sake of bettering ourselves; that may be a byproduct, but it certainly doesn’t match what our spiritual forefathers – the ones who instructed us to fast during Lent – taught us as the primary purpose of our fasting.

So why do we fast during Lent?

Several years ago, Fr. Athanasius Farag – a Coptic Orthodox priest serving in East Rutherford, NJ and a personal mentor of mine – opened my eyes to an aspect of fasting that I had never considered before. He spoke based on the writing of a great theologian and bishop from the 7th century named Isaac the Syrian, who wrote the following:

And the Saviour also, when He manifested Himself to the world in the Jordan, began at this point. For after His baptism the Spirit led Him into the wilderness and He fasted for forty days and forty nights. Likewise all who set out to follow in His footsteps make the beginning of their struggle upon this foundation. For this is a weapon forged by God, and who shall escape blame if he neglects it? And if the Lawgiver Himself fasts, who among those who keep the law has no need of fasting?

He starts by saying that we fast for 40 days during Lent because Christ Himself fasted for 40 days. He was baptized in the Jordan River, went to the wilderness for 40 days of fasting, during which time He was tempted by the devil.

St. Isaac continues:

This is why the human race knew no victory before fasting, and the devil had never experienced defeat from our nature; but this weapon has made him powerless from the outset. Our Lord was the firstborn Leader of victory, so as to set the first crown of victory upon the head of our nature. When the devil, that foe and tyrant, sees a man bearing this weapon, he is straightway frightened and he recollects and considers that defeat which he suffered in the wilderness at the hands of the Saviour; at once his strength is shattered and the very sight of this weapon, given us by our Commander-in-chief, burns him.

Did you catch that? That’s deep stuff (you may want to read it again).

The reason we fast is because fasting is part of our salvation! It is the means by which Christ defeated Satan in the wilderness. Our Lord came face to face with Satan and used the weapon of fasting to defeat Him. And when the devil sees us bearing the same weapon of fasting, “he is straightway frightened” and “his strength is shattered” and “the very sight of this weapon [fasting], given us by our Commander-in-chief, burns him.”

BOOM! Down goes the devil! And he’s down for the count! Why? Because he got hit by the weapon of fasting – not our fasting, but the fasting of Christ Himself that we participate in through our fasting.

Go back to man’s very first encounter with the devil – back in the Garden of Eden. There, Satan defeated man by persuading him to break the first command given by God – a command to fast. Adam let go of this weapon of fasting and thereby was defeated by Satan. But when the Second Adam came into the world (Jesus Christ), He defeated the devil by His fasting in the wilderness.

“Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan!… Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” (Matthew 4:10-11)

Jesus shows us the true meaning and true purpose of fasting. He didn’t fast because He needed self-discipline or to “overcome His flesh” – He fasted for the same reason He did everything else on this earth…to save us from our sins. That’s why during the one of the hymns of this Lenten period, we say “Jesus Christ who fasted on our behalf, forty days and forty nights, until He saved us from our sins.”

Why did Jesus fast? To save us from our sins.

Why do we fast? To participate in Christ’s saving act for our sake.

Look at it this way. We all agree that Jesus died for us and for our salvation. But in order to participate in that salvation, we must die with Him. His death is our death. Likewise, His resurrection is our resurrection and we participate in that act as well.

In the same manner, He fasted on our behalf, to save us from our sins, and we fast in order to participate in His fasting. His fasting therefore becomes our fasting and His victory over the devil becomes our victory over the devil.

That, my brothers and sisters, is why we fast.

A blessed Lent to you all…

Original blog found at – http://www.franthony.com/blog/why-do-we-really-fast-during-lent

Good Samaritan comfort during Coronavirus

Who are the Samaritans?

The Samaritans were rejected by the Jews at that time because they were a mixed breed of people, between the Judean people and the Assyrian kingdom. So, what you have in there are not actually Jews but a sort of half-half and their existence was the biggest insult to the Jews. Not only that but an adulterous Samaritan woman speaking to a single man was a big no-no at the time.

This woman would have been heavily rejected, ridiculed and hated. Can you imagine? We are 99.9% certain that five men left her, and she didn’t leave them because a woman is destitute if she doesn’t have the support of a man in those days. So, you have a woman who really is the lowest rung of all of society, hated by the Jews, hated by her own people, hated by her own husbands and the one who lives with her despises her too much to even marry her.

