Category: Blog

Our Father

Our Father

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous

In the Gospel, there are various accounts where Jesus teaches us how to pray. Often, we may find ourselves asking ourselves, “How do we pray?”. Thus, it is important for us to listen closely to the words which Christ provides us with within the Gospels. He says,

“When you pray, say Our Father,” (Luke 11:2)

He doesn’t give us prerequisites or strict instruction. We probably don’t notice how unusual that language is since we are so used to it. We hear it because we recite this prayer almost if not daily. During Christ’s time, to call God ‘Father’ was unusual.

In the Jewish praise, you will often hear them say, Lord God, creator of Heaven, and that’s how it would begin it. Very rarely would you see somebody called God, ‘Father.’ People were often excommunicated for claiming to call God ‘Father’, due to the audacity to act as though they were a son or daughter of God.

Not only does Christ urge us to call God Our Father, but He himself also uses the title when He prays.

It is unusual. Not only is He claiming to be the Son of God, but he also invites us to partake in this sonship, urging us to approach God as our Father too.

One of the early Church Fathers in early fifth or fourth century Alexandria says,

“He gives His own glory to us.”

He raises slaves to the dignity of freedom. He rescues us from the state of slavery, giving us by His grace what we did not possess by nature, and permits us to call God our Father as being admitted to the ranks of sons and daughters.

Can any of us say that we are truly free. But rather, we are all enslaved to something. All of us are beneath where we should be. All of us find that we do not have freedom or certain control, whether it will be given to anger, words that we cannot stop saying, cigarettes, alcohol shopping, whatever it may be, we’re all enslaved to something attention. However, Christ elevates us back to where we were supposed to be, sons and daughters.

Therefore, since we are all children of God, thus we must also be brothers and sisters to one another. We are all part of the same family raised under our Father’s wing. As He will care for us, so should we take care of our fellow brother or sister.

The Feast of Pentecost

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Sam Fanous

Passage: John 15:26 – 16:15

Today is the beautiful Feast of Pentecost – the Feast where the apostles and disciples went out and converted the whole world. If you look at the whole history of humanity within the Bible, you can see that it is a process of God teaching humanity. In ancient civilisations, the world was pretty barbaric – humanity behaved in a way that was very depraved in many instances. In those times, they behaved in that way often in service to the gods they worshipped. Some offered up their sons and daughters, and burned them in an act of worship to their gods.

Throughout the Old Testament, God told these people that, though they were primitive, this was not the way to behave. So He revealed himself to them as God the Father, the one God. In those days, the concept of one God was alien to them – there were hundreds of gods. Each tribal group had their own group. He revealed himself to the Jews firstly to teach them the most important lesson: there is only one God. The other gods were idols. But the God of the Jews was the only one to be worshipped. 

And even though he said this to Abraham and Moses, it took about a thousand years for this idea to sink in. Initially, they thought that this was their God who was stronger than all the other gods. But after thousands of years that concept became ingrained that the other gods weren’t real, and were simply works of man. The God of the Jews was the only God. He revealed that He was the transcendent, unknowable, eternal God. 

This is why in the Old Testament the people would question “how can I have seen God’s face?”. They believed that if they saw God’s face they would be immediately killed. But throughout the whole Old Testament there are snippets of revelation that somehow God is further than we could ever imagine, yet somehow close to us. We see Moses in the Burning Bush – the angel of the Lord walks on the earth. But who is the angel of the Lord? 

So somehow, throughout the Old Testament, you get the indication that there may be more to the story than this one, eternal, unknowable God. And finally, when we get to the gospels, we discover a new level of truth: God, the word, the second person, became man.  

He was the angel of the Lord. He was the one who spoke to Moses through the Burning Bush. In the fullness of time, through St Mary, He became man. 

And this movement of revelation from God the unknowable coming towards us moves to another level now. Now, Jesus walks with us. We can listen, touch, hold and see Him. He is there. 

But the movement of God towards us is not finished there. Jesus’ death and resurrection is only the second stage. The next stage is today – Pentecost – when the disciples were gathered together in the upper room, waiting for the Holy Spirit to descend on them. This is the final revelation.

In the Old Testament, we have the eternal God unknowable to us – and that is still true. God the Father cannot be known by us. We cannot put Him in our brains – He is far above us. 

But now, we know Him as Jesus Christ. He is close to us. 

But the final stage of the revelation is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit within us. God is not only beyond everything, He is not only someone we can see, He is someone deep within us, closer to us than we are to ourselves. 

As one theologian puts it,

“God is beyond all things we could think or express, yet closer to us than our own heart”. 

This is God’s revelation to humanity – and we are the heirs of this revelation. We have received the Holy Spirit in baptism and chrismation. God has moved from His eternal throne all the way into our souls, even though we don’t deserve it. 

And now God is fully revealed to the world. There is nothing left for God to teach us from an external perspective. The only thing we have to do is find him. And we cannot say “you’re too far away” or “we don’t know you”. The disciples and Jews saw Jesus walking on earth, but He is closer to us than He was to the disciples because He is within our soul through the Holy Spirit. 

