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

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.

The Reality of Our Faith

The Reality of Our Faith

by Mirette Ibrahim


If we need a physical building in order to pray, we’re doing something wrong.
If we can’t speak to our Maker, without being surrounded by our loved ones, we’re doing something wrong.
If we can’t taste and see our Creator’s goodness in the confines of our own rooms, we’re doing something wrong.
If we need to be spoken to by our leaders in order to feel like we’re hearing our Lord’s voice, we’re doing something wrong.
If we can abstain from food but can’t abstain from seeing our friends, we’re doing something wrong.
If we can’t feel our God’s grace being poured on us outside of the church walls, we’re doing something wrong.

If I think my Father’s voice is only found in the crowds and not the stillness, I’m doing something wrong.
If I have limited the Unlimited to a physical space, I’m doing something wrong.
If I have confined the Almighty to a single place of existence, I’m doing something wrong.
If I’ve put my Master into a box and made Him my God according to my own preferences and criteria, I’m doing something wrong.
If I’ve failed to see my neighbor struggling while I selfishly stock my shelves and offer them my prayers, I’m doing something wrong.
If I can’t see the blessing disguised in this time of solitude that some can only dream of, I’m doing something wrong.
If I can’t call on my Saviour during this time of mass drowning, but have time to sit behind my screen and condemn the leaders for their obedience and guidance, I’m doing something wrong.

So…

Let’s pray in the stillness.
Let’s contemplate in the solitude.
Let’s experience Him in the silence.
Let’s hear Him in the quiet.
Let’s be filled with Him in our abstinence.
Let’s feel Him reaching out to us.
Let’s know Him in our obedience.
Let’s be there for each other.
Let’s help out our brother.
Let’s lay down our lives for our neighbors.

Let’s do Lent and life right.

Christ is Our Man

Christ is Our Man

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous


John 5:1-18

“When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” (John 5:6)

Christ stood there observing the paralytic man. He observed his helplessness, his condition, his loneliness. Therefore, He approaches him and says, “Do you want to be made well?” This is one of the healing miracles in the gospel of John where Christ takes the initiative. He doesn’t wait to be asked.

The man responds, “I have no man to put me in the water.” St John Chrysostom contemplates on this says, “What can be more pitiable than these words? What more sad than these circumstances? Do you see a heart crushed through long sickness? Do you see all violence subdued?”

This paralytic man has no one. He doesn’t have a single person to help him; no friends or family. He stands on the edge of the pool knowing that if he enters when the angel stirs the pool, he will be made well. We don’t know how long he was by the pool but we know that he had been a paralytic for 38 years.

He was surrounded by a multitude of people, many that could have been touching him, yet he had no one. He belonged to no one. It was likely his own family abandoned him, otherwise they would have waited beside him and took him down to the water. If he was paralytic for 38 years, it was probably a congenital disease and thus, rejected from a young age.

Truly when he says, “I have no man,” it was a reflection of the 38 years he spent alone. Fr. Alexander Schmemann contemplates saying;

This truly is the cry of someone who has come to know the terrible power of human selfishness, narcissism. Every man for himself. Looking out for number one. All of them, all that great multitude of blind, sick, paralyzed, are all “waiting for the troubling of the waters,” in other words, waiting for help, concern, healing, comfort. But…each waits by himself, for himself. And when the waters are troubled, each throws himself forward and forgets about the others… From the gospel’s point of view, this pool is of course an image of the world, an image of human society, a symbol of the very organization of human consciousness.

But even when someone has apparently overcome personal selfishness, he is still held prisoner by the category “his.” He may have overcome bondage to himself as an individual, but then it is “his” family, and for “his” family, since “charity begins at home.” If not family, then “his” ethnic group or country. If not this, then “his” social class, “his” political party. His, always his! And this “his” is invariably opposed to someone else’s, which by definition becomes alien and hostile. We’re told that this is how the world works, what can you do? But is this really true, is this really the ultimate, objective, and scientific truth about the person and human life?

Listening to these words, “I have no man,” is a cry of a feeling of everyone looking to themselves, or their own family, or their own friends. One thing I have noticed about this current crisis is that people look to themselves. People are concerned over amenities and supplies for themselves or their own home, family, businesses. People are hoarding and barricading themselves, creating borders between them and everyone else. Even nations are looking out for only their own.