If you look back in the Old Testament everyone who met the love of their lives or met their spouse, their bride and their groom met each other at a well. More often than not, they met each other at a very low point in their life:

Jacob fleeing his brother Esau finds Rachel
Isaac meets Rebecca after leaving his family
Moses meets Zapora after fleeing Egypt due to his murder

So, everyone at the lowest point in their life at the well meets the love of their life. Meets the person that gives their life meaning. If you look here Christ came to the well to meet His bride. To meet the person who was at the lowest point in her life.

If you read the Bible this is the strongest theme.

Don’t worry about anything else you read in the Bible.

God comes to those who are dejected, poor, rejected and humiliated.

It is never to the mighty to the powerful or to the rich. Never. The one time he did that with King Saul, it was a perfect example of why he shouldn’t have done it. Instead, he goes to the rejected David.

This is when you read the Bible this should be the message that you absorb, if you’re exalted, if you are rich, if you are comfortable, if you’re happy and everything’s awesome it is very difficult to find God because you’re too relaxed.

It is said,

“though, the Lord is on high yet, he regards the lowly, but the proud He knows from afar.”

-Psalm 138:6

“Comfort yes comfort my people says your God speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended that her iniquity is pardoned.”

-Isiah 40:1-3

It does not make sense to comfort those who are already comforted, but rather those who are downtrodden and rejected. This is the problem with our society now; it is that we live in a life of comfort, where we feel like we don’t need Christ’s comfort. The tiniest thing has brought us to our very knees as we’ve grown comfortable the things that comfort us is our lifestyle is our way of life; freedom, schools, comfort, air conditioning, freedom of travel. All of these things are our comfort.

We are now experiencing a time where they’re being shaken a little bit and I think whilst reading the Catholic epistle today, we have a beautiful reminder of this.

“Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city spend a year thereby and sell and make a profit, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow for what is your life, it is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

There is no better message for today’s society. We live as if the next day is guaranteed, but the reality is not. We have grown too comfortable in the way we are living, and the viruses come, and it’s upended everything in a way that we have never seen before and with good reason, we are terrified and anxious and scared and worried, but should we be?

At this time is when as Christians we should be at peace.

This is a reminder that we are placing too much trust in things that are fleeting, that it is time to trust the One Person that is eternal, God. This is the moment where we have to run to God.

Even with the Church back in the day, we see that when the Church was really under the pump and a lot of Christians were being killed.

“This was when one was really a believer. When one used to go to martyrdom with courage in the church.”

-Origen

People didn’t flee and protect themselves. The Christians never did that.

‘I’ve got to protect my own.’ That is a concept completely foreign to Christianity.

It should be ‘I have to look out for everyone else. I have to serve everyone else.’

This is a Christian.

We don’t care for ourselves we care for everyone around us. We care for the world, by this, the world will know that we’re Christians.

Why?

As one of the early Church fathers says to “See how they love one another. See how much they love that if we don’t love and we behave worse the non-Christians. Then we’ve disgraced that holy name by which we are called.”

This is our time, this is the time of Christianity to demonstrate that Christ is in the world, that He is working. He hasn’t abandoned the world; He’s just waking it up. Let us not focus on my own but rather on all around, so that we may truly emulate Christ and reveal Him in all we do.

Just like the Samaritan woman, Christ comes to where we are, to come and heal us and dwell within us. So when we’re at home, we can make our home a little Church how when we go together with our kids, at the table and we eat food and we pray and we say ‘Thank you God for the food that you’ve given us, for the blessings you’ve put upon us.’ You are a little Church in your home, that is the church. Every night you stand in prayer and you lift up your heart to God and you are standing at His throne, it is exactly the same as if you’re in church standing before the throne of God. Because God is within you.

Those who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness

The Beatitudes Series Part 4

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness’ sake for they shall be filled

By Demiana Salib

“Why are you cast down my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?” (Ps 43:5) – Because, in my deepest distress, I feel like I’m not getting it right. I don’t know what right is. If I make a decision tomorrow, or next week, or next month, I know that I will be wiser even in those short periods of time, but I need to live in the present. And today, I don’t know if this is the right thing to do.

What is the obsession with being right? Right and wrong is all relative to my own personal understanding. In Judges, everyone did what was right in their own eyes and life was chaos, to say the least. So, I can strive to get it right yet still be very wrong.

