Tag: prayer

The Beautiful Dove

Personally, I’m not sure I’d like being called a dove…I guess beautiful dove does make it a little better. So why do we call St Mary the beautiful dove. Surely it has to mean something.

Referring to St Mary as the beautiful dove is not common in other Christian denominations but it is very common in the Coptic church. Many of our hymns that speak about St Mary mention her as being the beautiful dove. So why do the Copts use this term more than other Christian denominations. What does this term “beautiful dove” refer to?

Across history and cultures, the dove is recognised as an image of peace and hope. Christ tells His followers to be as “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” – Matthew 10:16. There is something about seeing an image of a dove that makes you feel like everything will be ok. Which brings us to the reason why St Mary, the beautiful dove, is so often used in the Coptic Church. The Copts for many years have been under persecution, and while martyrdom is seen as an honour, it is easy to understand that the desire for peace is in the hearts of the Copts. It is in those same Coptic hearts that a huge love for St Mary, the mother of the King of Peace, resides. St Mary feels the heartbreak of her persecuted children and takes these broken hearted prayers to the Lord who cannot refuse His mother. St Mary is the beautiful dove that brings prayers of peace for her children to the throne of the Lord.

Perhaps more fittingly, the term refers to the dove that Noah released from the ark. The dove flew out of the ark and came back with a branch to let Noah know that the flood waters had receded. Likewise St Mary takes the prayers from the ark of the Church and brings them to the Lord who answers her prayers with a message that the floods of the world will not triumph over the Church. It is an amazing thought, that those of us who are in the Church, surrounded by the floods of the world, not only have a messenger to take our requests to God, but also to send us peaceful comfort from God. A hope of something better.

It is here the beautiful dove takes on another, more modern meaning. In a time where the world is facing new and difficult challenges, a world where man and woman may mean different things to different people. Where wars are becoming more accepted. Where standing up for what is right or wrong is classified as bigotry or outdated thinking, we now more than ever need to cling on to a hope that transcends our world. A hope that good can still overcome evil. A hope that the heavenly is still valued among the earthly. A hope that is seen in the beautiful dove, the bearer of the source of peace and hope. St Mary the beautiful dove. It is very important to note though, that although we are safe in the Ark, the embrace of the Church, we are to pray for the receding of the harmful waters in the world; not just for the salvation of the Church, but of the whole world, even those that may bring the most harm to us.

The last thing I wanted to speak about is the term beauty. I wonder if St Mary in this modern day would be considered beautiful by our society? Would she be fully dressed in designer? Would she pay thousands on her image? I can confidently say no, because even in her time she dressed simply, as a temple servant, and was of such a selfless nature that she spent more of her time worrying about others than herself. Of course there is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself, but if that is our only definition of beauty, then we only need to look at St Mary. What made her beautiful was not just her appearance but how she made others feel around her. She carried herself as a faithful servant of God who always put others above herself. This humility is what we as a Church call beauty! This love St Mary can’t help but show for everyone is the truest kind of beauty.

Beauty for our hearts, peace for our spirits, hope for our minds, St Mary truly is the beautiful dove.

Discontentment with Prayer

Discontentment with Prayer

By Fr Antonios Kaldas

Originally seen on Fr Antonios Kaldas blogsite, 27 June 2012

It strikes me that many people in the Coptic tradition spend a lot of their lives being discontented with their prayer life. “I don’t pray enough”; “I don’t focus”; “I don’t feel much”.

Now there’s nothing wrong with desiring a deeper, more genuine dialogue with God. What is more important to our being than this? But it is also true that human nature is to shy away from things with which we are discontented. They make us feel bad, and so we avoid them if we can. Hence the struggle that many face to pray. It is not that they do not wish to be with God – it is that in their minds, prayer has become solidly attached to an uncomfortable feeling of failure or guilt or vague restlessness, a tone that makes them avoid prayer whenever possible.

This has to be one of the cleverer tricks of the devil to keep those who sincerely desire the presence of God away from experiencing it. Imagine the opposite. Imagine if prayer were instead attached to feelings of joy, peace and love. Who in their right minds would avoid that?

