lent – Upper Room Media Blogs

Confessions of a Priest’s Wife

Confessions of a Priest’s Wife

By Dalia Fam

Originally seen at goCoptic blog (March 12, 2019)

Even a Priest’s wife is not perfect and has to do confessions. Here are some of mine:

When I was in high school, I remember being embarrassed to walk around in public when there was a Coptic Orthodox priest with us. A priest came to my high school graduation and I was so embarrassed! I hated other people’s stares at this “unusual” person wearing a black robe and with a beard.

God has a funny sense of humor because now I am married to a priest! I have to walk around in public with him whether I like it or not. Although I do tell him that when we travel in the airport that the kids and I will go in a separate security line so we go through security a lot easier!

Another confession I must say is that when we are on vacation, I often tell my husband to ditch the robe and go in “normal” clothes. Every time, I do this, God again shows me his funny sense of humor. Many times, because of the robe, random people will stop him and ask for prayers. One lady we ran into once had just found out she had cancer and she wanted his prayers. Others need the encouragement of a man of God and his wisdom and love. I can write an entire book of the beautiful conversations we have had with so many people all over the world. From the Uber driver to the security officer at a hotel to people at a restaurant, they are looking for God’s love. They are encouraged with messages that God is giving them through us. Or they are searching and seeking.

Why would I encourage my husband to hide this gift of God from others?

My husband says he is blessed because he can stand out in a crowd. He does not shy away from the stares but confidently uses it to his advantage to share the love of God. Fr. Michael Sorial, a good friend of ours, recently made a vlog to discuss how he stands out and challenges us to stand out in the crowd too!

We have this same gift. We may not all be wearing a black robe and have a beard, but we should all stand out in a crowd. We have a special treasure of God’s love and should be able to use that to open discussions with others about this love. From my experience, people desire to hear it. Imagine the lives we could have missed because of my fears or limitations.

As we start the blessed fast of Great Lent, there are three characteristics that define this fast: Prayer, Fasting, and Giving.

Giving is not limited to my money only. It is giving the precious gift of my love, time, grace, and talents for the salvation of others. Using this gift so others may know who Christ is.

We see people caught up in their own lives. Headphones are getting bigger to make sure we cancel the noise around us when we travel or commute to work. Internet is getting faster so we can spend more time on social media and watch YouTube videos. Everything is getting less and less personal around us.

We have the gift of a personal God. A relational God who wants to love others personally and deeply. We have it. We should share it.

I remember when I first decided to truly commit my life and my gifts to the service of God. One parable that Christ our Savior said really stood out to me over and over. The parable in Matthew 25:14-30, where a man gives talents to three servants. Two of the servants gain more than what they receive. But one servant buries his treasure, afraid to multiply it. I used to feel like that one servant. I was given a treasure but I buried it in my fears, selfishness and self-absorbed life.

My prayer this Lent is that we are like the servants who were given the treasure and they went out and made more treasures.

There are many things that stop me and stop us from giving. Maybe I limit myself by my lack of knowledge, language, fears, rejections, perceptions of myself and my past life, and my insecurities. What limits you?

One of my son’s favorite movie is Evan Almighty. After the main character, Evan, faces a lot of ridicule from his family, neighbors, co-workers, and more for following God’s call, a news reporter asks him, “what makes you so sure that God chose you?” Evan’s response, “God chose all of us.”

God calls all of us, not just the ones who are ordained as a priest. We all carry His gift and treasure. Now it is up to you to respond to that call and share that gift. So others may know Him and His love.

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10

Naturally, when you have a relationship with God, you will want to share your gifts with others. Maybe God has gifted you with song, medicine, teaching, writing, fitness, hospitality, or many more things. Use those gifts to serve God and show others God’s love. Don’t be afraid to use your gifts.

Put aside the things that limit you, pray and fast for them during this time of Lent. And give. Give the gift of His love to others by using your gifts.

(c) Fr Abraham and Dalia Fam. goCoptic (March 12, 2019). Original post – https://gocoptic.org/confessions-of-a-priests-wife/

Why Do We Really Fast During Lent?

By Father Anthony Messeh

Original post by Fr. Anthony Messeh blog site

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So why do we fast during Lent?

