Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
-An excerpt from His Holiness' book Words of Spiritual Benefit.Revised from the
original for translation and grammar.
To have a powerful effect on your spiritual life during Lent, you need to follow certain exercises.
These exercises, when you apply them to life's situations, will help you benefit from your fast:
To exercise giving up a specific sin, from the sins that prevail upon you, and which is repeated in many of your confessions.
To
exercise learning some Psalms from the Agpeya. You may choose one or
two Psalms from each of the seven prayers, especially the Psalms that
leave an effect on you.
To exercise learning the Bible readings
of the different hours, divide them into parts, analyse them, knowing
that for each prayer there are three or six parts.
To exercise the mental prayer of what you have learned. You may pray during work, on the road, while with people or at any time.
Use
these prayers, Psalms and Bible readings as a sphere for contemplation,
to enable yourself to pray them with depth and understanding.
To
exercise spiritual readings: either by reading from the Bible
regularly, with understanding and meditation, or reading the lives of
the Saints or some spiritual books, so that you gain a profitable yield
of deep readings.
During lent, you may exercise learning the
hymns of lent and the Passion Week, and repeating them until you are
full of their spirit. The same is true of Advent.
You may exercise a certain higher level of fasting, under the supervision of your spiritual father.
There
are many spiritual exercises in the field of dealing with people...
such as gentleness, patience, enduring others' weaknesses, controlling
anger, using words of praise and encouragement, serving and helping
others, kindness and meekness.
Other exercises in purity of the
heart: Such as modesty, inner peace, love of God, being satisfied
without grumbling, quietness with no disturbance, internal joy in the
spirit, faith and hope.
On February 6, our church hosted the Art In Heaven Gallery at the historic Loew's Theatre in Jersey City. Nearly 185 patrons attended the event, supported by about 30 participating artists. The gallery boasted over 70 pieces of art, from which 51 pieces were sold to the highest bidder via a silent auction. The event raised $10,157.57, which will go directly towards the building of a new church for the congregation. We would like to thank the artists for their contributions, the servants for their tireless efforts, and the attendees for their generous donations. May God give everyone their reward and grant them the heavenly instead of the earthly and the eternal instead of the temporal. May He also complete for us our New Building Project according to His will and plan.
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
The 2010 Papal Christmas Message.
My beloved children in the lands of Immigration, both clergy
and laity,
I send to you my sincere love to each one of you, wishing
you a joyous life in the lands of immigration. May the Lord keep you without
fault, loving one another with true love, that each you be careful to edify his
brother, without offence.
I would like to congratulate you all with the start of the
New Year, and the Glorious Feast of Nativity. May it be a blessed and happy
year, carrying to you what the birth of the Lord carries from inspirations to
the soul and also deep spiritual memories.
The Lord Christ came as a Savior to the world, as the angel
said to the shepherds: "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11) And the Lord has said concerning Himself
that He came "to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10)
In addition to all of this, He had an important message in
teaching, and in leading the people to the knowledge of God, having said to the
Father: " And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3). He also said
to Him: "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that
the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John
17:26)
Did all of these people not know God, till Christ came to
tell them about Him? Of course not, for without doubt they knew His Hebrew
name: Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai, that is, the One who is and is to be, God and
Lord. But this mere knowledge of the mind is not enough.
They knew that the One God is the Creator of heaven and
earth and the only One who works wonders. But they did not have a relationship
of the heart with Him, even in their prayers! Therefore God said concerning them:
" ...these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their
lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me." (Isaiah 29:13)
They had an outward worship only, without spirit! Prayer
without a connection!! For this reason God rejected their prayer. He said to
these people: "When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from
you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of
blood." (Isaiah 1:15)
God desired the pure heart that is full of love towards God
and people. Thus the Lord Christ said to God the Father: "And I have
declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You
loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26)
The Lord Christ came teaching people about love, through His
life and words; so that they will know that God is Love (1 John 4:16); and that
every virtue void of love is not accepted before God... Thus He said to His
disciples: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as
I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 13:34) He also
said to them: "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you
have love for one another." (John 13:35) It was said about Him that He
"loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." (John
13:1)
He taught them to love everyone, even the enemies, saying:
"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good
to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute
you..." (Matthew 5:44) He explained this by saying: "For if you love
those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the
same?" (Matthew 5:46)
As long as God is Love, then anyone who is far from love is
far from God...
With this we understand the meaning of prayer. It is not
merely talking with God, or merely a duty that we perform, instead, prayer is a
desire for God, as the psalmist says in the Psalm: "As the deer pants for
the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God." (Psalm 42:1)
The prayer that is distinguished by the love from the heart
to God is a spiritual enjoyment, during which the heart enjoys the company of
God. The sign of this is that when a person starts prayer, they do not want to
finish it, desiring to continue in the enjoyment of talking with God. The
ending of the prayer to this person is like snatching the suckling infant from
his mothers' breast...
The Lord Christ offered God to people with a lovely name of
heavenly Father. He taught us to call Him saying: "Our Father Who art in
heaven..." He is the Father who is full of beauty and compassion, and He
is the source of all goodness...
We love God Who gives to us without us asking, and above
what we ask. We love Him for He is the Good Shepherd, who makes us lie in green
pastures and leads us beside the still waters (Psalm 23). He is the true
Shepherd who said about Himself: "I will feed My flock, and I will make
them lie down ... I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away,
bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick..." (Ezekiel 34:15,16)
With all of this the Lord Christ came as a Good Shepherd, giving Himself for
the sheep (John 10:11, 15). He gives His sheep eternal life, and they will not
perish forever (John 10:28).
Blessed is the Lord in His incarnation, in His love to us,
in His care which is sacrificial and redeeming. We thank Him for all of this,
and glorify His Name from now and forevermore, Amen.
A blessed season to you all.
(Signed)
Shenouda
Pope of Alexandria
and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
January 2010
Elkorbana 2010 May
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