The question then becomes how one is to rescue prayer from the muddy negative attitudes that so easily encrust it and hide its true beauty. Here are some musings from a fellow struggler…

  • Don’t think of prayer as a duty. Duties are things we just have to do, whether we like it or not. Prayer just shouldn’t be like that in a relationship of love. Imagine how a wife would feel if her husband felt that spending time with her was a duty.
  • Don’t watch the clock. Don’t count the words.  Let it be a natural thing. Here I am, and here is God. Let us meet. He is in me and surrounds me. God is here. Who needs a clock?
  • Enjoy your prayers. Sweeten them with your favourite tunes. Pray with a smile on your face. Rejoice that you have the opportunity to connect with your Creator.
  • Focus on God, not yourself. Who do you think about when praying? It is so easy to be focused on oneself – God help ME. God forgive ME. God change ME. These are not bad prayers, it’s just that if these are the only prayers you pray, that’s a pretty one-sided relationship. Try to forget the ME sometimes and just focus on HIM. It is in losing ourselves that we find our true selves.  The best way to see yourself is reflected in the loving eyes of Christ.
  • Don’t get bogged down in repeating the same things mechanically every day. Sure, there are some things we need to share with God every day, like expressing our gratitude and confessing our sins. But every day brings new things to be grateful for, and new sins to confess. Your own inner life is constantly changing every day, so share that dynamic life with Him who never changes. He is your rock, your immovable point of reference in a confusingly liquid world.
  • Study the formal prayers. Many people go through their whole life having only ever encountered the formal prayers like the tasbeha, the Agbia and the liturgy in “quick mode”.  In other words, they only ever use their words in praying them at normal speed. But you can’t really get into the deep meaning of those prayers at this speed. You remember your English lessons at school (with at least some fondness, I hope)? Reading a poem the first time often only gave you a vague sense of what it was about, but it was only when you read through again more carefully, stopped to think about individual phrases and how the whole thing hangs together, discussed it with teacher and classmates, and wrote your interpretations of it that your really discovered its profound meaning and beauty. Formal prayers are no different. If you want to enjoy them, then study them, think about them, discuss them and write about them. Then every time you pray them at normal speed, they will mean so much more.
  • Every thought is a prayer. Remember that God is He “in whom we live and move and have our being”. Every thought you think is visible before God, and therefore every thought you think is a kind of prayer, if only you realised it. Realise it! The person who constantly shares their inner life with God throughout the day finds it so much easier to pray when they shut off all distractions to focus solely on that dialogue with God. Indeed, prayer becomes something you crave, for you find the distractions annoying and rejoice when you can escape them and be focused. (Of course, that may just be my male brain talking – women are so much better at multi-tasking!)

I genuinely believe that there is nothing sweeter in this life than those times when we connect with the Infinite, Eternal, All-loving I AM; the sole and perfect Truth from which all reality flows. Or on another level, we connect with the loving Father who cares for us with such minute care that He even counts the hairs of our heads. How could we ever allow negative feelings attach to such a beautiful experience?

Original blog available at- http://www.frantonios.org.au/2012/06/27/discontentment-with-prayer/#more-648

When God Doesn’t Answer

When God Doesn’t Answer

“I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” (Luke 11:8)

So if Jesus said that if I keep asking for what I want, He will give it to me? If God hasn’t given me what I asked for, I just need to knock a little harder, do a couple more metanias and then He’ll give me what I want... right?

By misunderstanding of this parable, we take our desires and demand them to be heard. We beg God to give us that one blessing, that one job, that one career, that one boy/girl that will make us the happiest person in the world.

If we can Biblically justify our demands, then that makes them right, doesn’t it? There is much more to it that we all too willingly forget. The path to God is simple, yet we overcomplicate it when we twist God’s will with our own.

Oftentimes, our persistence in prayer is focused on our requests. But to persist in prayer is to persist in thanksgiving, to persist in repentance, to persist to know Him, to persist in making Him the love of my life. Our contentment is found in things above, and not in the distractions of this world. It would be quite unlike God to give us ONLY what we pray for.

Our God is sufficient for every need, and if we persist, He will be everything we want, too. Whatever matters to us, matters to Him. God plants desires in all our hearts so that He can make His Love manifest in our lives. The desires themselves may seem like the goal, but each request can serve as a stepping stone to a life in Christ. In petitioning, we may confuse Christ as the means to reach the request. Persisting, in the answered and unanswered, will see Christ become the end goal, and each request a stepping stone toward Him, and this will always be more than enough.

He says, ask that your joy may be full. Don’t ask for the temporal. Ask for the eternal that never fades. Come boldly before the throne of grace. Why ask for things that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things? We persist for the eternal over the temporal. There may be nothing wrong with what you have asked for, but there’s more He wants to give you.