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

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

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

St. Isaac continues:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A blessed Lent to you all…

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

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).

The Pride of Life

The Pride of Life

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Samuel Fanous

Matthew 4:1-11

Today we have a perfect reading for us as we’re in Lent. Jesus was baptised in the Jordan and as soon as He came up out of the Jordan, the Holy Spirit came unto Him and this is immediately when He was led by the Spirit into the temple. If you think about Adam and Eve as the first humans who were tempted by sin in the Garden of Eden, they failed. These temptations are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

From the book of Genesis when Eve was tempted by sin, it says, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food..” – this is the lust of the flesh, her hunger, “… and that it was pleasant to the eyes” – this is the lust of the eyes, “…and a tree desirable to make one wise” – this is the pride of life “…she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6)

Eve lusted out of hunger for the fruit. She looked at the fruit that was pleasant to the eye, and this was where the devil said I will make you ruler over everything, I will make you wise and she believed the devil. This was the pride of life. Adam and Eve represent all of humanity. Like us they sinned.

The first temptation is the lust of the flesh. It says the devil came to Jesus and gave him a stone after fasting for 40 days. Can you imagine not eating for 40 days? Eve looked at the stone that the devil gave to her and she saw that the stone was good as fruit. She was hungry and she desired it.

Oregon says the devil tries to convince us that this stone is bread and will nourish us. He tries to convince us that if you are well fed, if you have comfort, if you have sexual fulfilment, if you have everything you want in this world to satisfy your flesh, you will be satisfied. However, to you and to everyone it is just as good as a stone. It cannot satisfy us any more than a stone could satisfy anyone’s hunger.

The “bread” will provide a minute of enjoyment, a minute of satisfaction, but there is no lasting satisfaction with any of the lusts of the flesh. Christ teaches us how to overcome these lusts. He denied His body as soon as He was baptised. The second He was baptised, the battle began, and this is why, for most people, Christianity is too hard. It is too hard to fast, too hard to go to Church, too hard to pray and too hard to love unconditionally. So, most people take the easy way out. They don’t pray, they don’t fast, they don’t love unconditionally, they don’t come to church because it’s easy.

Jesus says that the easy way out will never satisfy you. What’s His response to the devil? He says “man shall not live by bread alone.” Our satisfaction will not come from bread but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

The second temptation is the pride of life. That pride where in your heart you want to be like God, you want to have His authority. You think “I am my own God.” Satan convinced Eve that God didn’t want her to eat the fruit because if she did, she will have His power. Eve thought that was a pretty good deal. I eat this fruit and I become like God.

This is the pride where she wanted to become better than what she was created to be. Most of us want this in our lives. We want to live, ruling our own life and making our own decisions. How many of us live as if we are God, at least to ourselves and probably to those around us?

Everything in this world, everyone in this world exists for me. For what I want, for my comfort, my satisfaction and my achievement in life. It is very difficult to realise that you are proud until you have been humiliated.

When I’m humbled, when I’m embarrassed, when I’m disrespected, what happens? People will say that they’re not proud but watch when someone disrespects them publicly. What happens when someone is more successful than me or when someone is smarter than me. Do I feel anger and bitterness on the inside? Why is this person better looking than me? Why does everything good happen to this person and not to me? It’s my right. I should have it. We don’t realise it until we’re humbled and humiliated, we have no idea that we are filled with pride.

Everyone suffers from this to some extent – it is the basic human condition. Jesus, once again teaches us how to overcome. His death and His essence is so beyond our comprehension that we can’t even begin to fathom it, yet this same very God emptied Himself of all His glory and every right that He had, yet He had all the rights.

He was crucified, He was poor, He had nothing. If God emptied himself of His glory and humbled Himself, then we must. There is no disrespect, no humiliation, no embarrassment that could ever compare to what Christ has gone through.

When we hold a grudge, respond in hatred, act petty, with envy, with jealousy and cannot forgive, we are not acting to be God, we are making ourselves out to be far above God. When we are humbled, we apologise when we feel like we shouldn’t, we accept disrespect the same as you would respect. That is when you are behaving like God.