But God has fulfilled His promise to be there for me always, even when I get it wrong. I can get it wrong 7 times, I can get it wrong 70×7 times which is more maths than I can handle and He will still take me back (Matt. 18:22). So why do I need to be right?

I can be “right,” yet still filled with the same shame and despair. Fr Antony Paul once called the Pharisees the “super righteous, but lacking in heart.” These were the only ones that Christ rebuked – not those that came in sin – because they were righteous in their own eyes (1). Do I want to be right all the time or do I want to be righteous in the eyes of my Father?

“A person may exhaust most of his income in pursuing such [worldly] activities. However, if a servant so much as looks at such things as the main source of mental diversion and spiritual comfort, they will instead trigger acute psychological anxiety. They will waste his time, deplete his health, dwindle his money, spoil his taste for prayer and spiritual activities, and weaken his resolve for repentance.”
Fr Matta El Meskeen

If I strive to be righteous for the sake of being right, I’m only going to pull myself further away from God. I can be achieving what I intended, but there will be a stark reality check when I see how far I have removed myself from Christ. A life of getting it right is a life of anxiety, but it is what we, as humans, have come to know and expect. To hunger and thirst for righteousness in the eyes of the Father is the spiritual height of blessing. To hunger and thirst as if my very existence depended on it.

It is no longer about getting it right but, God, I just want to know You more and more each day. I’m not going to get it right, but for as long as I am spending my days with You, then I know I’m going far. I have tasted the sweetness of Your grace and now, nothing else will satisfy. When I was searching for You at first, I couldn’t see You clearly but as I move closer and closer, You come into focus and my anxieties fade. My decisions become easier, I’m not striving to get it right but to get to know You and all else is secondary.

When I am stuck in my own selfish desires, I want to get it right on my own. But when I look to God, I empty my selfish desires before His Throne and He gives me His grace in return. My repentance is no longer, “God I messed up,” and stops there but, “God, the infinite and eternal, Creator of heaven and earth, I am in awe of You and Your love for humanity, have mercy upon me, a sinner.”

Isaiah teaches us,

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.” – Isaiah 55:2

It was as if Isaiah knew how we would react to the coronavirus pandemic. The immediate reaction was to start hoarding as many imperishable goods as possible. But why do we spend money on what is not bread? As in, why are we so fixated on more than our daily needs? It is good to plan but in remembrance of, “give us this day our daily bread,” sustain us for today and I know tomorrow is in Your Hands. Then I know my soul will delight in abundance.

It is in the hunger and thirst for righteousness’ sake that God will work all things for good for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). God will make good of even my biggest mistakes if I live to serve Him. I am satisfied in knowing He is in control, and in His control, my darkest of days with Him are still brighter than my brightest days without Him, for the Lord will perfect that which concerns me (Ps 138:8).

The confusion is all cured by one simple prayer: God, if it does not bring me closer to You, then I don’t want it. Although I may not know right from wrong in this lifetime, I will hunger and thirst for righteousness’ sake, not so that I get the answers right, but so I am filled with You, and that I may dwell in the house of the Lord forevermore (Ps 23:6).

(1) full sermon on praying with intent by Fr Antony Paul – https://subspla.sh/2hwp6rx

Closet Pharisee

By: Michael

Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blog site

As I opened my bible today to receive life, my soul was awakened. Jesus told me off.

There was something deeply wrong in me that He wanted to open my eyes to. Something that hurts Him and saddens Him. Something that needs to change, now.

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honour at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.
“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Matthew 23:1-12

Hearing these words come from my Creator’s lips shook me. I knew He wanted to tell me something important. I re-read these verses and stopped to concentrate at each part to see what it was that the Holy Spirit wanted to awaken me to. Then I realised.

..I’m a Closet Pharisee..

I’m that Pharisee that Jesus Himself rebukes in this passage. I’m that hypocrite. Whenever I read the gospels I never like to find myself in the Pharisees – I’m always the blind man/ Samaritan woman/ one of the apostles/ the boy with the five loaves & 2 fish/ Jesus. But relating to the Pharisees? Associating myself with them? Erm no thanks. As I did my quiet time today though, I couldn’t escape that reality; there were no other characters in the chapter for me to hide behind and meditate on; no characters to cling onto but the Pharisees. I wanted the chapter to finish as quick as possible so I can move onto chapter 24 and not have to reflect on whether I’m a Pharisee or not. The Holy Spirit stopped me though. I felt something telling me to keep meditating on this passage.