Every prayer at the point of desperation becomes the source of contentment to the soul in need. Hold tight; the best is yet to come. When we persist in prayer, we stop breaking His door down for what we want in this world, and start searching until we understand the depths of His love, and if that is the goal, whenever we think we know Him, He outdoes Him, time and time again, for His love is boundless. When He tells us to persist in prayer, we persist because we will forever be searching deeper to know His love. Our requests will come and go, but His Love remains.

Often when you’ve been praying for something for so long and God doesn’t
give it to you, this can make prayers dry; it can make prayers fade away. If we persist for the eternal – the imperishable – then we can never be disappointed.

The path to the Kingdom is through a life of thanksgiving, in thanksgiving there are no desires above the One that provides all. Start every prayer in thanksgiving. As for problems, the best kind are the ones that seem completely hopeless. The ones where you feel you have nowhere to turn. The ones that leave you broken-hearted. For it is the broken-hearted whom the Lord heals. It is the poor in spirit that see God. If God is naturally drawn to us in our state of exhaustion and depletion, how much more will He reveal Himself to those that continue to pray while in that state?

May we never allow worldly cares to stop us from true prayer and communion with Christ and all orders of heavenly hosts. Glory be to God forever Amen.

The Key to Confidence

The Key to Confidence

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Yacoub Magdy

Sometimes your requests will never be rejected from our Lord. Our struggle often comes from a lack of confidence in the Lord.

We can ask for the Lord’s help but we are still unsure of ourselves. This effects our performance and belief in our own abilities. We need to find the recipe for confidence to sustain us. Our confidence is in the Lord, the Provider of all good things.

Can you out-give God? Can you give God more than He gives you? The answer is a firm, “no.” Otherwise, how could He be God?

We could never give God more than He gives us, this is a rule that has remained steadfast for centuries. It is impossible. If you give God more, then He will give you much more. Some people give their entire lives to the Lord, then their reward is in eternity. It is impossible for the Lord to deny the reward of the one who gives.

This is our first rule in the recipe of confidence- we can never give more than God.

What can I  give in return? If I live in sin, I have bad habits, my life is a total mess. I have nothing to offer the Lord, and so, I assume that the Lord cannot give me anything. This brings us to rule number two. Time is a commodity created on earth, but eternity is timeless. Our Lord is not bound to the constraints of time. The present, past and future are the same. This is strange to grasp as humans as we see life as sequential, everything in order, in due time.

God created time for a reason, but He is not bound to time. Even if we haven’t given Him anything in the past, I can give in the future. This is called a vow – to borrow from the future. My past is not good, but my future can be.

We can gain confidence by making vows to the Lord. It might be good to write our vows down so that we do not forget what we have promised to the Lord. Vows are serious, as the Bible says – “Better not to vow than to vow and not pay” – Ecclesiastes 5:5.

We must be careful, but if we can fulfil, we should vow. The Bible encourages us to fulfil our vows;

When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you

Deuteronomy 23:21-22

In vows, the Lord glorifies us and we will give thanks to Him. We can give God vows in service, vows in prayer, vows in any way that may glorify the Lord. Whatever we like from the Lord, we can make vows, and He is faithful to repay.

We must be cautious not to vow more than what we can fulfil. Consult your father of confession to ensure these vows are realistic. Some get afraid that they cannot fulfil their vows. The key is in our hands. If your vows are strong and reasonable and you fulfil them, you will never be disappointed. How the Lord works, we never really know.

Success is not a figure, but a relationship with God that guarantees glory in every aspect of your life.

The elderly are not tempted like the young. They are not faced with the same temptations. As St John writes,

I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one

1 John 2:14

Some vows we can consider when we are young –

  • Short and honest confessions. In confession, many people are honest and to the point. Others speak, tell stories, make jokes. These will generally leave feeling like they do not benefit from confession. Of course they did not benefit, for they didn’t confess. You didn’t embarrass yourself, you did not break your heart.
  • Money is another; with any skill we have, we can use this to help others and the profits to give the poor.
  • Pray for one another, use your time in prayer to pray for others.

We have a key to the power of God. He is very real, and encourages making and fulfilling vows. They are Biblical. The risk is that you make a vow and cannot fulfil it. We must always pray for one another, in unity. If you are not affected personally but see others around you struggling, share with them in prayer.

Our confidence is derived from using all our talents for the glory of God. No matter the career, we remain servants of the Lord for eternity.