The last temptation is the lust of the eyes. The fruit was pleasant to the eyes and this is the human desire. I look at everyone around me and I want what they have. I’m never satisfied with what I have. This is the curse of Western civilisation. Jesus once again teaches us how to overcome this. He was baptised and immediately He fled to the desert to the wilderness. Saint Arsenius says, there’s one way to overcome this world. Flee, be silent, and be still.

Wealth, investments, and status are only attractive because we have nothing to compare it to. If we go to the wilderness, away from the noise and distractions and find God, we realise all of these things are counted as nothing. They’re relatively meaningless. It doesn’t mean we don’t work and try to achieve in all the things we do, but they have no hold over me. If I have them, thanks be to God if I lose them. We have to recognise that there is nothing external that can satisfy me, only what is within.

Christ says “Behold, the kingdom of Heaven is within you.” It’s only what’s within me that can satisfy me. We are made in the image of God, in His likeness. If you want to find Christ, retreat to yourself. There you will find him.

Let’s focus on retreating into my inner deserts. Let’ take the opportunity to utilise that quiet. Retreat into your bedroom and find Christ there. If you go into your bedroom and open your heart before God, you will find the pearl of great price that Christ talks about. When you find the pearl of great price Christ says, you will sell everything you have to get that pearl.

Let’s overcome the temptations like Christ showed us by hungering from physical comfort. We are nourished by the word of God, which is Jesus Christ, by emptying ourselves of our pride, sacrificing ourselves and living for others and finally retreating into the wilderness, into the silence and stillness, to encounter God who is within me.

Busyness: The Illness of Our Time

by Veronia
Original post by Becoming Fully Alive blogsite

I believe we all have terminal cancer. From the moment of our conception we go through this slow progression towards our own death. Regardless of the type of cancer we have and the speed at which it is growing death is a reality for all, whether we have a few months to live or many years.

In the current generation each of us is encountering and experiencing the disease of this age: busyness. It has become the norm; if one is not busy then something is wrong with them … they must be lazy or intellectually deficient.

We are constantly running around from one thing to the next and when we look back on our day or week it’s all a blur. We feel less and less satisfied and fulfilled.

Since having grown up most of my life in a slow-paced country and then moving to a much faster paced lifestyle, it has been and continues to be a huge struggle for me to adjust.

I have been reading a book this Lent that has really enlightened me about this struggle.

The book talks about despondency and our relationship to time. Despondency is given the definition of the failure to care about things that matter, for example our spiritual life and the care of our neighbor.

Despondency happens as a result of our busyness. We lose our desire to grow and be, our desire to dream and wonder, and our desire for deep intimacy. We as humans choose a busy life to escape the reality of our pain and suffering. Our minds as a result abandons the pain of caring. We lose the capacity to focus, to encounter and love which in turn provokes a toxic kind of emptiness – a vacuum that attracts all manner of distraction, restlessness, rumination, anxiety, fear and lethargy.

Despondency causes us to move from living to existing.

The root of despondency is the broken relationship we have with and our perception of time. We have confined our notions of time to fleeting moments throughout our life. We despise time as we always complain we don’t have enough of it as it is constantly ‘flying by.’

Through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, Christ has sanctified time. Time is no longer a ticking bomb counting down to our final moment. Without Christ, time enslaves us whereas in Christ time is liberating and time, most importantly, is relational.

Yes we live in chronological time but through the incarnation, where the One who is out of time came in time, made time eternal. Despondency traps us in chronological time where there is only despair and it makes us constantly want to escape from the present moment. The mind prefers thinking about either the past or the future as they are both the constructs of the mind’s own doing and our mind can control them. The present moment is outside of the mind’s control and therefore is completely ignored.

We desire to be ‘anywhere but here; any moment but now.’ We have become dissatisfied with our present. In that way time has become our enemy, a prison in which we find ourselves locked up in leading to our own self-destruction.

Man now has the ability to live in the present moment, where Christ is. Christ is in the now. Eternity is now.

Only in the present moment can I meet with Christ and only the in the present moment can I dine with my fellow brethren. Christ is not in my past ruminations and He is certainly not in my future fantasies. We have given our minds so much control that we can no longer tolerate being present. Our minds have become the author of our stories of despair and as a result our negative fantasies become more attractive to us.