It is the Trinity: God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that works within us for our salvation. It’s the Spirit within us that pushes us to pray and convicts us when we sin. And when we pray, we pray by the Spirit, through the Son, to the Father. The Holy Trinity, altogether, is working for our salvation. 

So today we have to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Every action and word must be infused with the Holy Spirit. If you are not sowing the Spirit to the people around you, you are giving them emptiness. If you’re a servant in the church, and are empty of the Holy Spirit, your service is futile.

You may do good things for people and help them. Many people help those who are sick, which is a good thing. But what are you doing to make a change eternally? You may ease their pain for a short period of time, but are you easing their eternal pain? Are you giving them eternal glory? Are you giving them anything with substance or meaning? 

If you don’t have the Holy Spirit, whatever good you do will never be eternal. It will only ever be temporary. 

Think about it like a drinking vessel. You could have a drinking vessel that is beautiful and ornaments your house, but when you come to drink from it, it’s empty. Or you could have an ugly jug, cracked, hardly holding itself together, and when you drink from that drinking vessel, it has an outcome. It gives you something.

This is what we have to remember. If we are empty of the Holy Spirit, no matter how good we look, no matter how much we do, we are giving emptiness. We are giving from our own deficiency. 

Without the Holy Spirit guiding our actions, we are like zombies. We can move and do things but there’s no life within us. 

It’s not just in our service. Think about your actions when you raise your own children. When you raise them, you have to raise them with the Spirit. In everything you do, give them the Spirit. Every time you speak to them, when you pray together, when you discipline them, feed them the Spirit. 

We spend so much time making sure we have enough food or clothing so we can provide for them materially, but that doesn’t mean anything. They will only remember if you fed them the Spirit when they looked at you and saw that you had something special, eternal and transmitted it to them. 

St Seraphim of Sarov said,

“Acquire the Spirit of Peace and a thousand souls around you will be saved.” 

Just one person can acquire the Holy Spirit and thousands will be saved. With the Holy Spirit, twelve uneducated fishermen changed an entire empire without lifting a sword. With the Holy Spirit, a poor young virgin gave birth to the Saviour of the world. 

This is the purpose of our lives – to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Any church that is not filled with the Holy Spirit is dead. You can do all the services you want, but it is a dead church. And being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn’t start with the priest or the hierarchy. If every member of the church was filled and overflowing with the Holy Spirit, then the whole country would be changed just from that church. If every single person made that their goal in life, the whole world would be changed. 

So this day of Pentecost, let’s not forget our purpose on this earth – to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that it overflows. Let’s follow the example of the disciples. First, they gathered together in the upper room, waiting patiently for the Spirit to descend upon them. We need to drink daily, hourly, minutely, from the Holy Spirit. 

Every time we lift up our eyes to heaven or bow down on our knees to pray, this is us drinking daily. When we fill ourselves up and then interact with the people around us, it’ll naturally be transmitted to them. Even without words, as St Francis of Assisi said:

“Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.”

We don’t always need to use words to preach God – we just need to be filled with the Spirit. 

Together, in this season of Pentecost now, remember that God, who is beyond our comprehension and above anything we can begin to imagine is also deep within our souls – our whole purpose in life is to discover and find him there. Glory be to God forever Amen.

Full Sermon Here

Prayer that Moves Mountains

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Yacoub Magdy

Passage Luke 11:1-13, Psalm 143:10,8

One of the blessings of our church is that every liturgy has a special meaning for each of us personally. It would be a shame if we didn’t search out this message from God from day to day.

The message from the gospel of today is that prayers are answered. St Luke starts the narrative with a question the disciples ask of Christ. They have seen Him praying on a number of occasions already now and this moved theirs hearts. They ask Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” – Like 11:1.

Jesus gave them a model of prayer. The beauty of the Lord’s prayer is that it starts with, “Our Father.” He encourages them to call Him, Father.  

Not many people appreciate this or understand fully. Those that convert to Chrisitianity from a different religion have an unique appreciation of calling God, Father. The Creator of all wants us to call Him Father.

 In the book, “I dared to call Him Father,” it took tremendous courage to call our Lord, Father. When I think about it, who am I to call Him Father?

This is the cornerstone to how we come to God with prayers answered. Jesus gives His disciples examples of persistence in prayer. When you pray, don’t stop until you receive. This is the treasure and beauty we can have as Christians – as children of the Almighty.

If a judge tells you lodge an appeal and I’ll support you. You have tremendous confidence that your appeal will be received because of the support you have from the judge. The One that answers prayer is telling us to ask, to seek, to knock, and He is the One that will answer us.

There is a famous comment of Pope Kyrillos from those who knew him well, “whatever God can do, prayer can do.” Prayer elevates our capabilities to God’s level. We can move the hand of God through our prayers.

St Basilios once said, “people climb and when they are two steps away from the top, they return back.” When you have something you need from God, don’t stop until you hear His answer.