If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

John 12:26

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/

A Life of Fulfilment

A Life of Fulfilment

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

Passage: Luke 9:10-17

We read about the enlightenment the disciples experienced when the Lord multiplied the five loaves and the two fish. This story is mentioned in all four gospels and is recounted on numerous dates in the church’s calendar.

Just before the blessing, we read an important encounter between Jesus and His disciples. Jesus sends the disciples out to preach, to heal the sick and to proclaim the Kingdom of God. He tells them not to take anything with them- just go and preach.

They do as the Lord says and they return excited from what they had seen and witnessed in the ministry. And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida (Luke 9:10).

And then we continue into the story of the five loaves and two fish. When the people of Bethsaida knew that Jesus had entered their city but was in a deserted place, they travelled to see Him. Jesus spent the whole day with them healing the sick and preaching about the Kingdom. The day wears away and the miracle follows.

What takes place here is like a sandwich. You have preaching and healing in the beginning, a day full of ministry and high activity. This is followed by the next layer, of more people flocking to Christ and more healing, preaching and ministry.

But in the middle, we find Jesus takes the disciples away privately to a deserted area. This is the meat in the sandwich of this story. Oftentimes, we can forget this vital part. Imagine eating a sandwich that was just bread. No one eats a bread sandwich, there must be something to give it flavour. Our lives become as dull as a bread sandwich if we go from activity to activity. Bread on bread. There’s no meat, no filling.

It is important that we learn to apply this to our spiritual life. After every activity, there needs to be a layer where I spend time with God. I tell Him about all that I have done and He takes me away to a private place. It is a very beneficial spiritual exercise to meet with Christ at the end of each day.

We learn to imitate the disciples that came to Christ at the end of their ministry and told Him all about what they had done. In our evening prayers after we have prayed our formal prayers (e.g. from the book of hours/Agpia) that we tell God about our day. It is good to give God a run-down of all that happened.

“This morning I woke up and everything was okay but then I got frustrated with one of the kids, I could’ve been gentler. I got to work and had that meeting, thank You for giving me the strength and wisdom to navigate through what was so daunting before I entered. By the time I got to lunch, I forgot that I was meant to be fasting, sorry, God.”

Or, “I went to school today and I got my results for a test, thank You for helping me. When I was in the playground with the boys and I guess, I was a bit rough.”

When you give God a run-down of your day, you will quickly see the areas where you give thanks for His providence and guidance, or repent and need change, and then, it is as if God takes you away to a deserted place away from this world and it troubles. From there, I can start with my next job, ministry, or activity. Between each layer of activity, we need to give it substance, we need to have quiet time with Christ.

A newly married woman once told me that her husband has a habit of waking up at 5am to spend time in prayer and reading the Bible. He then starts getting ready for work. When he comes home from work, the first thing he must do is to go his prayer room and spend time with God before anyone else.

After each activity, I make time for the Lord and tell Him about all I have done and He, in turn, takes me to a deserted place away from the world. This provides the context of blessing. This is where we draw near to the Lord.

The Lord is near to all who call upon Him – Psalm 145:18.

We draw near to the Lord when we tell Him about all that we have done and that provides blessing and enlightenment to our lives.

Ponderings on Prayer

Ponderings on Prayer

Original post by Fr Antonios Kaldas blog site

Among the most direct ways to experience a loving unity with God is the practice of prayer. Put simply, prayer is dialogue with God, the very food of an intimate relationship with one’s Creator and Saviour. Consider St Paul’s quote to the Greeks at the Areopagus:

 He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being…

Acts 17:28

 The reality is that God is everywhere, and there is no place we can go where we are away from Him. Prayer is the bringing to conscious awareness that presence of God. Most of our lives, we are so distracted by other things that we lose that awareness, we forget that “God is here!” In prayer, we focus on restoring that awareness, on opening the “eyes of our heart” to see Him, and therefore on communicating with Him, with all the love and blessing that entails.

What is the right time for prayer? It is always the right time for prayer. If the understanding of prayer is correct, then when would one possibly not want to be united with God? So, in fulfilment of St Paul’s exhortation to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), the Orthodox Christian seeks to be in communication with God – aware of the presence of God with her – at every moment of the day. In this way, prayer does not become an activity that is separate from the rest of life’s activities. It is not that I leave my work to go to pray, and then I leave prayer to go back to work. Rather, I pray at all times, but it is just that at some times I leave everything else and focus on nothing but prayer.