We become so focused on getting to the next big thing… the next holiday, the next event, next weekend, our next meal. We no longer know or want to be present and focused with the task at hand, we no long focus on the person in front of us or enjoy the magnificent experience before us.

The here and now is not about the duration of time but about my state of being. The present moment is not measured by clocks or determined by the mind but it is experienced by the heart. In the present moment we are transformed, we become more watchful, attentive and sober.

We are able to experience.

We are able to enjoy every moment that has been presented to us, no matter where we are or who we are with. Because every time we are present we meet with Christ regardless.

One of the fruits of despondency is lukewarm prayers because we lack the ability to be present. We then question why prayer seems like I am talking to a brick wall and why I haven’t experienced the joy and transformative life of prayer.

Unfortunately our society is so good at deceptively allowing despondency to creep into our lives with the bombardment of technology and work.

Fortunately for those in Christ and in the Church, the Church continually calls us all who are wandering back into Life, back into the present moment. One beautiful way She has done this is through the Divine Liturgy. In Liturgy we experience, if we are present, the eternal now. Christ meets us where we are as heaven and earth are united.

Liturgy has no longer become the centre of our worship but the centre of our inconvenience as we want to get Liturgy ‘out of the way,’ so we can socialise or get to Sunday school etc. We gaze up during Liturgy thinking about what we will eat after or where we will go.

Liturgy is the pinnacle of the present moment but we despise it, as we cannot stand the present moment.

Thank God for this season of Lent where the Church gives us things to practice living in the present moment. It’s a time to slow down, to attend liturgies, and to wait on God in prayer.

To paraphrase Kallistos Ware, the most important time you are in is now, the most important place you are is the one you are in now and the most important person there is, is the one you are with now.

Let’s be in the now to meet Christ and to meet each other where healing and transformation may abound for all.

I challenge you today to practice being present in the remaining time of Lent and hopefully beyond.

Quiet down your mind about thinking about tomorrow while you are present with the one sitting in front of you today.

Be present in whichever task you are doing now and if you have the urge to escape by pick up your phone for example, then wait a few minutes, don’t act on impulse and wait for the urge to pass.

Let’s switch off our fantasies and ruminations and instead switch on our hearts and be attentive to the here and now.

The present is not an emptiness but a Fullness.

Original blog found at – http://becomingfullyalive.com/busyness-the-illness-of-our-time/

The Perfect Fast for Lent

The Perfect Fast for Lent

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Sam Fanous

Matthew 6:1-18

The Gospel reading this Sunday explains to us ‘how’ to fast during Lent. This is the most powerful time of the year in which your spiritual life can be recharged. If we ignore it and we do nothing for the next 40 days and we reach Holy Week, how can we expect to reap the fruits of our labours in Holy Week if we’ve ignored God the whole 40 days?

Holy Week is a journey, a climax of everything that we do in the next 40 days. When we ponder on the question “Why do we fast? Why is it that the church does something that makes our life difficult? Why is it that when I have a nice steak in front of me during this period, I have to say no? Do we like to see people suffering?” We have to make reference back to what Jesus did. Jesus lived His whole life on earth as one movement, from the moment of His birth to one movement on the cross. That cross was pure suffering and also the greatest moment in the history of humanity. Jesus Himself is not a man. He did not appear in history in the year dot. He was before all ages and was equal to God in essence, so the man that we saw on earth is Himself God. But as a free choice He chose to empty himself, to deny Himself, His power, His glory and His throne, for the sake of creatures who were ungrateful. For the sake of creatures who needed salvation. That is really the starting point of the change in all of history and why we mark BC or AD as the beginning of human history as we know it.

So, we wonder, if this is God’s personality and if God is living within us, is this the personality that we must have? A self-sacrificing personality? One that doesn’t satisfy its own desires time and time again?

Man is a composite being, we are body and spirit. In saying “No, I won’t eat this burger. I’ll go hungry for a period of time” we say “no” to the body in the small things and are able to say “yes” to the Spirit. Some people think that it’s okay to fast and just say “no” to the body. This has one of two outcomes. Firstly, we will achieve nothing from the fast. I may lose some weight; however, I may achieve nothing spiritually. Secondly, I will fall into spiritual pride. Similar to the Pharisees when they fasted, they told everyone about it, they walk around saying “look at me, this is what I’m doing for God.” Christ would say to that person your reward was from the praise of men. The most important type of fasting is to fast saying “no” to the body in addition to saying “yes” to the Spirit.