In verse 3 Jesus bluntly says that the Pharisees didn’t practice what they preached. He tells to the crowd to obey them and do what they say but not what they do for they were hypocrites. That petrified me. What if Jesus says these words about me? What if I’m the real hypocrite? What if Jesus instructs others to obey what I say but not what I do because I don’t practice what I preach?… It’s so easy for me to say the right things, so easy to put on an act, so easy to create a spiritual persona that seems to be entering through the narrow gate. How foolish. How void. How fake. I think it offends God even more when I do that knowing full well that He sees and knows all things.
“Everything they do is done for men to see” Jesus says in verse 5. I highlighted that verse. If you easily fall into the sin people pleasing like me, this verse will resonate with you too. Everything they do is for men to see. Everything. Everything. What a scary thought; I could be living such a fake life that absolutely every action is performed with the motive of gaining people’s approval and attention – even my walk with Jesus. Disgusting. It really is. Idolising other human beings and putting them at a higher pedestal that God Himself, that I’m willing to fake my relationship with Jesus for a minute of their admiration and applause.

To the proud-hearted like myself, Jesus very clearly explained how to notice if you’re one of these Pharisees. Verse 6 says “they love the place of honour” followed by verse 7 saying “they love to be greeted and have men call them ‘Rabbi’”. Oh boy do I love the place of honour. Oh how my heart lusts for the moment when I’ll be greeted by others and have them praise me. As I read these verses trying my hardest to not relate to them the Holy Spirit reminded me of all the times I’d stood as a deacon/ in tasbeha so desperate, so eager to move up a bench. To have my voice heard. Acknowledgement. Applause. Glory. I was reminded of the times friends had complimented me on a gift that the Lord had so graciously bestowed upon me and how I twisted their godly encouragement into self-praise, eagerly feeding my pride. I was reminded of the times my heart leaped with joy because I was acknowledged by someone more popular than me. Though I feel ashamed writing these words, I thank Jesus with all my heart for opening my eyes to the rise of the old man within me. The old man, who in my case, is a big self-righteous Pharisee too.

If I skip to verses 25 and 27 I hear Jesus saying:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence… Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” What more can He say? How clearer can He get? Woe to you O my soul for you are full of hypocrisy. How easy it is for you to appear righteous and holy before men when from the deepest part of your soul, you worship Satan. How you run after him, sprint towards him, lusting for every drop of greed and self-indulgence that he supplies you with. I look at myself, look at the real me, and I question how I have the audacity to call myself a ‘servant’ in the church, how I can dare to dream of being a ‘leader’ when I continue to live as a Pharisee – clean as can be from the outside yet disturbingly filthy on the inside.

How often has your Creator longed to hold you in His bosom O my soul? How often has He whispered gently, spoken tenderly, screamed lovingly to you wanting you to wake up from your deep sleep?

I feel that verse 12 summarises everything the Lord awakened me to today; For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. If like me, you really struggle with pride, and humility is this foreign concept to you that you know a couple of nice quotes on, change needs to happen now. We can’t live lives of Pharisees. We can’t continue to insult our Saviour because of our self obsession. And before we fall into the lie that we can humble ourselves, we need to repent, laying before the King of Kings and ask Him to grant us humility.

Abba Poemen said “as the breath which comes out of his nostrils, so does a man need humility and the fear of God.”

St. Peter of Damascus said “At the Last Judgment the righteous will be recognized only by their humility and their considering themselves worthless, and not by good deeds, even if they have done them. This is the true attitude.”

Wake up, O my soul.

Original blog found at- http://becomingfullyalive.com/closet-pharisee/

Flip It on Its Head

Flip It on Its Head

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Antony Paul

On the first day of my first long retreat at the monastery, I saw what could’ve changed the course of my life completely. Prior to this stay, I had only been allowed to stay for a few days at a time. This time was different because they gave me my own room to stay for a few months. It reminds me of our current global climate and how we can all work together to make this pandemic of coronavirus a blessed experience for all.

One of the monks took me to my room and gave me a key. He told me that this was the only key in existence for this particular room. I could not lose it. This didn’t bother me too much as I was not a careless person.

A day or two later I wanted to go trekking in the mountains. The canteen was about 20 metres from my room and you only needed to walk in a straight line to get there. I had been assigned regular hours to work in the canteen so it was natural for me to stop there on my way to inform someone of where I was going to be for the rest of the day, especially because there were no phones around and they may have been worried if they noticed my prolonged absence.