Continual prayer may be practiced by reciting memorised prayers or Biblical verses, or it may just be a spontaneous ‘chatting’ with God in one’s mind, a sharing of one’s thoughts with God. Brief prayers are sometimes called Arrow Prayers, for they are ‘shot’ up to God whenever one feels the urge. Many would also consider contemplating the beauty of nature a kind of prayer, for in doing so we are contemplating indirectly the beauty of the master Artist who created it. Even acts of kindness towards others may be considered a kind of prayer, for when I help you, it is as though I am helping Christ Himself, and so I touch Christ in the person I help.

But it is important also to point out that there are some things that prayer is not, or at least, should not be. Understanding these will help us to understand what prayer is for the Coptic Orthodox Christian. For example, prayer is not a mere duty to be performed. It seems unlikely that God merely counts how many prayers a person prays, or for how long a person prays, and that is what impresses Him. What if those prayers are merely uttered with the lips while the mind and the heart are far from God? Surely such prayers do not fit the definition of prayer we have outlined? We cannot score ‘brownie points’ with God by praying more. He knows all that is in our thoughts and hearts, so how can we possibly fool Him by pretending to be ‘holier’ than we really are? Worse still, when a person prays for the wrong reasons, they will usually gravitate to a state where prayer becomes dry and routine. She prays only because she feels she should pray, but the love has gone out of the exercise. This is an indication that there is something seriously wrong with either that person’s practice of prayer, or with their whole relationship with God, and spiritual guidance is needed to heal this illness of the spirit.

Nor is prayer like a magic spell. It is not like some incantation, where if I can only say it right, or with the right feeling in my heart, then God will give me whatever I ask for. In fact, Jesus reminded us that God already knows all that we need, and that He is more than capable of granting us our needs, even before we ask, for He loves us. We cannot ‘twist God’s arm’ and in some way force Him to do something against His will. Nor should we want to, for we believe that God is far wiser than we are, and we pray, as Jesus taught us to pray, for God’s will to be done, not ours. Rather, when we request something of God in prayer, it is not to tell Him something He doesn’t already know, but rather to share with Him our needs and desires, as one might share one’s deepest needs with a best friend.

That is not to say that we should only pray when we ‘feel like it’. There are times when one is tempted to forget God, to put Him out of one’s thoughts. At such times a certain level of self-coercion or self-control is needed, just as self-control is needed to resist other types of temptations. Within the human being are different desires at work, and often those desires conflict with each other. Our free will allows us to choose which of the desires to encourage, but sometimes the opposite desires can be so strong that even that choice is not enough to overcome them. That is when we need to struggle and strive against our human weakness, our fallen nature that would drag us away from our continual and beautiful relationship of love with God.

Original blog found at- http://www.frantonios.org.au/2013/06/14/ponderings-on-prayer/#more-751

Called to Blessings

Called to Blessings

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Augustinos Nada

Passage Luke 6:27-38

What is expected from us as people of God? The Lord gives the sermon on the Mount as instructions on how to live as Christians; how to live as the children of God. These may seem completely different to what the world teaches us. He is saying, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”

Human nature tells us that this is difficult to accomplish. It is difficult to love an enemy, to do good to those who do evil. The Lord is trying to give us an understanding that a person of God is different. We need to be different. If we want to have a life in Christ, to love Christ and to love the church, there are higher expectations placed. You have to shine differently to others. This is why He says, “you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). We may be living in the darkness of the world, but it is the duty of a Christian to take light from Christ and shine in a dark place.

What Christ is asking of us today is to go the second mile. To push harder when human nature tells us it is enough. It is not easy to love those who hate you, to bless those who curse you, to pray for those that spitefully use you.

The world teaches us to not associate with those that hate us, we should not love them, we should not pray for them. St Charbel is a 19th century saint of the Maronite church that many miracles are attributed to. He was a hermit monk that lived in the mountains of Lebanon. The Turks were invading the country at that time and they were persecuting many of the Christian monasteries. The Lebanese monks were very strong and full of zeal for the faith. They decided to take arms against the Turkish armies and defend their monastery. These monks went to St Charbel wounded and hurt, seeking his advice. St Charbel was greatly disturbed when he saw them and said, “What are you doing? The Lord calls us and says, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you, so you haven’t done what the Lord has instructed you.”

It was from that moment that the monks changed their approach to the persecution. They were not loving the enemy but fighting them. It defeated the purpose of the Christian faith to hate your enemies.

The Lord continues, “to him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back.” Do we give to anyone that asks of us? Do we give the clothes on our back in addition to the clothes that were taken from us?