In almost every phone call, every confession, every thought, the focus is on ourselves and our own. This is understandable because the nature of this disease is contact, we want to avoid touching others. We are fearful to protect our own. This is also a challenge for us, a chance to understand the words, “I have no man.” For each of us is concerned for our own – our own family, our own friends, and not anyone else.

He cries out, “I have no man,” and yet Christ saw him. We read, “He observed him” – He thought about him, He wondered about him. For 38 years no one saw him, and maybe just as remarkable; “I have no man.” In Greek, “I have no Anthropos,” which translates, “I have no human being.” No one around him acted as a human being. Each looked to themselves or their own.

These words are the exact same words Pontius Pilate when he presents Jesus before the people. He puts Christ before them and says, “Behold, the man;” “the Anthropos.” Christ is the One True Human Being. He is the One that sees beyond Himself. He is the One Man that sees beyond His own. None of us – just as no one around the paralytic was a human being – each of us sees ourselves or at best, our own. But Christ is that Man that sees beyond Himself. He sees him, and He is the Man for the paralytic.

He says to him, “I am your Man, I live, I breath, I move and have become flesh for you. You are my people, you are my concern. You have no one and yet you have Me.”

Christ enters his suffering and bears his suffering. He not only sees him but He is present with him. As followers of Christ – Christians – we are called to become human beings to the world that cries out, “I have no man.”

St Dionyius, bishop of Alexandria in 250-260 AD, wrote of an epidemic that decimated the population after the war. 60 years before this there was outbreak of a disease that was most likely small pox that killed one third of the population. He writes of the pagans;

At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treating unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.”

He contrasts, “Most of our brother-Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of the danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead. The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner, a number of presbyters, deacons, and laymen winning high commendation, so that death in this form, the result of great piety and strong faith, seems in every way the equal of martyrdom.”

The focus was not on how unfair this epidemic was, no on the lost family, or lost business. Their focus was the chance to give themselves to those around them. Like Christ, we observe and see others. Like Christ, we are there for those that are not our own, especially for those that cry out, “I have no man.”

One historian contemplates on this event and infers that this was the reason that many Romans became Christian; not because of miracles, preaching or political influence, but the response of the Christians to those in need. The irresistible love for the world.

This is very hard for us all, especially when caring for others may mean that we contract the disease. While we should not be reckless concerning these things, our eyes should always be on others. When shopping, who are we buying food for? Why not our elderly neighbour?

As things become worse, we don’t further barricade ourselves. We become more radical in caring for others. St Anthony the Great says, “Our life and our death is with our neighbour. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalise our brother, we have sinned against Christ.” How we treat our neighbours is our life and death. This discerns Christians from non-Christians. Our concern, our care and love for those that are not our own. Let us look beyond ourselves, our own cares, our own families, our own churches even.

Let us be Christ to those that say, “I have no man,” see them, love them, just as Christ did. Even in the depths of our suffering, Christ is that Man and we should likewise be that man for others.

Do You Want Coronavirus to Go Away?

Do You Want Coronavirus to Go Away?

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily


John 5:1-18

Take a moment to think about this question – do you want coronavirus to go away? You may be thinking, “what a silly question, of course we want it to go away. Isn’t it obvious?”

We witness a scene of devastation in the gospel reading of the paralytic man; similar to what we see in the world today. St John describes it as, “a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed” (Jonh 5:3). They’re all lying there by a pool which is situated next to the gate.

The gate was the sheep gate where the sheep would enter on the way to be slaughtered for the Passover. By the gate was a pool so that they could be washed before they were taken to the Temple for slaughter. Because there was a direct link between the pool and the Temple, it was considered to be holy water.

The people thought they would be healed when it was stirred and given power.

We have a scene set around a multitude of sick people but then the story hones in on one person, a man paralysed for 38 years. He was probably in the worst state, all the more reason for Christ to focus on him.

Christ approaches him, a man that had been paralysed for 38 years, and asks him a question; “do you want to be made well?”

What a silly question, of course he wants to be made well. Why ask a question like that?

