Tag: submission

The Rewards of Humility

The Rewards of Humility

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Elijah Iskander

Passage: Luke 1: 39-56

The theme of the month of Kiahk is humility. The passage of today is another example of this. St Elizabeth, St Mary and St John the Baptist are all great examples of humility.

“Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” – 1 Peter 5:5-6.

This is the roadmap to humility. If I want to be humble, let me start with the first natural opportunities I have every day. I can submit to my elders. For the children, be humble before your parents. We all must remember that we never stop being children to our parents, even to our 40s, 50s and beyond!

If you are a student, it is natural for you to be humble before your teacher. If you are a staff member, it is natural to be humble before those in authority. If you are a husband, it is natural for you to be humble before your wife. I can never really be humble unless I start with the natural opportunities I am given.

If as a student, I am arrogant when dealing with my teachers, or if as a child, I am arrogant with my parents, then how am I supposed to go beyond that and be humble with someone at the same place as me? More still, how could I be humble before those below me, as the Lord was?

If I want to be humble, do I first make the most of those natural opportunities? Do I shout back at my parents? Do I disregard the opinion of my boss?

Only when I learn to be humble to those above me, can I move on to the next stages of humility. St Peter then writes to be humble to one another. If  I can’t be humble to my mum, how am I supposed to be humble to my sister? Make the most of the natural opportunities and then I will be empowered, by God’s grace, to be humble when it’s a bit harder to be humble to my sister who is older than me, and then even harder still to be humble to my brother who is perhaps younger than me.

If I can’t be humble to my parents then it is impossible to be humble to my siblings!

St Peter writes that we ALL be submissive to one another. We see that when St Mary went with HASTE to visit and take care of her cousin Elizabeth. Because St Mary was humble when she received the message from the archangel Gabriel, it was easy for her to be humble and rush to serve her cousin in her time of need.

If I am not humble, then I am less inclined to take opportunities to serve. St Peter then says to be CLOTHED with humility.

The depth of this lies when we consider the One that was clothed with humility? This was Jesus Himself at the Incarnation. The Creator, the Divine, God Himself, is clothed in humility when He comes down to earth to serve those whom He created. He came as an infant, lower than all. That is to be clothed with humility.

If I cannot submit myself before my elders, if I cannot submit myself to my siblings or co-workers, then how am I supposed to cloth myself with humility? How can I make myself of no reputation, as Christ did (Philippians 2)?

God was clothed with humility, He emptied Himself. He could have said, “I am the Creator, it is impossible for me to come as the created.” Yet He went beyond this and came as the created, and accepted mocking, whipping, slapping, all from whom He had created. How could He accept to born in a manger? How could He accept to run from the earthly king,  Herod? He was clothed with humility and does not insist on His rights.

What about me? Do I question how others treat me? Do I question being kept waiting or the manner in which others speak to me? Or, am I clothed with humility?

Even though God is the Creator, He came, as a Man, and accepted, and was obedient till the point of death. If I want to accept this injustice patiently, as Christ did, I have to start with the natural opportunities to be humble. Then I can move on to be humble to those at the same level as me, from there, only then can I be humble where it seems impossible to humble. I can be humble when I am treated unfairly or when I am disrespected.

Why should we do this when it seems so difficult to achieve? For God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. When I don’t want to be humble because it is not fair, I remember that God gives grace to the humble, and resists the one that would react in pride.

St Mary also says, “He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly.” – Luke 1:51-52.

The proud are scattered, they are put down. It’s not as a punishment, but a wake-up call, an important lesson to return to the Lord. Some of the church fathers says that they must humble themselves, before God humbles them.

The promise of humility comes next- God will exalt the humble in due time. Nobody that has ever humbled themselves for the sake of the Lord has been left regretting their decision. If it is truly for the sake of the Lord that you humble yourself, that you accept ridicule or criticism, that you stay silent in the face of adversity, the promise remains- God will exalt you in due time.

St Mary continues, “He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.” – Luke 1:53.

If I come to the Lord hungry, then I know that He will fill me. If I come to the Lord thinking I am rich, I am already full then I leave empty. Not as a punishment, but because God cannot fill what is already full.

The Mind of Saint Mary

The Mind of Saint Mary

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

Passage Luke 1:26-38

What are you thinking about right now?