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

Luke 11:13

We, being normal people, with our limitations, would give to a friend in need. When a child asks for something, a parent rushes to give it to them straight away. God is our Father, and responds in the same way, if not, more. Each word is a step toward perseverance. Ask. Seek. Knock.

The first level is easy, you ask from what you want. The next is a bit more difficult because you start seeking it out. The final level is the height of persistence when you knock, and keep knocking until the door is opened.

This is how we approach God. Not to ask our request over and over again, God knows our needs, but if you have something at your work, home, health, with your children, God knows your needs.

As His child, God can never let us down. If the gospel is ever unclear, we have a Psalm attached for clarity. The fathers that put together the gospels hint toward the meaning by choice of psalms. The Psalm attached read;

Lead me in the land of uprightness. For in You do I trust

Psalm 143:10, 8.

I cannot trust God if I am not on the path of righteousness. St Isaac the Syrian once said, “The trust of the beggar compels the giver.” When you approach God, knowing He is all-capable yet all knowing, this confidence shines through your prayers. It is not a matter of, “God, can You help?” but “God, I know You can help, but let it be according to Your will.”

You cannot let someone down that comes to you in full assurance and trust. My conscious tells me that I won’t be let down. If you work for an honourable boss, you never think that he won’t pay your due wages.

If I am on the path of righteousness, I trust that I won’t be let down. This trust compels the Lord to give me. The beggar’s trust forces the giver to give. There is so much power given to the one that trusts God. It is available to us all, Fr Makary Younan says, “my hand can’t move a mountain, but my prayer can move the Hand of God that moves mountains.”

I recall a story when I was asked to speak to the youth about the consequences of purity. At the end of the talk, I left them with a challenge. The challenge was to spend six weeks (forty days) in complete purity, without a hint of impurity, no screens or looking twice at temptation. A period of six weeks is typically how long it takes to form a habit, so if they were motivated for this time, they could conquer any bad habits.

One of the youth was very afraid of failing a certain subject at university but upon hearing this challenge, he called upon the Lord to help him pass his subject if he maintained his purity. His confession father later told me this story because not only had he passed but he received a high distinction.

When I bow to temptation, I miss the point of my prayers, I forget the Lord and His promises.

“Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called upon His name; They called upon the Lord, and He answered them. He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar; They kept His testimonies and the ordinance He gave them.”

Psalm 99:6-7

 It is all in our hands.  Ask, seek, knock. We have to be His sons and daughters by first acting in such a way.

Fr Daoud Lamei says while you are absent minded, see where your thoughts catch you. Is it God and His Name? Do we long to spend time with Him? Or is getting even, sexual desires, revenge? If this is the case, wee are excluding ourselves from sonhood. If you belong to God, you are implanted in Him, ask and you will receive. Your rank will intercede on you. Let God say this is My son or daughter. Wear this title with honour and then you have nothing to worry about.

⛰ Full Sermon ⛰

Put Off Anger, Put on Patience

The New Man: Part 1

By Myrna Ishak

Picture this – you’re seven-ish years old, sitting on the floor while your school teacher reads a book aloud. Something about a boy living in a peach. The carpet is scratchy and it makes your legs itch; why do you even have to sit here – the lunch bell rings! Your train of thought is cut short as you, and about twenty other children, scramble madly outside. You make a beeline for your favourite playground spot, systematically dodging and weaving between those in your way. You clutch your lunch tightly to your chest – a ham sandwich, an apple, and a bag of Cheetos-equivalent chips. This isn’t working, the thronging crowd of students isn’t even close to dispersing. So, you take a short cut. It’s a risky move, running past the principal’s office when no one’s supposed to be indoors, but really, when is she ever actually in her office?

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Your heart sinks as you turn to face the voice’s source. Her face is pinched, arms crossed, and you feel like a bug under a microscope. To make a long story short, you’ve earned a detention. But so what if you were indoors? You were just passing by – how else were you supposed to get outside with enough time to enjoy your lunch? Your sheepishness and embarrassment are replaced by another feeling and you see red. Time slows down. An orange blur flies through the air, colliding with Mrs Jones’ back as she walks away from of you. Her brown jacket is now pelleted with orange cheese dust where the individual Cheetos made contact, and your single detention has suddenly turned into several.

Over a decade later, I can finally look back at this memory with some amusement. It comes as no surprise that anger has been confirmed to temporarily impact cognition and the way we process external stimuli. I’m sure everyone has a similar story where anger has caused rash behaviour, as Solomon so frankly states:

“For anger rests in the bosom of senseless men” – Ecc 7:9

To put it simply, anger is an emotional state often secondary to a perceived threat. We know it is an inevitable feeling as a range of Biblical figures, from Cain to Jesus, encounter it – but what separates the passion that would cause a man to slaughter his own brother and that which drove our Lord to overturn vendors’ tables in the temple?

Motive and result.

Anger is only justified if its root cause is love of God. If my anger is triggered by my desire for self-preservation, driven by my ego, or in defence of my values or beliefs – it is unjustified.