The gospels are not just historical stories or events, the gospel is for our lives. Our own personal encounters with Christ. The gospel takes these stories and puts them in the midst of our lives. So the question we can take from this is – do you want coronavirus to go away? This is the question that Christ asks the paralytic man.

We know that Christ would not ask a silly question. Everything He did had a profound purpose. Why did Christ ask this question?

When I was ordained a priest, I had to go to Egypt for my ordination. When I arrived in Egypt, I met Anba Bakhomious just before the liturgy began for the ordination and he looked me in eyes and asked, “are you prepared to be a priest?”

I replied, “Yes, Your Grace, by your prayers.”

He raised his voice and asked again, “are you prepared to be a priest?”

Again I said, “umm yes, by your prayers.”

Then he became visibly angry and he shouted, “Are you prepared to be a priest? Yes or no?”

So I said, “yes.”

And he replied, “good.”

It seemed like an obvious question. I’ve resigned, I’m here, I travelled from Australia to Egypt, so I was prepared. But he was asking in the sense of – Do you realise the consequence of what you are entering?

Do you realise what will be required of you?

Do you realise the sacrifices necessary?

Do you realise that you will lay down your life to others?

Do you realise what you are embarking on?

Are you ready?

It is for that reason that Christ asks the question, “do you want to be made well?”

Are you ready to be made well? No longer will you lie here. No longer will you rely on others to feed you. Are you ready to stand, to walk to carry your bed, to work? Are you ready for the consequences and responsibilities of healing?

The climax is when Christ finds him again and says, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

We see the link that Christ puts between disease and sin. It’s not clear whether this man’s sin led to his disease or if it were the other way around. What is clear is that there was a link between disease and sin and part of his physical healing was to sin no more, and restore his spiritual health.

For since for the most part when the soul is diseased we feel no pain, if the body receive though but a little hurt, we use every exertion to free it from infirmity, because we are sensible of the infirmity, therefore God oftentimes punishes the body for the transgressions of the soul, so that by means of the scourging of the inferior part, the better part also may receive some healing.”

St John Chrysostom

Christ after healing the paralytic finds him again so that he can complete the healing, the spiritual healing. In the NKJV, we read, “see you have been made well.” In the other translations, it reads, “see you have been made whole.”

You are now complete, physically and spiritually whole. We see the ultimate responsibility of healing – repentance.

Do you want coronavirus to go away? There are many ways that the world is responding to coronavirus; social distancing, closures, lockdowns, self-isolation, closing borders. They’re all good measures.

Other measures include prayer. Even the prime minister said his prayer knees were getting a good workout. There is another measure beyond this that some people are putting in place. I believe this is the most effective measure. The measure of repentance. Do you want to be made well? Do you want coronavirus to go away? Let us repent. Let us sin no more. If God sees us all repenting what would He do?

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

2 Chronicles 7:14

We implore God’s mercy to heal our land, to heal our world by giving Him our repentance.

The scariest thing about corona is that our actions affect everybody else. If we are infected and we don’t self-isolate, it effects everyone around us through the ripple effect. Our actions affect others. If a virus can do that, repentance can do the same, more even. My repentance has a ripple effect on the world and on God’s heart.

Does God Care?

Does God Care?

By Demiana Salib


Does God really care about me – what coronavirus will do to my life? If coronavirus has put my education or career on hold? One answer to this would be no, salvation is what matters and for as long as I get there, it doesn’t matter how I got there. God only cares about my salvation, true? No, and this is the most insulting line of thought we, as humans, have ever conjured.

I have never really understood the parable of the unjust steward (Matthew 6:26-34) but the final message is nice – “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much,” so I’m generally happy to overlook the parable, but nothing our Lord said can be ignorantly overlooked.

Imagine a servant that devoted so much time and effort into the church. Anything that needed to be done, they could do, and in record time, too. But they would go home completely exhausted to the extent that they didn’t have time to pray. They did good, their actions were good, their intentions were good, but they didn’t have a personal relationship with God.

In unusual circumstances, their services began to be taken away from them. They had nothing left. In their distress, they consulted their father of confession;

“Why isn’t He letting me serve, and I know I need to pray, but I was doing good!”

Their father of confession replied, “He’s not letting you serve until you pray. He loves you very much and you need to see that first, spend this time in prayer.”