What have you been thinking about for the past few days?

What has consumed your mind over the last month?

These are questions that we do not often reflect on. What consumes our thoughts? What is going on inside us?

On the 29th of each Coptic month, the church presents the reading of the Annunciation of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary. There is a lot going on in this passage. One thing revealed is what runs through the mind of St Mary. We can tell what’s on her mind by her reaction and response to the Archangel.

We see St Mary and the angel Gabriel comes in and he greets her.

In some icons of the Annunciation, we see the angel up high, looking down on St Mary and telling her the news. In this particular icon, the angel is lower and has his arms folded in respect for the Virgin.

This is how I imagine it would have taken place – not above, but below, in great respect for the Mother of God, bowing before her with arms folded, and saying, “Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

He calls her, “highly favoured” and the most blessed among all women! Imagine his posture while greeting her.

This greeting troubles her and she wonders what manner of greeting this could be. Why is she troubled? Is she not used to apparitions? Was she not used to seeing angels?

If an angel appeared to me, I would be troubled! I’m not used to that. But for Mary, an apparition would not shock her. She lived her whole life in the Temple, probably seeing apparitions regularly.

Why on this particular apparition was she troubled? This is the first insight we get into the thoughts of St Mary. For she was not troubled by the apparition, but by the manner of the greeting.

We might get troubled at the manner of greeting if someone was to disrespect us. If I was say, Doctor Joseph, and a patient walked in saying, “Hey Joey,” that would trouble me. I am a doctor, Doctor Joseph. That greeting is troubling in its disrespect. Or if I’m Fr Mark and someone calls out, “Hey Marky,” that would be troubling. But for St Mary, it was the opposite. She was troubled for the honour of the greeting of being highly favoured, and the angel bowed before her.

The first insight into her thoughts was how she saw herself. A simple slave girl in the Temple, in complete humility. She was bothered because she didn’t see herself the way the angel saw her.

How do we know she thought this? Was it a mere inference on the part of the reader? We know because St Mary must have told the author, St Luke, how she felt at that moment. We know that Luke spent time with Mary and she herself told him. He drew her first icon. This was probably St Mary’s account of the Annunciation and our first insight into the inner workings of her mind.

Then the angel presents the proposition of the conception of Christ from her; “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Mary’s next question gives more insight into her thoughts; “How can this be, since I [c]do not know a man?”

This question reveals to us Mary’s decision of life long consecration and virginity. If St Mary had plans to get married, she would not have asked this question. She would have assumed that when she married, she would have this child. On the contrary, she had no plans to marry and could not conceive. How could it be when she had consecrated her virginity to the Lord?

Her vow of virginity and service was on her mind. Finally her last word was, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” She submits in obedience to the request of the Lord. Her humility and obedience runs through her mind.

What consumes our minds? Elder Thaddeus was an Orthodox monk who wrote the book, “Our Thoughts Determine our Lives.” In his book he says, “Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquillity.”

Your thoughts will determine your life. What you think will determine how you live. That is why it is extremely important to stop and reflect on what is consuming my mind. Today and lately. A big portion of that must be spiritual. Peaceful. Meekness. Kindness. This determines how I live my life. If I find that my thoughts are consumed by worldly concerns, lusts, anger, hatred, I need to shake them off.

A few analogies from the fathers- consider any thought that comes is like an aeroplane. You see aeroplanes that fly around the airport then they come to land. Only allow the good thoughts to land. Thoughts will always fly around, never let them land and stay.

Or imagine your thoughts are like birds. Don’t let the bad ones nest on your head and lay eggs and reproduce and grow. If a fly lands on your face, naturally you flick it away, but you never let it sit there. You don’t let it sit on your face, and lay germs. In an instant, you get rid of it. The same applies to our thoughts, we need to develop an instinct that compels us to flick the bad thoughts away. For any lust, I flick it away. Any hate, I flick it away immediately. If I overthink of money, I flick it away and refocus my thoughts.

St Mary is the model of thoughts and feelings that were totally consumed by God. I pray that each of us shifts our thoughts away from evil and sin and closer to the Kingdom, for our thoughts determine our lives, and potentially our eternity.