And what becomes of unjustified anger? There are essentially only a few ways this can go:

  1. My anger is aggressive – I hurt those who hurt me, be it verbally, physically, or with Cheetos. Choose your weapon.
  2. My anger is assertive – I call out those who hurt me and hold them accountable.
  3. My anger is passive – I redirect my anger through other mediums; I ignore, I feign disinterest, I manipulate.
  4. My anger is suppressed – I’m fine, really! The rejection I suffered will only gnaw at my insides until it evolves into bitterness and malice; maybe it’ll even impact my physical health. But I really am just fine.

“An angry man digs up strife, but a furious man digs up sins” – Proverbs 29:22

HH Pope Shenouda III suggests a beautifully practical strategy for dealing with anger:

1. Avoid circumstances known to provoke your anger –

“Do not be a companion to an angry man and do not associate with a quick-tempered friend, lest you learn his ways and receive a snare for your soul” – Proverbs 22:27-28

2. Do not make decisions, be it by thought, word, or action, during a time of anger –

“He who refrains from uttering a harsh word is intelligent, and a longsuffering man has discernment” – Proverbs 17:29

3. And finally, take off the old man and put on the new – put off anger and put on patience. Confess the weaknesses that may have caused you to sin in anger, and train yourself to adopt a disposition of love, long-suffering, and self control.

“But now, you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him …” – Colossians 3:8-10

Seaing is Believing: The Tides of Belief

Living by the Sea: Part 1 – Seaing is Believing: the Tides of Belief

By Monica Monir

Have you ever wanted to live by the sea?

I have, for my entire life. In fact, I still remember my first trip to Cronulla beach at the ripe old age of four (it was love at first sight, no big deal). My motto quickly became “If there’s H2O, then it’s time to go!”

Maybe some of you already live by the sea (um, sick invite). Or at least, you think you do…

What if I told you living by the sea wasn’t about your postcode? What if I told you living by the sea simply meant living out your belief in everyday life? Hear me out for a second…

We all go through cycles in our belief, in the same way the tide rises and falls, and when they said you have to “sea” to believe they weren’t kidding…

Seek

Encounter

Adjust

This is the cycle of belief. We seek Him, we encounter Him and we adjust our ways…we seek Him, we encounter Him and we adjust our ways. SEAing is believing. Over the next few posts in this series we’ll dive deep into how to apply each of these three letters into our lives, but for now, what does seaing even look like?

Seaing is the woman who sought the healing of her demon-possessed child (Mt 15:27), it’s the bleeding woman who touched the border of Jesus’ garment in faith (Lk 8:43), it’s when Mary kissed Jesus’ feet and washed them with her tears (Lk 7:37) and it’s the healing of the paralytic man at Capernaum because his friends lowered him through the roof in faith, knowing that they must get to Jesus (Lk 5:19). All of these people lived by the sea because they not only sought after Jesus, but they let Him change their lives.

“But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” – He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.” – Luke 5:24-25 (emphasis added) The man sought Jesus, he encountered Him and he adjusted his ways, glorifying God as he went home.

And in the words of St. Augustine of Hippo, “To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek him the greatest adventure; to find him, the greatest human achievement.”

Well that’s all well and good in theory, but does this all still apply today? 100% yes. Nick Vujicic is an Aussie born with no arms and no legs. During childhood he attempted to take his own life, it’s the darkest place anyone could end up. Today he shares the message of Christianity on a global scale, saying, “Adjustments are necessary along the way because life isn’t always rosy, but it is always worth living.”

Whatever the problem, whatever the cause, the solution is the same. We seek Him, we encounter Him and we adjust our ways…we live by the sea.

So how do we live by the sea? Well there are a number of ways, most of which will be discussed in upcoming posts, so stay tuned! But for now just know that we seek Him in prayer, we encounter Him in the Bible and during the Liturgy and we adjust our ways by being humble enough to hear His quiet voice amidst the screams of tribulation.

Life has its twists and turns and the forecast doesn’t always tell us what we want to hear. We can get caught up in a swell and pretty soon our life seems shipwrecked as we wash up on the shore cold, isolated and lonely. We’ve all been there, we’ve all felt beaten down by the storm at sea. It’s in these moments we must remember that seaing is believing, and continue to live by the sea (seek, encounter, adjust). Because let me ask you this, if seaing wasn’t believing, then why does the deceiver always send a storm to capsize us?

“And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”

Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, “Where is your faith?”” – Luke 8:24-25

Don’t be deceived, continue to believe.

So, do you live by the sea?

Waiting On The Spirit

Waiting On the Spirit

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous

Passage John 16: 23-33

Last Thursday we celebrated the Ascension of Christ, and next Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Pentecost.

Today we are in between, Christ has ascended, and we still are awaiting the Holy Spirit. And the Gospel chosen to read today can be very confusing. It begins with some very confusing statements from the middle of John 16;

“in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy be full.”