Could this servant be our modern day unjust steward? If I continually serve but do not pray, am I wasting my Master’s goods? When God asks me to give an account for my stewardship, how will I answer Him? Will it be, “God I spoke to you daily, you were a part of every aspect of my life.” Or will I struggle to even recognise Him?

Jesus spoke this parable to the Pharisees that judged Him for His love for sinners. For they knew the law, they knew how to appear before the people. They thought they could steal the Kingdom in the same way they fooled the people into believing that they were the most righteous of all men. With the recent closure of many churches worldwide, we are faced with a similar reality check. Is my relationship with God based on a fulfillment of commandments and services of the church, or is there more?

Our relationship with God runs so much deeper than set church services and just doing good. Our modern servant did good, but I can’t even guarantee that my outward display comes close to this. I read this parable and get lost at the unjust steward that went to his master’s debtors and told the one that owed 100 measures of oil to give back 50 and to the one that owed 100 measures of wheat to give back 80. This is not good, it’s deceitful and he’s not getting back what his master was owed. Why does the master commend his shrewdness? I feel like he was just digging his own hole deeper out of desperation.

Instead of reading this as an outsider, I need to read it as if I were the unjust steward. My church has been taken away and I need God, so I need to find another way to love and serve Him. For the unjust steward, the thought of his stewardship being taken away from him was the wake-up call he needed to work and act differently because he could not the face the loss. I will do whatever it takes to give back to my God what He is owed. If I can’t spend time with Him in church, I will try to make up for it at home, even if I think it will not measure up.

It is no longer a matter of, “Does God care?” but “God, I need You to care,” and He does; “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26)

If I think that God does not care about me, that is not a reflection of Him, but a reflection of me. While I am caught up in life, He is still caught up in me, if there is any consolation to coronavirus, it is the time it has forced me to spend with my Beloved. The ones that love you are the ones that gets excited by what makes you excited, the ones that are sad when you are sad, the ones that are happy when you are happy. How could you ever question that your loved ones cared about you? God is greater than these! If I go to work, come home – a standard day, but it is all I can offer in conversation, God wants to hear it, He wants to know how my day went, He cares about  all the little things.

Whenever I have thought that God doesn’t care, I can’t recall ever asking Him honestly for His opinion. If my prayers are surrounded on one external factor, He will respond kindly; “My grace is sufficient for you, do not worry.” If it causes sadness, grief, anguish, distress, then He will shift my focus to the eternal. If I want Him just as Saviour from this world that causes me pain, then I won’t see His concern for the little things.

But God starts small, He is faithful in the little, if you want Him as Father, Friend, Biggest Fan, He will be all those things, too. He loves you with an everlasting love and will do anything to have a meaningful relationship with you.

Once we have daily and meaningful conversation with Him, everything is in His Hands without question. And then we can truly say when faced with this larger scale pandemic, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.” There may be so many things that are taken away from us, but we will do whatever it takes to keep building our relationship with God and serving those in need. We can’t have big answers to big questions if we don’t start small, start now, even if you feel there is no relationship and you’re starting out of the desperation. He does care and He will continue to work overtime until we see it. To any doubt that God cares about what is happening to our world, He responds,

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

And not have compassion on the son of her womb?

Surely they may forget,

Yet I will not forget you.

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands

– Isaiah 49:15-16.

You Crown the Year with Your Goodness

You Crown the Year with Your Goodness

by Marc Eskander


Lent is upon us! A time for being alone, purifying ourselves, detaching from the world, burning away all that is unnecessary, and striving toward victory over death. For every time, you have fasted half-heartedly, this is not the year for it, and it has nothing to do with your own spiritual life. In fact, it has nothing to do with being a Christian. For this year, a molecular particle is upon us. Coronavirus has flipped the world as we know it, upside down.

For those that strive for asceticism, coronavirus has half the world locked in their own homes under quarantine. For those that wanted to eat out less often, coronavirus has made eating out next to impossible. For those that do not want to live so apathetically anymore, coronavirus provides the cure. We are constantly ensuring we remain safe, and not just for our own sakes, but for those we may harm.