Magnifying the Lord

Magnifying the Lord

 Transcribed sermon by Fr Daniel Fanous

Reference: Luke 1:39-56

Throughout the Coptic month of Kiahk, the church prepares us for the upcoming Nativity. After Archangel Gabriel announces to St Mary the birth of Christ, he tells her that Elizabeth, her cousin, will also conceive. Immediately, St Mary visits Elizabeth to help her through the final stages of her pregnancy.

There is much that could be said of a pregnant woman that rushes to the aid of another with no consideration of her own comfort. Elizabeth greets her saying, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” 

We now see that the first person that recognised Christ incarnate was a woman; Elizabeth. Mary responds and says, “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercies on those who fear.”

What does it mean to magnify the Lord? How can any one of us make God smaller or larger? Origen contemplates on this saying,

Now if the Lord could neither receive increase or decrease, what is this that Mary speaks of, My soul magnifies the Lord? But if I consider that the Lord our Saviour is the image of the invisible God, and that the soul is created according to His image, so as to be an image of an image, then I shall see plainly, that as after the manner of those who are accustomed to paint images, each one of us forming his soul after the image of Christ, makes it great or little, base or noble, after the likeness of the original; so when I have made my soul great in thought, word, and deed, the image of God is made great, and the Lord Himself, whose image it is, is magnified in my soul.

If you look at the early icons of creation, you find that Christ, the Word of God, is creating while casting breath into man. When you look into the face of Adam, it is identical to the face of Christ. Adam is created as an image of God. As such, we are called for Christ to dwell in us.

The words of St Mary are testament to the image of Christ becoming perfectly clear in her soul that she reveals Christ. My soul magnifies the Lord when Christ is in focus. God so loved the world that He fashioned for Himself a dwelling place in the heart of man. God creates men in the image of Christ so that Christ could be in us, and transform us.

How was St Mary able to magnify the Lord? “For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.” God looked upon her humility and magnified Himself in her lowliness. What she then sees in her own soul is remarkable as she says, “For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him.” 

God’s mercy is a form of healing. The word “fear” is often misunderstood. We know that perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18), but there is another kind of fear. The Greek translation in this case is phobia, which is to flee from something. This translation of fear is only found one other time in the Bible (Revelation 11), and again, used to reveal God’s mercy. The Lord’s mercy brings healing, and salvation. In this sense, it means to recognize or to perceive the dignity of God.

When I stand before Him, I realize I am a creature and He is my Creator. When I stand before Him, I cannot possibly be mighty, sitting on my own throne. I see myself relative to His greatness. I cannot possibly be rich, or proud, or stuck in the imagination of my own heart, when I am before the living God. God could not respect the dignity in any of these cases as they do not need, nor strive, for mercy, and thus could not magnify the Lord beyond the magnification of their own egos. St Anthony the Great once said, “know yourself, and you will know God.” If we truly knew ourselves and our weakness, we would know to stand in desperate need for God.

It is impossible for us to recognise our need for a Saviour if we don’t first see that we cannot attain salvation on our own. It is impossible for a physician to heal someone that doesn’t think that they are sick. It is impossible for me to magnify Christ in my soul if I don’t first see that I need Him.

An extremely wise professor went to a monk and said, “I would love to learn from you, teach me about wisdom.”

The monk sits down and heats up some water to make tea for them both. He begins to pour the tea and tea begins to rise until the cup is full, but he doesn’t stop pouring even when it is overflowing and burns the hand of the professor holding the cup. The professor tries to stop him saying, “What are you doing? You’re getting hot tea everywhere.”

The monk responds, “And this exactly why I can’t teach you anything. You cannot fill what is already full.”

This is exactly what St Mary is saying. How can one who is mighty on their own throne bow before the throne of God? Or how can the rich beg for any more than they have? Their souls are so full that there is no place for Christ to dwell. For Christ to increase, we must decrease. We can’t magnify Him in our souls when our souls are full of ourselves. This is why Christ loves the humble, for the humble are searching for Him that they may be filled with His mercy. To those who were full of themselves, Christ was almost indifferent. To those that were humble, His heart was moved to compassion for their sakes, for in their humility, their soul magnified the Lord.

Let us strive to be transparent, to recognise our need, and to come to Him desperately so that He may fill us with every good thing. May we learn to strive for the contrary positives that St Mary puts forth so that we are exalted when we are lowly, filled when we are hungry, and helped when we remember His mercies.