Upon telling the canteen workers I would be leaving, I realised I had forgotten my Bible and writing tools. I put my hand in my pocket to feel for where the key to my room should be. I couldn’t find the key in my pocket. I searched up and down from the canteen to my room to find the key but could not find it. It was gone.

All I could think was, “I’m going to get wrecked.”

“But monks are nice,” I thought to myself, “so nice! He won’t be upset that I did the one thing I was not supposed to. He will be so nice about it and this will be just fine.”

Not long after, the Abouna that gave me the key came to the canteen because he had arranged with the head canteen worker, Arsany, that he would teach him to drive that day.

He walks in smiling, what a great time to tell him. As soon as I tell him, he stops smiling. I grin awkwardly. He frowns. I know I am in trouble now. He becomes visibly upset and I become internally upset that I made him upset.

It gets worse. The other Abouna that oversaw running the canteen did not want Arsany to learn how to drive that day. He gets angry at the Abouna that I had just upset and the peace that I had associated with the monastery was gone. The first Abouna does not care what the other Abouna thinks and takes Arsany in the car for his driving lesson, and he takes me with them as well.

As we drive, Abouna says to me, “Listen, I am not here to baby sit you. If you want something, just ask, but I am not going to run around trying to figure out what you need.”

I internally cried a little as he spoke, that wasn’t what I wanted at all. The tension remains high throughout the entire drive.

We get back from Arsany’s driving lesson and there is someone with a huge smirk waiting for him. Arsany treated the monastery as his own home and the canteen as his biggest honour. Every penny accounted for and his faithfulness was beyond reproach.

He asks Arsany, “how much money did you make in the canteen today?”

Arsany looks confused, he hasn’t been there all day so he’s unsure.

He continues, “How about 2500 EGP? Maybe you should take a bit more care of the monastery’s money.” He pulls out a huge stack of money and hands it to him.

Arsany turned red and runs to his room.

The two Abounas exchange angry looks and the second Abouna leaves.

The Abouna that gave me the key is quiet for a minute and then bursts out in laughter. He looked at me and says, “This is shoo shoo.” I later found out that shoo shoo was a nickname they used in the monastery for the “shaytan” (devil) so that he is a joke compared to God.

“Oh,” I reply, I wasn’t sure what else I was supposed to say.

“Don’t you see? If it is him then we have been playing his game all day long. We need to flip it on his head.”

“What does that mean?” I reply, still unsure how this related to anything.

We must do the opposite of what he wants. Follow me.”

We went to my room where he had asked for a carpenter to come and see if he could open the room. They failed. So Abouna picks up his galabeya and kicks the door down with his feet. We laughed hysterically and he says to me, “see you have your room now.”

Then he turns to me and says, “Listen you are upset, stop, I didn’t mean to offend or hurt you. What I was meant to say was the monastery is now your home so don’t be shy. I am so glad you’re here but I don’t want you to feel tied to me or anyone else.”

This lifted my mood completely, that’s exactly what I wanted and I felt much better knowing that he didn’t hate me. I was being sensitive and he was being well, less sensitive.

The second Abouna returned to the canteen. The first Abouna takes me with him back to the canteen and boldly storms in and makes a matanya before the second Abouna and says, “Akhtet (I have sinned)! You asked me not to take him for his driving lesson and I took him anyway, forgive me.”

The second Abouna panics and start prostrating as well, “no! I have sinned. It was me.”

They started crying and hugging each other and immediately realise there was still an upset Arsany that they needed to console. We went to Arsany’s room and knocked. He was not willing to answer. He ignored us completely. They forced the door open and sat on either side of him. They tried to engage him in conversation but it was not working.

I still don’t know why the second Abouna thought this was a good idea but he starts using his baby voice saying, “are you upset? Don’t be sad, Arsany” and pours an entire bottle of water on his head. No one could contain their laughter, even Arsany.

We went back to the canteen and ate a meal together in thanksgiving. We rejoiced in the Lord and in one another.

“Welcome to the monastery.” The first Abouna says to me

Real warfare doesn’t look how you think it looks. Don’t let the devil get to you during these hard times. The devil wants us to flip out, fight and go against each other. When we pontificate about why we are right or yell about how hurt we are, we do exactly what he wants. Everyone has opinions on what is right and wrong.