How do we fast? Practically in the Orthodox Church and in every Christian Church up until the 16th century there were certain foods we avoid. We are basically vegan. That means no dairy, no meat and in this particular fast, no seafood. More importantly, Lent should be combined with a period of abstinence according to everyone’s ability, where we don’t eat for a certain period of the day. We then break it with simple food because we’re reminded that the more we fill our stomach, the more we’ve satisfied our body and the weaker our Spirit becomes.

In the book of Isaiah, we see the perfect example of fasting. God is talking to the people of Israel and says.

“‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:3, 6-7)

This is the perfect fast. Fasting is not to make myself miserable. It is to deny myself and say yes to everyone around me. It’s to live for other people and look around with the eyes of Christ. When Christ saw a sinner woman or a tax collector, He didn’t condemn them. He loved them. All of us know someone who is suffering. They may not be starving, but they may be starving for companionship. They may be lonely. They may have nowhere to celebrate Easter. People are suffering but we close our eyes to it. All we have to do is open our eyes and look and we will see exactly who needs our love. Lent is the time to forget the concept in this world that we live for ourselves. We are not here to live for ourselves, we’re here to live for other people and to live for God.

The time of Lent is also the time of prayer. Without prayer, your fasting is useless. The only way to have healing like it says in Isaiah is by prayer and fasting. Think of lent this period as the start of a relationship between you and God. Our relationship with God is like that with our best friend. It is not for Him to be distant and every now and again when I need something to awkwardly come into His presence and speak to him. It is to build a relationship where we are best friends where we know each other. He knows my secrets. I know His secrets.

If you feel as if your prayers hit the ceiling and bounce back, there is a solution to this. Combine fasting with prayer, come before God not just physically hungry but spiritually hungry. Feel in yourself physical food has no sustenance for me. Any kind of spiritual goal you want to achieve in your life, it should be done without anyone knowing. Whilst God sees us in secret, He rewards us openly.

Let’s start tomorrow. Let us try not to make excuses. Don’t ask questions. Don’t make it easier for yourself. Don’t give yourself shortcuts. This is the one time of the year where we sacrifice for God. Only He knows what you’re sacrificing. The more you sacrifice the more you feel hungry and combining this with prayer, the sweeter it will be as an offering to God.

Forgiving Others (Barriers to Repentance)

Barriers to Repentance 1/7

Forgiving Others

by Shery Abdelmalak

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us

How easy it is for us to pray this daily while being detached from our brothers and sisters. By praying this, God has lowered Himself to our level so that He may elevate us to His.

He won’t forgive until I forgive? The thought of this question once distressed me. I know that my ability to forgive is flawed by my human nature, but My Lord, in His perfection, does not struggle to forgive the way I do. It’s not a matter of CAN He forgive. He can forgive, and He does. Even before you come to Him, He has forgiven you. What is not possible is to be united with God while we are not united with one another. Just as the father of the prodigal son waited earnestly for his son’s return, God waits earnestly for us to accept His forgiveness and to be reconciled and renewed in Him once more through repentance.

If forgiveness equates to love, then a lack of forgiveness equates to hate. Where there is hate, God could never co-exist.

A truly repentant heart does not struggle to forgive others. A repentant heart knows its own sin and knows that although they are not the true imitation of Christ, they strive to be more like Him daily. When you are just a work in progress yourself, you can forgive and pray for the faults you find in others, no matter how hurtful the sin may be. God is working in them, just as He works in you, even if it may seem like some require more work than others.

Often, we can see a fault in a person and this may drive us away from them. But to truly love with the spirit of repentance is to pray for them, to pray that God reveals the riches of His glory to them. To pray that they are strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. To pray that Christ dwells in their hearts so they may comprehend the width, the length, the height, the depths of the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge (Ephesians 3:16-19). That level of love. Not trust, not a return to what your relationship once was, just Love.