John 16:23-24

But it is important that we read this Gospel in the context of the entire Gospel, especially the few previous verses;

 “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again, a little while, and you will see Me because I go to the Father.” Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”  They said, therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.” Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’?” (Verses 16-19)

So, at this point the disciples are confused, then Christ says to them;

 “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.  A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for the joy that a human being has been born into the world.  Therefore, you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”

John 16: 20-22

Then we start the Gospel of today;

“And in that day, you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy be full…”

So, within the context of the chapter, we see that Christ is speaking about His ascent to the Father, that they will be sorrowful because He is leaving them, but they will be joyful once again. Just like a woman who forgets her anguish of labor after giving birth. Soon they will receive the Holy Spirit in them, and this is the presence of God within them. But the disciples in this period are still confused, and this is why the Gospel starts here;

“in that day,” As Christ is ascending, the Holy Spirit descends and fills their hearts and “you will ask Me nothing”

However, this makes no sense, its contradictory. Christ says you will not ask anything, but if you ask, He will give you. So, should we ask or not ask?

So, there is confusion. But we find that the problem is translation. In the first sentence, “you will ask” is in fact translated to interrogate or question. In the second sentence, it means to make a request or petition. One speaks about interrogation and another about petition; so two different things are happening.

So, what Christ is saying here is that “in that day, you will no longer question Me,” as a response to their confusion. The Spirit will be given to them and they will lose this confusion as God will dwell in them. Then we see another fault in translation in, “Most assuredly.” This weakens the meaning, in Greek, it is “Amen, Amen, I say to you.” Similar to how people respond to how a preacher may say something, “Amen.” It is almost like an affirmation or acceptance of what someone is saying. So, this is unique in that Christ starts the sentence with ‘Amen.’ He does this so often as He doesn’t need us to confirm His words or accept them as they are the words of God. So, there is no contradiction in these sentences.

Origen, one of the early church fathers, comments on this verse;

“He didn’t say ‘when you ask’, or simply ‘when you ask the Father’. But rather ‘When you ask the Father, in my name’”

Christ says in the Gospel of the matins of this morning that “I am The way, The Truth & The life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. And if you had known Me, you had known My Father also and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

So, Philip hearing these words says;

“Ok Lord show us the Father,” then Jesus replies, “Have I been with you so long that, yet You have not known Me, Philip. He who has seen Me, has seen the Father, so how could you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Only through Christ, do we see and know the Father. Christ becomes man to show us the way back to God; that’s the meaning of the prayer of reconciliation that we pray in the mass. The Lord becomes man in order to reconcile us to God. So, we know Christ, so we have access to the Father.

It reminds of me of something that happened a long time ago, in 2012, before I was a priest. I was on a trip with Fr Sam, Fr Paul, and Fr David. None of us were ordained, and we were in Egypt just visiting the monasteries. And it happened that as we were planning our trip, Pope Shenouda III died and they were finding a new Patriarch. So, it happened that as we were going it would be the enthronement of Pope Tawadros. One of the monks had extra tickets and offered that we go, so of course, we went. We found that when we got there it was so organized, but when they saw our tickets, they didn’t believe that a bishop would give his tickets to people from another country he didn’t know. So, we kept getting lead around in circles unable to enter; until one of them said, ‘It’s ok, captain sheriff is going to get you in,’ we said, ‘who is captain sheriff?’, ‘He’s the head of the scouts.’ We then weren’t allowed to enter, until, a man came saying, ‘Do you know who these guys are?! Captain sheriff said let them in!’ They were startled and proceeded to put us into the 2nd row. We know Captain Sheriff and therefore we got access through him.

It’s a similar situation with Christ, we know Him, His name gives access to the Father and the capacity to look to the Father. Christ has resurrected a path back to God for us.

St Cyril of Alexandria says;

“Having blessed them and gone ahead a little, He was carried up into heaven, so that He might share His Father’s throne; even with the flesh (us), that was united to Him. Christ made this new pathway for us when He appeared in human form. After this in due time, He will come again in glory with His Father and His angels and will take us up to be with Him, let us glorify God.”

So, Christ creates a pathway for us when we are lost. When lost in a forest, there would be nothing more assuring than seeing footprints or a path. Christ shows us how to live, love, and forgive. He is “the way, the truth and the life” as He says, He resurrected a path, but He also treads that path so that we would know the way back to the Father.

As St John Chrysostom says;

“As Christ ascends, we as humanity ascend with Him,” because we know Christ and now have access to the Father.

⛪️ Full Sermon Here ⛪️

Ask In My Name

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

Passage John 16:23-33

“Ask in My Name” – a phrase repeated by Christ throughout this passage. This is a promise from our Lord – Christ is saying, “I promise if you ask the Father in My Name, you will receive.”

That’s a very bold promise. This is a huge commitment to make.

“Until now, you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” – John 16:24.

What does this actually mean? What are we allowed to ask for? Can I ask for materialistic things, a car, a phone? What is the Lord promising us today?

The four key words He says are, “Ask in My Name.” If we take each of those words individually, we understand His promise.