“But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.”

We love those who love us because it is easy to do, but the Lord is telling us this is of no credit to us. He goes on to talk about specific characteristics of our Christian faith. You cannot reach these levels unless there is an internal change. I have to be a certain person that understands the love of God and has a strong relationship with my Lord. I must strive daily to build virtues of love and forgiveness. It requires a person that has such great love for the Lord that these difficult commands become second nature. If you live a life of sin, it is impossible to forgive your enemies. If you are living a distant life from God, there is no way you can pray for those that hate you. If you live a lukewarm life, you will not bless those that curse you, or pray for anyone that spitefully uses you. If you don’t have a relationship to please God, these things become impossible.

In my own internal struggle, I must look within myself and see if I have any kind of hatred or animosity concealed within my heart. It’s okay to stay away from them but if they are near to me, do I retaliate? Do I seek revenge? Do I wish bad things for them? For me to be a person that loves my enemies and does good to those who hate and prays for those that spitefully use me, I need to be a changed person.

We see this in many of the saints. St Moses the Strong was a thief and head of a gang that murder, stole, committed adultery – an extremely violent person. He was the opposite of what the Lord commanded in the Sermon on the Mount. A man full of hate and of the world. What made him transform into a saint?

His repentance. His life with God. His struggle to overcome wrongdoing.

It may take time, but if we have the willingness then the Lord will give us strength to overcome.  Everything that the Lord tells us is a reflection of His character. If He tells us to love those who hate us, it is because He loves those who hate Him. If He tells us to do good, it is because His goodness does not depend on our deeds. He says bless those who curse you, because He blesses those who curse Him.

All these qualities are exemplary of how the Lord deals with you and me. He will never hate you, no matter what you did against Him, He continues to do good. On the contrary, He loves you even more. He shows boundless mercy, He tells us to forgive so that we may be forgiven. We know that He forgives us all, even on the Cross, He says, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

What amazing forgiveness. He was suffering and in pain but His focus was on their forgiveness. This was the greatest act of forgiveness and when we look at Christ on the Cross, surely we can look within ourselves and see why I need to forgive, why I need to love those who hate me, why I need to pray for those who use me, why I need to bless those who curse me.

A lot of people will come and say, “Abouna, it is hard to forgive those who hate me.”

But the early church fathers teach us the best way to overcome wrongdoing is to pray for them by name. Sometimes it may be difficult at the start, but if you are encouraged enough to name that person in your prayers, do you not think that God will hear you?

That person will change before you. Their evil will turn to good. Their hatred will be dispersed. And your heart will change toward them also. God will channel inner peace within you to accept the circumstance. When you feel the grace of God within your heart, nothing of this world can move you. The peace of God supersedes all your troubles on earth. The trick is to mention that person in your prayers by name.

Dear Lord, remember ____ make them a person that I can love again. If they are at fault in any way, help me to forgive them. Make them the person that You have called them to be.

When we mention them by name, it breaks our pride. We stop thinking that we are owed an apology. They may never apologise, but if this is what you truly need to forgive, it becomes more probable when you pray for them by name. They could change toward you, and more importantly, you want good feelings toward them to flourish in your heart.

With any difficult instruction, there is always reward from our compassionate Lord. “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you”

If you do good, good will come back to you. So often in our church, giving is the most powerful tool. We always see how God repays those who give. He can’t help but give back to those who give in love. Practice giving and see how God will give to you. If God hasn’t given back to you, remind Him of His promises. All of God’s promises are justifiable before our eyes.

✨ Full sermon ✨

Hidden Warfare

Hidden Warfare

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Jonathan Ishak

Passage Matthew 12:22-37

“Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? – Matthew 12:29

This verse on its own is a parable that the Lord eloquently presents to us. If a person wanted to enter the home of a strong man, they would first need to consider binding the strong man so that they would be successful.

We have something good concealed within our hearts. Satan would like to take this from us. In order to defeat us, he first finds ways to bind us so that we are restrained from fighting back. If we are strong, we are untouchable to Satan, but if we are weak, he can steal and destroy as he pleases.

The most valuable thing we own is our faith and the devil wishes to plunder our faith and void our hope. He cunningly seeks out our destruction through a variety of methods. We would be foolish to think that the devil would leave our faith to flourish undisturbed. His aim is to make us believe that we do not have a place in heaven. For every step of faith, the devil fight to pull us back to where we started.

