God Who is in the Church is the One Who gives her life, as do those who accept His dwelling in them. I will tell you this story: “a famous artist was entrusted with painting the picture of a dying church. Those who entrusted it to him expected him to present to them a painting ...
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Anything I separate from God is meaningless. I am meaningless. My life is meaningless; my emotions; my friendships; what I remember or forget is meaningless. My education is meaningless. What I do well or lamely is meaningless. My works and accomplishments are meaningless. My failure is meaningless. My marriage is meaningless; my children; my grandchildren. ...
Read moreI have a friend who was overcome by COVID-19 complications. His physician encouraged his family, every day, to be “a little patient”. I knew, from other physicians, that the war on the pandemic had taught them that overcoming it is always a possibility. My friend, as a servant of the Lord, was, by nature, patient. ...
Read more“Do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). This is one of the commandments left to us by God for our salvation. This is the criterion for our wholesome common life everywhere, in our homes, in the Church communion, and in what we are doing in this earthly life. In Christ ...
Read moreA few sustaining words have stayed with me from that meeting. We were a group of young people meeting weekly in the hall of our Church. At the end of the meeting, our leader asked us: “I want you to answer me as to what, in your opinion, could the vice of pride do to ...
Read moreWe spend our life not looking at our actual sins. I will tell you this story: a good girl joined a convent. The nuns liked her, and their Mother Superior was a second mother to her. Everything was indicating that she had entered to the convent, to stay. On a good evening, the Mother Superior ...
Read moreWherever Saint Mary of Egypt is mentioned, she shows you that you are far from “the Father’s house”. What is the secret of this wondrous woman who was called to sit on the throne of the fifth Sunday of the Great Lent? In the prayers of these couple of days, yesterday and today, the Church ...
Read moreIn laying out the difference between fear and dread, the Arabs are quoted to have said: “dread is the long-term and ongoing fear. Then the monk (literally: Raheb, that is, him who dreads) is called thus because he causes fear to remain perpetual”. It befits us to see that this well-known definition of the monk ...
Read moreI cherish Razane, my friend, for many reasons. Today, I will mention to you one of them, a bit of her precious fragrance. Any discussion she engages in, whatever her position was in it, be it with you or against you, she leaves nothing behind her other than her friendliness. Kindness rules. Compared to what ...
Read moreDo not mock the weakness of a human being. Think about your own weaknesses; these are well known to you. Any weakness in any other human being, you may judge it rightly, and you may misjudge it. Always remind yourself that no one knows the weaknesses of others before the intervention of the Grace. This ...
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