ASK

He wants us to ask! We shouldn’t assume that He knows what we want already. He knows what we need but He still wants us to ask for it. When we ask for it, we are admitting that we need Him. We ask and when we receive, we are thankful for we know it came from Him. If I don’t ask, I will never realise that He is the source. I will never truly realise that I need Him. The important step that He asks first, is to ask. This is not a burden, but a privilege. We are given the opportunity to ask of God.

I remember a time when one of our students was going through hardship and he came to me and asked me to speak with the Dean of his university to explain his situation. I called the secretary of the dean and she told me I couldn’t speak to him without an appointment. I asked to make an appointment, she came back and told me that he wouldn’t speak with me, but I could write him a letter. I wrote him a letter and never heard back from him. It was unlikely that he even read my letter.

This made me realise that if the Dean of a University was too important that he couldn’t make time to speak to me, let alone read my letter, but where does he stand in comparison to God? Today, Christ is telling us to just come to Him! Come talk to Me, I’m here, I’m ready, you don’t need an appointment. This is our God. He is the King of all kings but He humbles Himself to hear MY prayers. When Christ says, ask, it is an honour, a blessing, a gift, to ask the Creator of the Universe, and we should take full advantage of this.

IN

What are we in? We are in Christ. When we ask, we belong to Christ. When we belong to Him, we stand before the Father, in Christ. Imagine Christ is the One asking, and we are in Him. Could the Father say no to Christ? Never, so we ask IN Christ. When we belong to Him and are a part of Him, there is nothing that we cannot ask of the Father.

MY

My kids have been asking for a Nintendo Switch. I don’t want them to become addicted to games and screens. They beg and plead but I know this is not good for them. I explained to them saying, “I want you to understand that if you ask for something that is good for you, I will always say yes. Ask me for something that is bad for you, I will say no. If you want a book to read, I will go to the bookshop for you right now and get it for you. If you want a soccer ball, that’s good for your fitness, we’ll go get a soccer ball. If you want a new bike, that good for you to exercise, we’ll go get a new bike. Ask me things that are good for you.” Now, they ask according to what is good for them. My will for them, to be good and well-rounded children. God has a will for us, and He wants us to ask according to His will, and not our will.

If I ask God to give me the strength to fight temptation, what will He answer? His answer will be yes, it’s a given. If I ask for peace, His answer will be yes, given. If I ask God for holiness, yes here it is.

We ask according to His Name and according to His will for our lives. When we are in Him, we begin to know His word. When we are in Christ, we know Him, we know His will for us, we know if the answer will be yes or no, this is good for you or this is not good for you.

NAME

The name of Jesus is powerful. In Jewish tradition, the name of somebody held significance. It was not just a nice sounding name. The name held significant meaning, and God changed a person’s name based on significant events. Abram to Abraham. Sarai to Sarah. Jacob to Israel. God has changed people’s name for a reason. The Jews would not refer to God as YHWH. The Hebrew word was too holy to utter, so they used Adonai (which meant Lord). They used this as a substitute. So, we know that just the name of Jesus Christ is powerful.

We say not to use the Lord’s name in vain for it is powerful. There is a beautiful prayer called the Jesus prayer that goes like this, “My Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner.”

It’s a simple prayer that has come from the repetition. The monks of the early church would repeat this. They called it the Arrow Prayer, because in uttering the name of Jesus Christ, we invoke the power of the name of Jesus Christ to have mercy upon us.

This is a reminder of the gift of asking, anytime, anywhere, anything. All we need to do is to be in Him, to know Him, to belong to Him, to know His will. When we ask in His name, we ask according to His will, and His will becomes ours.

The Sword of the Spirit

The Armour of God Part 5

By Andrew Gad

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” – John 15:7  

A priest tells the following story regarding the value of reading the Bible.

A student received an offer to study interstate, accepted it and left his whole family behind to pursue his dream course. His father missed him very much, and would write him letters every week, checking up on him, updating him and most importantly, letting him know how much he was missed. Initially, the son would eagerly wait for his father’ letters, replying almost instantly and cherishing each and every word written in these letters. However, as time passed and life’s distractions got the better of him, the son began to neglect reading his father’s letters. At first, he would read one letter and skip the next one, but eventually, he would not even open the letters- leaving them to pile up on his desk.

The father missed his son very much, and was extremely worried, wondering why his son stopped replying to his letters. Filled with immense love for his son, he took time off work and decided that his son was due for a visit. The son woke up one morning to loud knocking on the door- to his surprise, it was his father! “Dad I’ve missed you so much!” the son exclaimed, as the pair embraced upon their reunion. The father then sat down in his son’s room, and saw a pile of unopened letters sitting there on his desk. Immediately, he was extremely saddened and taken aback, with tears in his eyes- “Son, for months I’ve been writing to you with no response. I was extremely worried about you. Have you not even been opening my letters?”. The son was greatly humiliated, and sat their speechless, unable to justify or explain himself to his father. The father had spent a great amount of time writing these letters, and the son could not even find five minutes every week to read them?

