|
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
Sacrifice
-An excerpt from His Holiness' book Words of Spiritual Benefit.
The love which does not sacrifice is a barren love, without fruit.
Love is a productive mother that gives birth to numerous virtues such as compassion and affection, a word of encouragement and a word of consolation, attention and care, forgiveness and seeking the salvation of the soul. This is the spiritual love...
Perhaps the most distinguished quality in love... is sacrifice.
This is the big difference between love and lust: love always seeks to give whereas lust always seeks to take.
Lust seeks to take because it is concentrated around the self, but love, as the Apostle said, "... does not seek its own."
Love that does not sacrifice is not a true love.
Love sacrifices everything, does not keep anything from whom it likes, no matter how this thing is precious or essential to self. It gives from its needs.
The greatest thing a loving person can offer is to sacrifice himself, and the Lord said, "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13). This was shown in depth on the cross...
The crucified Jesus is a sacrifice of love... The Bible said, "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).
During the Passion Week, many contemplate on the passions of Christ. Christ's passions are merely a natural result of His love. Love here is the origin, while pain is the outer appearance...
I wish we would contemplate on His love which He revealed through His passions.
The candle melts to give light to others; this is also a kind of self-sacrifice for the sake of others. So, we put candles before the icons of the saints... as a symbol.
Also the incense burns in fire to give sweet smell which ascends to God... It is a delightful burnt offering to God, and it is also a symbol...
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 April 2009 )
|
|
|
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
-An excerpt from His Holiness' book The Spirituality of Fasting.
We are not of the type of people who fast and, while fasting, long for the time to break our fast. On the contrary, when we are not fasting we long for the time when fasting will return.
A spiritual person rejoices over the periods of fasting more than he does over feast days during which he eats and drinks. Many are those who long for fasting during the fifty-day period that follows Easter and during which there is neither fasting or continual prostration. Their longing for fasting increases so strong that they rejoice at the arrival of the Apostles' fast having been deprived of the joy of fasting during the preceding fifty days.
Those who are spiritual rejoice so much at fasting that general fasts are not sufficient for them. Thus, they urge their father confessors to allow them to add their own additional fasts. They support their request with the argument that their spiritual condition becomes stronger during the period of fasting, their health improves and that their bodies become lighter.
Those who claim that fasts should be shortened and reduced in number attest to the fact that they have neither experienced the joy of fasting nor known its benefits.
God willing, we shall discuss in the coming chapters the benefits of fasting as the source of joy for the spiritual and the lifestyle for the monks.
A Way of Life -
So loved was fasting to our fathers the monks, that they made it their lifestyle.
They fast, with the exception of feast days their whole life. They did not suffer from physical fatigue but discovered in it spiritual delight, found satisfaction and became accustomed to it.
It was once said that on one occasion, at the advent of Lent in the desert, a herald was sent calling upon monks and drawing their attention to the sacred fast. When one of the elders heard the herald's exhortation, he said to him: "Son, what is it this fast you are talking about? I am not aware of it because all my days are the same. (Ie. that all of them are days of fasting)."
Saint Paula the anchorite used to eat only half a loaf of bread at sunset.
Some monks used to fast every day until sunset like a holy monk who once said; "Thirty years have passed by during which the sun has not seen me eating".
Some monks used to fast for days. Saint Makarius the Alexandrian, for example, fasted though out the year and ate only once week during the Holy Lent, while visiting the Monasteries of Saint Pachomius.
The fasting of our fathers, were not confined to specific periods, or the length of time, but also as form of monasticism, applied it to the kind of food they ate.
Abba Nofer, the anchorite, ate dates from a palm tree at his place of seclusion. Saint Moses the anchorite, as well as Saint Pigimy, another anchorite, ate desert grass and drank from the morning dew.
Consistent fasting regulated the lives of the Fathers.
This lifestyle of a monk becomes comforting and harmonious for both the body and the soul. A stable lifestyle, to which they become accustomed which regulates their lives.
As for the pitied laymen, they sway from one extreme to another when fasting. They deprive themselves of food only to break their fast to partake of anything they desire.
They abstain for a while, to allow themselves what they want for another period, then go back to indulgence, thus they sway between abstention and indulgence. They build, then destroy, and then build again, only to demolish again without recovery.
True fasting is to train oneself in self-control, to follow for the rest of your life.
Self-control becomes a blessing for his life, not only during the time of fasting when we change the time and the food we eat, but also during the normal days.
In this context, fasting is not a punishment but a blessing.
Confessor fathers used to impose as a sever form of punishment for their spiritual sons, to break their fast early, to eat meat or appetising foods. This was done in order to abase their spiritual son’s proud heart that thinks of itself to have become a hermit or an ascetic. He would thus bring down his arrogance by making him eat and feel abased to rid him of thoughts of vain glory.
|
|
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 11 March 2008 )
|
|
|
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III
Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark
The 2008 Papal Christmas Message.
Peace on the Feast of the Nativity.
My beloved children in the lands of immigration, Clergy and Laity, It gives me joy to congratulate you on the Glorious Feast of Nativity and with the start of the New Year. We pray that it is blessed and joyful in the life of each of us.
The birth of the Lord is full of deep spiritual contemplations; we hope that they may be a lesson to us all, having its effects and results.
Firstly, He came down to us, to visit us, reconcile us and save us. One of the fathers the saints said: “With sin there was contention between man and his creator, and since man could not ascend to God and reconcile with Him, God came down to man.” Yes, He came down and continues to knock on the door of the human heart so it may open for Him.
In His coming down, He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant ... and being found in appearance as a man...” (Philippians 2, 8:7) He did not desire to frighten us with His Divinity, but attracted us with His humility. He also attracted us with His love, as He went about doing good. And this is another lesson for us.
In His Nativity, He was born in an amazing simplicity: He did not come down upon the wings of the Cherubim, engulfed by a choir of angels. Instead He was born from a poor orphan virgin, who was in the care of a simple carpenter. His birth was in a manger, on a day not known to anyone, but was proclaimed to some shepherds, and then visited by three Magi representing the estranged Gentiles... It is a mixture of simplicity and humility, which was a third lesson for us to be far from outer appearances.
The Lord Christ lived an alienated childhood far from being famous. A part of this childhood was threatened by the sword of Herod, and in a part of this childhood, He was a stranger in the land of Egypt, although He blessed it. As for His youth days, we do not know anything about it. And the title that the Jews gave Him was “the carpenter’s son.”(Matthew 13:55)
When He started His ministry, He lived for more than three years without a position of leadership in the Jewish community. The title that He was known by among His beloved was “Teacher.” He did not possess a house for the ministry, He did not even have a place to lay His head (Luke 9:58). He sometimes preached from the mountain, or in the wilderness, or in the fields, or upon the sea shore...
His strength was in His personality and not in any appearances that surrounded Him; loved by the people and envied by the leaders, but He was a source of love to all, being compassionate upon everyone in need, every sick person and upon those tormented by evil spirits.
He had disciples who were also simple; and He filled their hearts with love, filled their minds with knowledge, granted them His Holy Spirit, and also granted them gifts.
This is The Christ whom we celebrate His birth, and we are proud that His Name has been called upon us. Blessed is the day of His birth, and may we also celebrate His characteristics as well. Finally, be all well and healthy in the Lord, absolved from His Holy Spirit.
May this year be a blessed one,
Pope Shenouda III
January 7, 2008
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 January 2010 )
|
|
| << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next > End >>
| | Results 7 - 9 of 27 |
|
Presentations Setup
Lent Menu
Church Magazine 2009 12 December
835
Bergen Avenue - Jersey City, New Jersey 07306