By using this time to be more divisive, we lose the blessing of having a different kind of Eucharist. If we had not reconciled that night, my entire life would be different. I would’ve left the monastery at this one issue.

This room key could have completely changed the course of my life.

Let us look at this situation and flip it on its head. Let us love one another and share the bread (and toilet paper). God is good.

Luke & The Lost

by Fr Abraham Fam

Original post by goCoptic blogsite

The Gospel of St.Luke is full of mission, evangelism and the lost returning to God. We can see and learn the impact of our Lord Jesus and how He attracted the sinful to come to Him. People want to return to Him. People want to change their lives. Sometimes we believers are the stumbling block to prevent others from coming to Him. Our judgement, gossip, jealousy, and words hurt others and block them. We always make excuses why we can’t help, but the Gospel of Luke answers that also.

Open the doors

In Luke 7:36-50, we learn about the grace of God and the bravery of a sinful woman. She came to Jesus to weep and repent and was saved regardless of the people trying to block her. I say to the church open the doors to the sinful to come and feel loved. And I say to those who are weary to come to church, to go courageously to church and the Saviour.

In Luke 18:9-14, the Pharisee was praying but judging the sinner for his deeds. But the tax collector was asking for mercy for his sins.

Don’t be afraid to open the door for the lost. Don’t be worried that they will mess up the place. If we don’t open the door, they will mess up the place and it will reach your own family. So, I pray that we can believe in the lost and empower them. They desire it and will shine.

2. Open our Hearts

In the parable in Luke 10:25-37, the Good Samaritan offered his money and belongings to save a half-dead person. He opened his heart. He didn’t say it isn’t my business. Or I have enough problems of my own. He entered the scene and did what he could. He saved this broken and beaten man. May God open our hearts to help the broken and beaten in our communities and our churches.

I remember on retreat in Zambia, I was preaching about the Good Samaritan and how we have to sacrifice for the broken and hurting people around us. Well, God put me to the test. As I was driving back home from the retreat, the deacon looked at me and said what should we do. Internally, I was thinking I hope someone else could take care of it. As I was thinking that, I saw one of our very poor members, who no one respected because he is usually judged for his bad lifestyle, go and care for this man who was hit by a car. He took him to the hospital and made sure the doctor cared for him fully. I learned a really valuable lesson that day. I pray God can open my heart to those around me who are really in need. Not to bypass them, but to sacrifice and get involved.

3. Open our Faith

In Luke 15, we hear about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son who were found and restored. This is to confirm that there can be a happy ending to those who are away from God. Sometimes we lose hope and faith that a lost person can return. We tried many times and they don’t want God. But that’s not the gospel of Christ. The lost soul will be found and there will be rejoicing. Don’t lose hope, they will return. Be open and have faith that God will return them. And go and search for them as Christ did for you.

In Luke 19:1-10, Jesus went to search for Zacchaeus to restore him. Zacchaeus desired to return, he just needed a bit of a push. Maybe you are that push. Open your faith and trust God can use you even in a small way.

There have been many days when I have to admit I lost hope, but God continues to surprise me and increase my faith. Never give up on anyone no matter how bad it may seem. God open our faith.

“The person who loves God cannot help loving every man as himself, even though he is grieved by the passions of those who are not yet purified. But when they amend their lives, his delight is indescribable and knows no bounds.” St Maximos the Confessor

4. Open our Eyes

Luke 23:42-43 illustrates an example of the most unexpected person and at the most unexpected time. The thief on right was right next to Jesus and asked Jesus to remember him and Jesus said, ‘you will be with Me in Paradise’. I wonder if someone in our family or our school or work or even at church is right next to us every day and we are missing the chance to reach out to them.

Let us open our eyes every day to see the opportunities God is giving us. It may happen with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time.

5. Open the Mission

Luke 10:1 says into every city and every place.

Luke 24:47-48 says repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.

Jesus started His ministry by going to every place and sending his apostles to every place and before He ascended, He told us to go, get the lost of all nations. Opening the mission means being convinced right now that you are part of His mission to save the lost. Once convinced, then make a commitment to open the doors of your church and even your house. To open the doors of your heart to love the unlovable.

The Gospel of Luke shows us it’s time to open up for the work of God to thrive. To see lost souls running to Him and asking mercy from Him. In Luke 24:15, we see two disciples on the road to Emmaus and it says “Jesus drew near to them.” He didn’t want to lose them. He doesn’t want to lose you and He doesn’t want to lose any of His children. I pray that we can open up and let God use us to save His sheep.