Now replace the son with yourself, the father with God and the letters with the Bible. Isn’t this a story which sounds all too familiar?

How many times have we come back home after a long day of lectures or study and thought to ourselves…“I’ll probably just give the Bible a miss today” or “I already read the Bible yesterday, I’ll read it again tomorrow”.

Why do we often complain that we have no direction in life? That our prayers aren’t being answered? That we feel anxious, worried or distressed? That we haven’t overcome that annoying, repeated sin, no matter how much we try? Why does God always comforts and reveals things to other people, yet never to me?

Maybe the answer is simple? Perhaps we have the key in our hands, but we refuse to use it? Just like our body needs food in order to survive and function, so too do our souls need the word of God in order to survive and thrive throughout the dilemmas, decisions and hardships that we face each and every day.

When a woman from the crowd saw Jesus walking through the streets, she cried out, glorifying St. Mary and exclaiming: “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You” (Lk 11: 27).  Jesus, instead of agreeing with her, turned around and corrected her, saying: “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28). That’s right! Even though St. Mary was considered blessed enough to be the Mother of God, Jesus Himself says that there is an even greater blessing available to those who hear the word of God (which is the Bible) and keep it!

To be as blessed as St. Mary? This alone should be enough encouragement for us to read the word of God, study it diligently and transform our lives!

Now that we know the great blessings available to those who read the Bible diligently, let’s talk about some of the ways in which the Bible can genuinely transform our lives.

  1. The Bible is a “light to our path”:

In life, we are all faced with big decisions- what university course to study, what job offer to accept, whether it’s really worth moving away from home- and the list goes on and on. Many people make decisions based on fear, others based on advice they’ve heard, and others just leave it all up to chance! But in Psalm 119: 105, David the psalmist teaches us that the word of God can and should be used to direct our steps and guide each and every decision that we make.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”

But how can the Bible be used to guide such decisions- it just doesn’t seem to make any sense? The word of God is just like a lamp- it won’t show you the whole path all at once, but it will provide you with enough light to see one step, and then the next step, and then the next step. The Bible tells you to “Love your enemy”- that’s the first step. Take it, then the Bible will tell you to “watch and pray”- that’s the second step. Then the Bible will tell you: “The lamp of the body is the eye”. That’s the third step, and so on. And so, by following the words of the Bible step by step, you’ll find that God has just directed you along the entire path.

  • The Bible cleanses our thoughts:

The Paradise of the Fathers tells a story of a monk who was struggling with a particular sin, and went to his confession father asking for guidance. His confession father listened to his complaint, gave him a bucket with a small hole in it, and asked him to go fill it up at the well and report back to him. The younger monk was confused at this request, but out of obedience did exactly what was asked of him. By the time he went back  to his confession father, all the water had seeped out through the hole and the bucket was empty.

His confession father asked him to do the same thing again, and out of obedience, the younger monk did exactly that. After the third or fourth time, the younger monk became frustrated at the waste of time, complaining to his confession father: “Father, can’t you see that there is a hole in the bucket, and every time I fill the water, it seeps out!”. The confession father replied: “My son, even though the water has seeped out, can’t you see that the bucket is now much more clean than it was when I first gave it to you?”. This is exactly what happens when we read the Bible- even if we feel that it is not having a strong effect- it cleanses and purifies our heart, allowing for God to reside and dwell inside us. We just have to persist and keep on reading.

The word of God is your adversary if you want to live in ungodliness, but if you are an adversary to ungodliness, the word of God is your friend.

  • The Bible is an answer to our prayers:

The word prayer in Arabic is extremely powerful, and means “connection” or “relationship”. Now for any relationship to be successful, it needs input from both parties. Often we talk to God through prayer, and then wonder…why isn’t God answering me? Is He not listening to my prayer? Is He really there? Does He really listen? Now even though God can communicate with us in mysterious ways, 99% of the time, God will use the Bible to respond to our prayers.

Feeling worried?

The answer is in the Bible: “Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”- Mat 11: 30

Feeling depressed?

The answer is in the Bible: “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears. And delivers them out of all their troubles” – Psalm 34: 17

Needing guidance?

The answer is in the Bible: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him” – James 1: 5

Feeling alone? Read the story of the Samaritan woman.

Feeling guilty beyond the point of repentance- Why not give the story of the prodigal son ago?

And the list goes on and on.

A final thought- imagine an extremely poor man. Now imagine a rich man who sees him, has compassion upon him and hands him an envelope with one million dollars. Now imagine that the poor man takes this envelope, puts it in his drawer at home, and continues living the rest of his life in poverty! What a great loss! How foolish would this man be! We too, have been given an envelope of much more value than a million dollars. Will we open it or keep it closed till it’s too late?

Many Mansions

Many Mansions

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Samuel Fanous

The Gospel provides us with a lovely image of death. Christ says “In my Father’s house there are many mansions.” This imagery is sometimes lost because he said this to poor fisherman, rather than the rich. Thus, it was something glorious for the people present. He gave them the perfect image of death. He said that everything that you longed for in life will be received at death. You will have it in the Father’s kingdom.