We can love with worldly love but what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them (Luke 6:32). This kind of love is limited to worldly understanding. Anyone can love someone that has given them enough reason to love them. But we strive for Limitless Love that comes only from above. The type of love that suffers long and is kind. That does not envy nor parade itself nor is it puffed up. Does not behave rudely or seek its own. Does not envy. Is not provoked. Does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth (1 Cor. 13:4-6) – A Love that would lay down its life for its brethren. A Love like this does not concur with human understanding, but neither does the gift of grace in our salvation through Christ. This is the love that forgives unconditionally. Without it, there is no place for forgiveness.

Our lack of forgiveness generally comes from a good place. You were wronged. You were hurt. You didn’t deserve it. You are a good person and a bad thing happened to you that you couldn’t prevent. But Jesus was a good person, too. Jesus was wronged. Jesus was betrayed. Those that anticipated His coming for their salvation betrayed Jesus. More still, His own friends betrayed Him. Jesus was sacrificed, for a sin you and I committed. Now you want to go to God and tell Him that what was done to you was too much? God, being the kind and compassionate God that He is, surely He would understand that there is no way forgiveness is plausible. After everything Jesus did for you, you can forgive. Not for the sake of the one who harmed you, but for His.

There is a hurt however, that is far beyond my own understanding. I by no means think that you should just get over it because Jesus went through worse. Jesus did go through worse, not so you could feel ashamed when you struggle to forgive, but so you know that no one can offer you empathy and compassion quite like Him. The very fact that you come to Him when you cannot forgive is credited to you. Some wrongs may take weeks or months or years of prayer but do not be disheartened, but rather, put on the whole armour of God that you may stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). Fight to forgive. Don’t pretend like everything is okay, don’t pretend that you were not hurt, don’t pretend that you don’t remember the hurt because you cannot handle coming to terms with what it means to you.

Robert Dean Enright says, “When unjustly hurt by another, we forgive when we overcome the resentment toward the offender, not by denying our right to the resentment, but by trying to offer the wrongdoer compassion, benevolence and love (2).” Fr David Milad (2015) explains this as forgiveness through an acknowledgement of what was done to you and the conscious decision to positively work through the situation in order to grow spiritually. Compassion, benevolence and love is the goal of repentance. This really is all He ever wanted from us – to spread His love through forgiveness to His children. “But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.“ (Luke 6: 35)

When struggling to forgive another, it is important not to lose sight of what you can control – your own sins and your own repentance. To repent, in its most basic form of the word, is to say you’re sorry. Even when you are stuck in the hurt of sins committed against you. If so, start by saying you’re sorry. Say you’re sorry for your blind ignorance that is yet to see its own sin. Start small and ask Him to reveal your sin to you. That small step you take toward repentance, is one small step that you have taken toward Him. “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). You will feel His peace the closer you draw to Him, so for that reason, repent.

May we repent so that we can pray in all sincerity, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Glory be to God forever, Amen.

Understanding the Holy Fifty

Understanding the Holy Fifty

Inspired by Fr Bishoy Andrawes

The church gives us 50 days to enjoy the resurrection of Christ. There is something special about this feast that we do not want to let go. We get something brand new during this season. It is a season of victory. It is the season where God changes our hearts.

Throughout the 8 weeks of Lent, our eyes were on the Cross. We wanted to crucify the old man and my habits so now is the time to live as the new man. During this season of resurrection, how do we receive the new man and victory in Christ?

We can fall into sin and rise again or we can be slaves to sin. Anyone can fall while they are walking. There is a difference between someone who fell, got up and kept walking and the one who falls, stays down and chooses to allow sin to control their life. Today, there is something in you. You no longer fight according to your own power. You have grace that gives you power and strength so you’re no longer enslaved under the law. You have grace that pulls you up. Something extra and powerful. God is planting His life in us.

To be a good person, I stop sinning. That’s not the truth. Not doing bad things and attending church does not make holy people, it makes you a church pew. If you become in the image of Christ, His love, His patience and His holiness makes you the person God wants you to be.

In Lent, we struggle to defeat the old man and the uprooting of sins. If these roots are now empty, something else will enter. We do not want to leave the roots empty, but implant the life of Christ within us.