Whether we like it or not, whether we are fasting or not, we are abstaining from things we love, and not by choice. Lent is the time of year that I should want to slow down, increase asceticism and prepare for the Passion of our Lord. Christ taught us how to detach from the world when He entered the Judean desert to fast and pray for 40 days and nights before His upcoming mission. Christ neither ate nor drank but fought for us, His children, in the wilderness. He starved the body so that He could feed the soul.

Every year, I promise myself that this Lent is going to be different. That I am going to benefit more this year. I’m going to repent of that sinful habit, repair that broken relationship, pray harder, eat less, read more – be more like Christ! Yet this year, I am forced to do all the things I have struggled to in the past. This is the year to capitalise on virtue and embrace the restrictions that befall me.

In years past, occasionally yes, I have tried and benefited from this period, other years it feels like all l did was change my diet, albeit I wasn’t even being that strict. Do I forget what the point of it all was? Fasting is a struggle – and I speak for myself first and foremost – so there needs to be a point. Christ taught us to fast so that we may, “walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh”(Galatians 5:16).

With the latest outbreak of coronavirus and the mass hysteria that surrounds it, I can’t help but look upon lent differently this year. I’m not suggesting that God sent coronavirus to teach us a lesson by any means, but I can’t help but reflect upon the timing. One verse in particular has me thinking…

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” – James 1:12

The link I see so clearly between Lent and coronavirus lies in this verse. While Lent is a time of fasting, prayer, and slowing down, these are the means not the goal.

It is the Resurrection…victory over death and sin; an everlasting Crown. The aim of Lent is repentance. It is victory. Not regret, guilt, shame, self-control, or a mere change of diet. But repentance. Metanoia. A change of heart. Before victory, comes death.

Lent, is the spiritual game changer if you let it be. Similarly, the coronavirus pandemic, is a game changer … but can we make it a spiritual game changer too? In this time, we can gain victory over sin – eternal life by putting to death our desires that chain us to this world. This is what coronavirus brings. We can’t be ignorant to the effects this pandemic will have on many of us – the reality of loneliness, isolation, greed, selfishness, fear of death, and an immense focus on hygiene and cleanliness.

If we shift our mindset to our inner selves, we soon see that we are asleep at the wheel and God is trying to wake us up. Lent is a time of exposing ourselves… Figuring out where we’re missing the mark. It’s a time to realign ourselves with the path of the Cross.

The loneliness and isolation we turn into a dwelling place for the Lord.

The greed and selfishness we turn into an acceptable fast of the Lord where we “share our bread with the hungry” and “bring to our house the poor who are cast out.”

The fear of death we turn into fear of God, strength in tribulation and opening our arms wide open to accept the Cross just as Christ did.

At a time when hygiene and cleanliness are paramount, are our hands clean of sin? Have we rushed to dirty our tongue with the words we speak? Have we clouded the eye of our body? Do we clean the outside while our soul lies among the “swine” as the prodigal son did?

During this time, we must remember Christ’s rebuke the the Pharisees; “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness”(Luke 11:39. So it can’t be a mere coincidence. Use this as an opportunity to reflect and assess. Grab the broom and clean out the inner room of your heart.

Have our social gatherings become an opportunity for gossiping and bad mouthing others? Have we lost ourselves to the “practices” of our faith instead of the real essence of orthodoxy?  Have we lost the importance of fellowship and unity in service? Do we just assume because our youth “are in church” they’re okay? With so many churches in lockdown, we cannot allow our spiritual lives to be put on hold but we must strive to fill our inner lives in the secret place, for our Father who sees in secret will reward us openly (Matthew 6:4), especially in this time of uncertainty.

This period could be God’s way of saying,”Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; go out to meet Him” (Matthew 25:6). We must stop hoarding toilet paper and start filling our lamps with oil. Repentance is change, and change we must. The Bridegroom is coming to that guy that comes to church and leaves because He feels no love… He is coming to your friend stuck in that sin that is destroying them… He is coming to that girl in your class that is depressed and feels no one understands her. What are we doing to prepare them?

This is a wake up call! If we use it wisely, this Lent can become for us an opportunity to share in the immense Glory of the Resurrection. We too can experience the purification and change that Christ demonstrated for us in the wilderness. Through this isolation, doom, and darkness of our selfish human behaviour, our “healing shall spring forth speedily”, we “shall call, and the Lord will answer”, our “Light will break forth like the morning” (Isaiah 58:8).