 If we reflect on Christ’s references to death, most of them are joyful and positive. Very few are negative. The Kingdom of Heaven will be a glorious place. Christ attempts to inform the people that the Kingdom of God is a happy experience.

When people think about John’s Revelation, people think of the apocalypse and horror. But that in fact was not John’s focus. Rather, he aimed to provide a message of comfort to those who were in persecution. Upon close analysis, although it has scary imagery and judgements towards Rome and evildoers, it was a message of comfort to the believers.

“God will wipe away every tear.”

These are all messages of comfort. The messages of fear are those opposed to God. They are told to be fearful, the persecutors, the Jews. To His own people, he provides a message of hope, that there will be many mansions and will live comfort. Christ was portraying the perfect image for the people present during His sermon.

However, nowadays there is a changed perception towards death. One filled with fear and anxiety. Perhaps this is due to the ambiguity surrounding death. The unbelievers fear this greatly as they have no clue what to expect. What will happen after death? Where do we go? Thus, they choose to spend life not thinking about death, to focus on the present and ignore what is to inevitably come. However, we should not follow in this train of thought. We should be prepared. We must think of death often to come to the realisation that we should not fear death. What are we truly afraid of? Death is the gateway to Heaven. Why should we fear entering Christ’s Kingdom?

The day is coming for all of us. No one is exempt from encountering death. No matter a day from now or 50 years from now, it will come. To encounter that day in tranquillity and joy, we must change how we live today. If today was your last day on earth, what would you do? You must continually prepare yourself. That day will come, but will you be prepared?

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The Proposal of Christ

The Proposal of Christ

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

One of the most unforgettable days in someone’s life is the day they either proposed or were proposed to. Whether good or bad, yes or no, it’s still unforgettable. The words used on the day are ingrained in your mind.

The reason why it is such a significant day is that it is a transitionary point in your life. It marks the official transition from a relationship heading preparation for a wedding and on to marriage.

On that day, there is so much love, so much hope for what it will become, and so much faith in each other.

The Jews had a different process, they didn’t get down on one knee. The process would begin when the man would bring a gift to the girl which would mark the covenant. If she accepted the gift, it was done. He then says, “I’m going to go prepare a place for you. When it’s ready I will come back and take you with me to that place and we will be there together.”

After he said this, he would leave to build an extension to his father’s house for him and his new bride. This would take approximately one year to prepare and build. The father would then determine the right time and he would go in a procession to bring his bride back to his father’s home.

What we read in the gospel of John in the last supper discourse sounds, Christ frames His departure in very similar fashion;

“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know” – John 14:2-3.

In essence, this was a Jewish proposal – a transition point in the relationship of Christ and the disciples. This was now heading toward a marriage.

He stays on earth for 40 days after His resurrection, until the Ascension. The ascension we celebrate this coming week. The Ascension is major event that gets overlooked midweek, between the Resurrection and the Pentecost.

Why did Christ stay for 40 days? Why this particular number of days, why couldn’t He remain of Earth forever? If you read through scripture, every time the number 40 is used, it is a transitionary moment.

During the time of Noah, they remained in the Arc for 40 days and 40 nights. When Moses takes the Israelites out of Egypt, they wonder in the desert for 40 years searching for the Promised Land. A transitionary point in the history of Israel from being in the bondage of slavery to being heirs of God’s people in their own land.

Before Jesus begins His ministry, He spends 40 days and 40 nights in the desert where He was tempted by the devil. A transitionary point from which He would begin His public ministry and miracles.

Here, we have the Ascension that takes place 40 days after the Crucifixion. This was a transitionary moment for the disciples. From fear to courage, from not understanding who Christ was or what He was saying to being able to fully comprehend His divinity and preparing for the marriage feast that was to come.

After His ascension, we read, “And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy” (Luke 24:52)

This is a strange reaction to a loved one leaving. If you really loved someone, you would not be joyful at their departure. Why were the disciples so joyful at the ascension of Christ? Because the proposal is now coming into effect.

They remembered the words of Christ, I will go to prepare a place and when it’s ready, I will take you with Me.

They were joyful to see Him leave so that when He returned, they would be going with Him. Just like the bride is joyful when her groom leaves to prepare a place for her, the disciples can say goodbye to Christ with joy. It was joy in anticipation of what is to come. They spend the next nine days waiting for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. How did they spend those nine days?

“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication” – Acts 1:14

In prayer and supplication, they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

We today, hear these words of Christ as though Christ is on one knee proposing to you, and saying, “I am going to My Father house to prepare a place for you and then I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, you may be also.”

On the day of Ascension, we celebrate the day He leaves to prepare that place as a transitionary moment in our lives, looking toward eternity. We ought to return to our lives with joy for we wait in hope of His return when we will be with Him. We live joyful in prayer, preparing for wedding that is to come. We live in this hope, in this faith, and in this love.

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