If you have your arm in a cast and the cast comes off once the bone has healed, do you think you can move your arm right away? It will be painful to move. It did heal and the bones are healing but it’s not used to the movement. For this to happen, it needs practice. That’s exactly what God does in our lives. Doubts that I can’t move or I can’t do anything good are not true. You’re healing, the bad roots are out. You need to keep moving your arm little by little. This takes a lot of faith. God has worked in you. Now, use your members as instruments of righteousness. Walk while you have the light. When Jesus gave Lazarus new life, did he jump out of the tomb? No, he needed someone to untie him.

The grace of resurrection is given to us in 50 days so we keep noticing and practicing. When a cast is taken off, physiotherapy commences to re-train the muscles. This is our 50 days of spiritual therapy to move the muscles of righteousness. This is a pain of health and not of sickness as we grow in Him. Do not be discouraged when you fall. The dominion of sin is gone, but that does not mean we will not fall ever again. It means that when we fall, we rise.

If someone is done with his cast and tries to carry something but can’t and thinks their arm is still broken, this is not true. The arm is fine, it just needs some training. Some belief that it is okay. This is the same as a slave who has no control over sin. God has helped me, God has worked in me but I do not believe that I am capable of change.

We receive resurrection through the life of Jesus Christ but we need to believe in that. During this time, we celebrate His grace and His work in me that has given me living hope.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hopethrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”– 1 Peter 1:3

Hope is not, “I hope my grades get better.” Hope is in the resurrected Christ. When Thomas did not believe, Christ told him to touch His side and His hands. Why did Christ do that? It is impossible for an Apostle to preach Christ without experiencing the resurrection. It is impossible to a be a servant of Christ without experiencing the new man in resurrection. That is how I was. I was blind but now I see. I was dead but now I live. I experience this not every year but every Sunday! Resurrection is the miracle of Christianity.

Christianity is not about healing the sick. It’s not about making people better or nicer or kinder. Christianity is about resurrection. New life. New beginning.

My resurrection is dependent on Him and not on myself. The old man is gone. O Death where is your sting?

The Man Born Blind

The Man Born Blind

by Meray Mansour

TEXT: John 9:1-41

Let’s set the scene for this week. There was a man, not important enough for people to call him by his name. He was well known to his community…but only as a blind beggar. Clearly, this nameless man imagined his life to begin and end on streets relying on other to support himself, with no hope of anyone giving him a second glance. – let alone Jesus! His world was naturally dark and because of his drawbacks he had nothing of value to offer society. This man, in the eyes of the world, was hopeless, worthless and purposeless.

So why would Jesus choose him? Why would He choose the person least likely to spread the word of God and most likely to become ostracised from the community?

The disciples automatically assumed that it was sin that led the man to this fate. Whether it be his parents or him that sinned, they didn’t know. But, they were convinced that God was punishing someone by making this man blind. On the other hand, Jesus rejects that idea and clearly says to them “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him” (John 9:3).

This answer could have been so much broader, it could have lasted for another few chapters. If anything, it seems like a missed opportunity to answer the undying question why does God let bad things happen to good people?

Why do children get caught in wars? Why does cancer exist? Why can’t God cure illnesses? Why, why, why? Jesus could have put an end to all these questions and saved us from having to say the cliched line: well…God works in mysterious way. But He didn’t.

Instead whenever we fall into temptation or encounter misfortune we are so quick to lay blame on others, circumstances or even blame God Himself and become angered by how our lives have unfolded. Then we pray and pray and it seems like God isn’t there anymore.

However, in that one sentence Jesus said something more powerful than 5 chapters could. He gave us the answer to the question. Why does God let bad things happen?

The answer is… it doesn’t matter. Don’t focus on why but rather wait for the work of God to be revealed in that situation. Sometimes that’s the only answer you actually need.

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6)

Sometimes what we need is an unquestioning loyalty to Christ. With understanding and faith we can rest assured that whatever situation we find our self in is exactly where we are meant to be as long as we follow Jesus.

Take the man born blind for example. His whole life sitting on the streets begging has been leading up to that one moment when he encounters the Saviour. Surely, that seems like a life wasted in comparison to someone without a visual impairment. However, Jesus makes that exact comparison.

“I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see and those who see may be made blind” (John 9:39)

When the Pharisees encountered this man, they interrogated him about how he gained his sight. The man gives them an accurate delivery of his experience. Nevertheless, they weren’t pleased by his response. How could someone be greater than them? So, they brought in his parents. Again, they weren’t satisfied so brought him back for further questioning.