The question remains, if the devil wishes to plunder our houses and our goods, how can we be strong? A certain youth once answered this question with three main attempts;

  1. I can work on my physical strength
  2. I can grow in knowledge and respond in wisdom
  3. I can use weapons

Spiritually, we can do the same. We can be physically strong as Christians so that we fight against the attacks of Satan. Mother Teresa was once asked, “why do you serve in the poorest and sickest of areas?” To which she responded, “Because I love Jesus.” She didn’t give a nice, worldly answer, that is she kind, or altruistic, or it’s a service to Christ, but a simple answer that shows her spiritual strength. Her motivation and goal is to love the Lord our God. Her motivation never faltered, if you love the Lord, you will have strong faith that will compel you to walk on the path of Christ.

When speaking of his book, The Imitation of Christ, Thomas Kempis says, “the most beautiful thing I found in this book is the title because it contains the name of Christ.” When we go to heaven, our Lord will give a summary of our lives on earth as an example of how much we love Him and how much effort we made to grow closer to Him. This is how to be a strong Christian. Satan cannot plunder a heart that loves God.

When the Lord came to Peter after His Resurrection, He only had one question for him; “Do you love Me?” (John 21:15). He didn’t ask him why he betrayed Him or why he denied Him. Only after he said that he did love Him could he be a shepherd of Christ. In everything you do in the church, love the Lord. Measure your Christianity by the amount of love concealed within your heart. If you grow in loving the Lord Jesus Christ, your house is built on a firm foundation.

Next, we must have a strong mind. I can fight back if I can think and mentally prepare for the battle. This preparation comes from the Bible and applying the teaching of the Lord. Read the Bible, know the teaching of the Lord and apply this to the battle that befalls you. When Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, he applied the wisdom of the Lord. Even if it meant defying her authority, he knew the words of God and remained pure. The word of the Lord was clear before his eyes.

In life, we too, must have the word of God at the forefront of our minds in all our actions and deeds. Those around us have their own thought processes but we remain strong in the Lord. We do not follow the teaching of the world, but the commandments of the Lord. Pope Kyrillos VI during the liturgy was sitting inside and fell asleep. A person was brought to him who was demon possessed. Even while asleep, the demon immediately fled from the man in the presence of Pope Kyrillos. This reveals the power of the Word of Christ within him.

The Lord said, “in vain they worship me, teaching the doctrine of men” (Matthew 15:9). If you would like to be strong, apply this teaching. Never follow the teaching of the people for they lean on their own understanding.

The final thing is to arm ourselves with weaponry. Our weapons are the sacraments of the church. Pope Shenouda III once said that you cannot stand strong against the attacks of Satan without the sacraments. These are Holy Communion, confession and a spiritual canon that you follow without fail. Ask your father of confession to give you a spiritual canon that you can stick with. These are our weapons in the Body and Blood of Christ, in our repentance and confession. Together, these make us strong against the adversity of the devil. This will make the devil flea from you.

When we look at the secret place of our hearts, is it open to attack, or have we armed ourselves with the strength of our faith, the knowledge of the Bible and partaking of the sacraments? At any point when we sway towards things of the world, we let our guard down in the face of adversity. Continual nourishment of these three elements helps us withstand the wiles of the devil. Let us make our homes full of prayer, full of almsgiving, full of blessing, full of love for the Lord and a welcome space for Christ to dwell. Be strong in the Lord so that the devil cannot snatch your faith and claim your eternity.

How Great is your Faith?

How Great is your Faith

Adapted from a sermon by Fr David Shehata

Passage Luke 5:17-26

The Paralytic Man is read in the gospel of Luke 5, but also in Matthew 9 and Mark 2. It is very commonly confused with the miracle recorded in the gospel of John which recounts a paralytic man that was 38 years old and sat by the pool of Bathsaida. This is usually because Jesus says to both, “rise, take up your bed and walk.”

There are key differences between the two. They are definitely not the same person and when we look at the differences, there are a multitude of benefits that reveal how Christ treated them according to the depth of their faith.

Jesus was in a house in the gospel of Luke and the man was brought to Him, while in John, Jesus sought out the paralytic man. The man in Luke had friends around him while the man by the pool of Bethsaida had no one.

It can come across as insensitive that the Lord – who is all-loving, all-powerful, all compassionate – would allow this man and his friends to go through so much trouble to reach Him. St Mark recounts the extent of the difficulty they had when he writes, “many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door” (Mark 2:2).

