Nothing

Metropolitan George Khodr said in a homily delivered at Deir Al-Balmand: "When you reach the point of saying (about yourself) that you are nothing, you become a Christian. Before this, you are not a Christian, (you are) nothing" (June 29, 2016). Today I convey to you this word, which some of you may have personally heard from the mouth of its speaker. The word echoes Jesus' saying: “Say, we are unprofitable servants” (Luke 17:10). Before the homily, I used to limit Jesus’ saying to the work of ministry, that is, I saw that Man is responsible, in everything he does, for attributing glory to God. This is always appropriate. Then came this venerable elder, and extended the saying to our entire existence. The Christian is nothing but a person who beseeches his existence from God. This alone is what gives our lives meaning in everything, in everything we do in this day or this moment, in our present and future. Do we obey the words of the elders by saying, each of us, to God: "O God, take everything from me, and give me Your Own Self. You are my existence"?
February 20
Estranged from Reality!
Yesterday, I met a friend who was brought up, ecclesiastically, within the Orthodox Youth Movement (MJO). I will brief you on the course of our meeting. He spoke to me about the Movement at its peak. It was clear that he meant the time of its initial outset. There are brethren, both within and outside the Movement, who have not fully understood that it is an ongoing setting out. I interrupted him by saying that it is now at its peak. He looked at me, bewildered! His eyes revealed that he accused me of being estranged from reality. I responded to his accusation by stating that the peak lies in the continuity of awareness that we are working with God. The regenerative generations are workshops. Each generation bequeaths to the next one that reforming the Church, at the level of life and history, is a work that does not stop over time. He started to enumerate for me the names of some of the early founders. Then he asked me, "Who is like them today?" I told him, "This is a question that should not be asked. Every human being is unique. If God is the One Who places us in His service, the merit is His. To Him belong both the action and the glory". His bewilderment increased. Who is estranged from reality?