Although, they could physically see, the Pharisees were made blind by their own pride and arrogance. So again, I ask is it a life wasted, begging on that street?

A life waiting for Christ is never wasted.

“For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36)

For this fasting period think about what stresses you’re faced with. Think about all those problems that our out of your hand.

Now take a moment and give each one of them to God and wait for Him to restore your sight.

The Paralytic Man

The Paralytic Man

by Shery Abdelmalak

TEXT: John 5:1-18

Ready, kids? This one is HUGE. We have seen Jesus that loves beyond our comprehension. We have seen love that can turn sinners into saints. Now, we get a glimpse into the miracles God bestows upon us, His children, through His grace.

Our story is set in a pool called Bethesda. Bethesda comes from the Hebrew word, “Bethchasday,” meaning the “house of mercy.” Rightfully so, for it was here that at a certain time, an angel would come down and stir the waters to give healing to the first person to step in. This is almost a reflection of baptism in the modern day church for by it, we gain healing and new life in Christ.

The angel that stirred the pool is comparable to Christ’s suffering, for it is through His suffering, death and then resurrection that we gain new life. Christ only requires one action from us – to step down into the pool, accept His suffering so that we can born again in Him. Death to the world for eternal life in Christ. While we have freely been given the gift of salvation, it can only be attained by those who accept it, those that step down into the pool to be healed.

We can sit back and look at what Jesus did in this story and think, “Wow, God is amazing, God is great. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” While all very true, we do not study the Bible, we live the Bible. When God tells you to rise, take up your bed and walk, do you do as the man did and immediately rise? Or is there something still holding you back?

Without the man’s obedience, there would be no story. If you cannot overcome doubt, disbelief, shame – there is no story. This man could not walk for 38 years and after one encounter with Christ, he could walk.

A toddler will learn how to walk at about the age 9 to 18 months, even then they’ll just wobble around still. There’s the crawling that comes first and everything in between. Who’s to say that when the paralysed man was to take his first steps after 38 years it should be any better than a toddler? According to the Pharisees, this man’s greatest flaw was carrying his bed on the Sabbath, no mention that he stumbled and no condemnation of Jesus for only doing a half job if the man did walk like a toddler. Their only accusation was that he went against the laws of the Sabbath.

When an adult is re-learning how to walk again after an accident that requires intense physio training and even then, nothing is guaranteed. What does make a huge difference is the power of the mind – if you really believe you can walk again. Do you think the Resurrection is just for show or are you preparing for change?

This man had no hope, but at the click of God’s fingers, he was made well. The two vital factors in all this are:

Do you believe that God can heal you?
Are you prepared to be made well?

HH Pope Shenouda III says that repentance can make virgins out of adulterers. God is imploring us all on this day to return to Him in pure and honest repentance. He who is unaware that he is sick does not know to seek help. Sin unrealised, ignored or disregarded are the ones that will cause the greatest separation from Christ. From sins that are a constant source of guilt to the ones that you do willingly yet feel no shame at all. This is what we want to overcome this Lent. There is power in the unity of the church that fights during Lent. You’re not doing this on your own. All those spiritual giants that you look up to, God has numbered you with them.

Those that we look up to in the Bible are those that repented. The ones that depended wholly on God and not themselves. King David, murdered and committed adultery but was the author of the Psalms. The psalms that we pray because our prayers alone could not amount to the beauty of the psalms. We know his sins because of his repentance. Because he was not going to let sin separate him from the love of God. Does God even remember the sins of David? Or just the psalms that came out of them?

When the Israelites rejected God, and chose sin, but God still had a reason to save them; He says,

“For I will defend this city, to save it

For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake”

Isaiah 37:35 NKJV

For the sake of David. David sins may have been great but his repentance was greater.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”

Romans 8:35 NKJV

He is able and ready to heal you. All that is left for you to do now is act. The Paralytic man is no more, but a witness and testimony to the power of Christ.

What do you want to be healed of this Lent? What do you want to leave behind at the Cross come Good Friday this year? He is completely able but we need to be willing to put to death all hold us down so that we may be raised in Him.

Rise, take up your bed and walk.