He emphasises a house that would have had so many people that they were flooded out the door. There was no room, so the four men looked upon this situation and decided to enter through the roof; “And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was” – Luke 2:4.

If we pause at this verse and put ourselves in this situation. If I was one of the four men in this situation or the paralytic man himself who had come to see Jesus in faith because I have heard of what He has done for others, how do I react to the obstacles in my path?

This applies to every time we want to spend time with God, but find an obstacle along the way. I am making my way to church, I have planned ahead and booked a spot because of the current Covid restrictions. I find rain, storm, cold… what next? Do I wait for the next mass?

Or I come to pray at night at my designated prayer spot but just before I get there, I find the room is cold and I remember the warmth of my bed… what next? This is a question we ask ourselves. What would I do in this situation; when Christ is so close but there is an obstacle in my way?

Do I presume that it’s just not God’s will for me to go to church on that day? There is nothing wrong with waiting, Jesus will still be around when I eventually pray the next day, or the day after that. There are so many ways to justify turning back at the first obstacle we see.

But in Mark, the four friends saw that they could not enter through the door so they created their own entry point through the roof. It seems irrational and beyond the logic of society to enter through a closed roof instead of an open door.

It is not the faith of one alone in this situation but the combined faith of the five men. They had to carry the man to the roof, they had to uncover some of the tiles so that they could lower him into the house. The greatness and difficulty of this task was exemplary of the greatness and unwavering faith of these five men.

The understanding of Jews at the time was that in major disease or illness was the result of sin. Either their own sin or that of their parents, just like in the gospel of John when the disciples asked Christ in front of the man without any fear of whether he would hear them or not, “Who sinned, this man or his parents?” This is an insight into the culture at the time. The paralytic man was seen as a sinner, deserving of his punishment of paralysis.

The life of a paralytic would have been extremely difficult, they had no social security, were unable to work and moreover, they were blamed for the state they were in. No one had compassion on them and they were likely to grow irritable and resent society. This man showed willingness to become a public spectacle, to be judged and condemned as a sinner, for a chance to reach Christ and be healed. This was all irrelevant to him compared to what he was about to gain. His gain in this process was far greater than any criticism and social stigma. This is a lesson in faith we can all learn from.

How many times do I sacrifice time with God for momentary praise or pleasure? How many times do I, in my own life, say that I will speak to God later?

When the Lord sees the faith of the paralytic man and his friends, He says, “your sins are forgiven.” This is so powerful and gives us insight into the nature of Christ. The Lord prioritises the man’s sins over his paralysis. This was the more important of the two in the eyes of the Lord. Heavenly healing lasts for eternity, while healing of the flesh is irrelevant to the hereafter.

Perhaps we can learn to prioritise similarly; to work harder on the forgiveness of my sins, to work harder in speaking to my father of confession, to work harder in partaking of the sacraments and finding time alone with God.

God wants to approach Him similarly as Fr Yacoub Magdy points out – “the trust of the beggar, compels the giver.” We learn to approach the Lord in unworthiness, in helplessness and that compels God to come to our rescue, for He is our only hope.

We cannot say we have finished breathing for the day, so we can not say that we have finished praying for the day. Prayer is a continual and ongoing relationship with the Lord. The four men approached the Lord and encountered an obstacle but they kept striving to reach Christ by any means possible. They persevered with greater effort so that they would see the Lord and have the life changing encounter that they hoped for.

One reason why the Lord ensured on that day that He would be so far out of reach was to highlight the extent of their faith on that day to benefit those that witnessed the miracle and even to us, 2000 years later.

The question we then ask ourselves is how much effort do I make to meet the Lord? Is it beneficial to me? I need to keep asking, I need to keep seeking, I need to keep knocking, until I encounter the Lord, whatever it takes.

“Do not be foolish in the requests you make to God, otherwise you will insult God through your ignorance. Act wisely in prayer, so that you may become worthy of glorious things. Ask for things that are honorable from Him Who will not hold back, so that you may receive honor from Him as a result of the wise choice your free will had made. Solomon asked for wisdom (3 Kg 3:8-14) – and along with it he also received the earthly kingdom, for he knew how to ask wisely of the heavenly King, that is, for things that are important.”

St Isaac the Syrian

We have the King of Heaven and Earth before us and He is willing to give us all that we ask for. Ask, and ask for big things. Don’t ask for meaningless things that you would never put before a king. Even if you don’t receive immediately, keep praying for your begging will compel the Hand of God to give.