Let us pray the same prayer of St. Isaac the Syrian, “I beg and beseech you, Lord: grant to all who have gone astray a true knowledge of you, so that each and every one may come to know Your glory.”

Original blog found at- https://gocoptic.org/luke-the-lost/

Why is God Punishing me?

Why is God Punishing me?

Adapted from a sermon by Fr David Shehata

John 9:1-41

The Gospel of John was written after the other three gospels. John did not aim to write a narrative of Jesus’ life but to reflect on the seven signs He performed that revealed His divinity. The sixth of the seven signs was the healing of the man born blind.

While walking with His disciples, they ask Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). They didn’t wait to ask Him privately, but in front of the man born blind who could clearly hear what they were saying.

In first century Palestine, there was a close association between sin and suffering. If someone sins, there will be punishment. This was the Judaic mentality and it went unquestioned, up until this moment. If this man was blind, it had to be the result of sin. If he was born this way, then it was clearly a sin of his parents that was passed on to their offspring.

While this may seem absurd to us now, it is possible that we share a similar logic. How many times have people speculated that the coronavirus pandemic is God punishing the world? How many times have people inferred that this must be the result of God’s anger and wrath? Even on a personal level, when faced with tribulation many of us will question, “God, why are You punishing me?” We will reason and speculate that every bad thing I have done in my life is what has caused my tribulation, that my sin has triggered God’s wrath.

Jesus, in this story, gives us a third alternative. It’s not punishment, it’s not sin, “but that the works of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:3).

Christ’s response is for our benefit also. There is a different purpose to tribulation. Maybe God wants us to learn something new from this experience that we wouldn’t be able to learn in any other way. Maybe God knows the nature of my heart and knows the best way to reveal His glory in my life.

In Orthodoxy, we argue that always – in any trial, in any tribulation – there is always a bigger purpose. There is always a hidden blessing that will come from my struggles, if we choose to dig a little deeper. The very best is coming, and we won’t know the full extent of it until we have reached eternal life. This is especially difficult to see while the tribulation is unfolding before us.

In the case of the man born blind, he was about 35-40 years old, we don’t know his exact age. Why would God allow so much time to pass before revealing the purpose of his blindness? Does that not seem like an unnecessarily excessive period?

In all their affliction He was afflicted,
And the Angel of His Presence saved them;
In His love and in His pity He redeemed them; – Isaiah 63:9

In Isaiah, we are given divine reassurance. Make no mistake. Every single bit of suffering and discomfort, the Lord shares in all our suffering. He doesn’t just watch over us as a distant observer. This could never be the case. He bestows compassion and mercy upon us during our times of suffering, every step of the way.

In the Gospel of Temptation, the Lord underwent every temptation that we can face. Every bit of suffering, He has endured too. The difference being that He overcame every temptation. He never bowed down nor fell, and that is our source of strength.

Fr Daoud Lamei puts forth the image of the Lord that does everything for our own benefit and our ultimate salvation. Imagine if we could go to the man born blind in heaven and ask him about what he endured on earth. If he was asked the question, “If you could go back, would you prefer to have your eye sight from day one?” This man would turn around, surrounded by God, the angels, the saints and the congregation of heaven, seeing where he is compared to the mere 40 years of suffering and the one encounter he had with the Lord that led to his place in heaven and say with full assurance, “I would not change one thing, this is what led to my edification and salvation. If I had my eyesight, I wouldn’t have encountered Christ in this way. My heart wouldn’t have been changed. My heart wouldn’t have been moved in a way that granted me salvation. It wouldn’t have been worth the risk.”

The lesson for us to learn is to stop focusing on who or what is to blame for our situation. The early church fathers argue that the Lord’s voice is clearer in our lives through tribulation.

HH Pope Shenouda III used to say that during tribulation, we hear the voice of the Lord and learn more than if we listened to 1000 sermons.

It is during this time that we no longer focus on who to blame or what to do but we look to God. When we turn to the Lord, He lifts the conversation to Heaven. This is how He responded to His disciples when they questioned whose sin was responsible for the man’s blindness. He told them to stop looking for who to blame and look to the glory that will come from his healing.

The questions we should be asking are, how is the healing going to come? How will his life change and How will this tribulation lead him to heaven?

In our tribulations, the questions we should be asking are, Lord, what can I benefit? What do you want me to learn?

When our focus shifts, we learn to walk by faith and not by sight, just as the blind man did. He didn’t know that the Man that spat on the ground before him, then put dirt where his eyes should be was doing this for his benefit. But he walked by faith, not questioning Christ. This was pivotal to his healing. We must walk with eyes focused on the Lord, looking for the lessons Christ is teaching us that will ultimately bring us to His glory.

A Fox Named Fear

By: Avi Ibrahim

Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blog site

“NOW IT occurred that while the people pressed upon Jesus to hear the message of God, He was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee).
And He saw two boats drawn up by the lake, but the fishermen had gone down from them and were washing their nets.
And getting into one of the boats, [the one] that belonged to Simon (Peter), He requested him to draw away a little from the shore. Then He sat down and continued to teach the crowd [of people] from the boat.
When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon (Peter), Put out into the deep [water], and lower your nets for a haul.
And Simon (Peter) answered, Master, we toiled all night [exhaustingly] and caught nothing [in our nets]. But on the ground of Your word, I will lower the nets [again].
And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish; and as their nets were [at the point of] breaking.
They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and take hold with them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Luke 5:1-8

Upon reading this passage, so many thoughts came to mind towards Peter and his state. I mean, Peter, you just witnessed an incredible miracle. Aren’t you curious? Don’t you want to know the secret behind what this man just did so you can try to repeat it and enjoy early retirement? You allowed Him on your boat before He showed His awesomeness, and now you want Him to depart?

And it kind of hit me. I’m not too far from that reaction when presented with something Holy and Good. There’s a small sense of worry poking its way with its snout into the heart of that moment.

“This really shouldn’t happen to me. He must have entered the wrong boat! Perhaps, He doesn’t fully know the extent of my sins. It’s only a matter of time before I ruin this?”

It initially smells like the incense of humility but it’s quite the opposite. If it succeeds, I find myself getting out of that boat immediately and walking away. And I would walk away missing that moment when Christ calls me by my name and affirms me by telling me “Fear not! I am entrusting you with this.”

I’d fail to realize that the smell of sweet incense was coming from Christ, humbly entering into my boat. It’s fear that lurks in, welcomed openly by pride, that causes me to reject the gift of His presence. I’d think of my own condition. I’d glance at my calloused hands and the dirt in my nails, ignoring His gentle embrace. Consumed with my state, I can never enjoy His warmth and feel the fullness of joy in that moment. I entered my boat broken but I’d leave it broken, hopeless, and alone.

A few verses down from that passage you’ll find how Matthew (Levi) responds to meeting Christ; sinful Matthew makes a great banquet for Christ in his own sinful house and invites all the sinful tax collector friends he can gather (Luke 5:29). Wow!!! It’s not like Matthew was unaware of his state. He was a tax collector, that title was a scarlet letter he wore around. But he entered into the grace of that invite with celebration, looking onto Christ and not his brokenness.

Why let pride welcome it’s pesky friend, fear, so that we remain friendless? Why let that fox steal an opportunity to have a party, celebrating His presence? Why let it steal my Joy?

Later in scripture, Peter will be proven right countless times as to how sinful he is (and some of these moments are very public) but I guess that’s what it takes for him to ask for Christ to draw near to him as opposed to depart.

“Draw near to me, for I am a sinful man O Lord!”

And in the moment that He does draw near, his identity is transformed. “I the sinful” becomes “I the loved”, “I the embraced”, “I the joyous”.

There is a great song by John Mayer that describes a man talking to his love saying “If my past is any sign of your future, you should be warned before I let you inside.” In its essence, it’s saying “I have full confidence in myself messing this up, and I have a proven record in doing so. My fears are preventing me from experiencing the goodness we have to offer.” The song is called “I don’t trust myself with loving you”, and the title is rightly stated but there would be no hope for this man if the song is left as it is. His trust in himself and his sense of value would cause an endless cycle of failure; the relationships he’s failed in would fail to bring in any new ones. Although the person in this song may have every right not to trust in himself, he may have toiled all night on his miserable boat with no reward, he would be foolish not to trust, love, and enjoy the person who comes into his failed state and accepts him.

But aren’t we all foolish sometimes, our pride casts a verdict on ourselves keeping us behind imaginary prison bars when we should really be celebrating our freedom. So let’s put up the party banners and send the invitations! Let’s be more like Matthew!

Original blog found at- http://becomingfullyalive.com/a-fox-named-fear/