The Two Deaths

The Two Deaths

As a man you are destined to die. Put it off as long as you like, the thing so long delayed will come at last.

There is however another death, from which the Lord came to deliver us: eternal death, the death of damnation with the devil and his angels. That is the real death; the other is only a change, the leaving of the body.

Do not fear this kind, but be frightened of the other, and labour to live in such a way that after death you may live with God.

Remember that Antichrists are not only to be found among those who have gone away from us, but among many who are still in the Church. The perjurer, the adulterer, the drunkard, the trafficker in drugs, all evil-doers.

The will say, 'But he made us like this'. Our creator cries out from Heaven, 'I made the man, not the thief, the adulterer, the miser; all that moves in the sea, flies in the air, or walks on the earth is my work, and sings my praise'. But does avarice praise the Lord, or drunkenness, or impurity? Anything that does not praise him was not made by him.

If then you love your sins and hug them to yourself you oppose Christ, and whether in the Church or out of it you are an Antichrist: a piece of chaff which the wind will blow away.



     DAILY READING WITH
St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest

Our Eternal

 Our Eternal

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? Matthew 16: 26

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
Luke 9: 23-24

It's better to think of our Eternal Life than to think of our daily life interests. Successful in life should not lead us to lose our spiritual life.

There are many ways to lose one's soul, but there is only one way to win it. By engaging activities, needs and life interests we do not find time to think about our eternal.

But our lives was not given to us to fill it with many activities. No! But means we should benefit our time on earth to know God well and serve Him.

We should not forget that our Eternal life depends on spiritual values.

 

Good Citizen

Good Citizen

Christian is a good citizen according to the Bible's commandment.

Submit to Authorities

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Romans 13: 1

Give Everyone Their Rights
Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Romans 13: 7

Love Everyone

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Romans 13: 8

Do goodness freely for God

For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 
1 Peter 2: 15

Do Righteousness

For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Romans 13: 4

Honor Officials

Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Romans 13: 7

Behave According To Law

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Romans 13: 9

Yield to Human Order

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority. 1 Peter 2:13

Verses and Fathers Sayings

 Verses and Fathers Sayings  

The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.
(Matthew 12: 41)

For Jonah was a servant, but I am the Master; and he came forth from the great fish, but I rose from death. He proclaimed destruction, but I am come preaching the good tidings of the kingdom. The Ninevites indeed believed without a sign, but I have exhibited many signs. They heard nothing more than those words, but I have made it impossible to deny the truth. The Ninevites came to be ministered to, but I, the very Master and Lord of all, have come not threatening, not demanding an account, but bringing pardon. 

(St. John Chrysostom)

 

Biblical Reflection - UNDER THE SHADOW OF YOUR WINGS

Biblical Reflection

1.Hide me under the shadow of Your wings:
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; 

Hide me under the shadow of Your wings. 

(Ps 17:8)

2. Children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings:

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. 

(Ps 36:7)

3. I Will Make my refuge in the shadow of Your wings:
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! 

For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, 

Until these calamities have passed by. 

(Ps 57:1)

4. I will rejoice in the Shadow of Your Wings:
Because You have been my help, 

Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. 

(Ps 63:7)

5. I will trust in the shelter of Your wings:
I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; 

I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. 

(Ps 61:4)

THE IMPORTANCE OF REPENTANCE

 THE IMPORTANCE OF REPENTANCE
 By HH OUR LATE SAINT - POPE KYRILLOS VI


 Fasting must be accompanied by repentance, regrets and confession of sins. When the Ninevites fasted, they all put on sackcloth and they turned to God, from their evil ways and violence.  They cried mightily unto God. The Lord heard their cry, saw their repentance and showed His mercy unto them.

The importance of repentance to accompany fasting is explained for us fully in the Book of Joel, where the Lord beseeches us:

Joel 2:.12-15
12  “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
 

13  Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.


14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.

In the same manner Daniel the prophet behaved when he fasted: 
"So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.  I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed:
“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments,"  Daniel 9: 3 - 4

So did Nehemiah, Ezra and David. God desires repentance while fasting: 

"Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." 

Galatians 5:24

So my children, let your fasting be pure and holy, that it may be acceptable before God like the fasting of the Saints. Preserve your purity in the land of your sojourn. Live the life of repentance that is pleasing to God.
Let your fasting be accepted by confessing your sins and sharing in the sacrament of holy communion.  May you abide in the Lord and He abides in you, even as the living branches that bear fruit abide in the True Vine. 

 
  

Contemplations on Jonah the Prophet

  Contemplations on Jonah the Prophet 

 By HH Pope Shenouda III

 God Uses All

 Jonah disobeyed God's command and fled in a ship, but God who brings: “Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.”   Judges 14:14

God who is able to turn evil into good was also able to make use of Jonah's disobedience.  

If it was through Jonah's obedience that the people of Nineveh were to be saved, it was through his disobedience that the mariners would be saved.
When Jonah disobeyed the Lord he went down into a ship where there was people belonging to the Lord, whom the Lord loved and sought to save. The were gentiles like the people of Nineveh, and war likewise in need of salvation. Let their salvation be through Jonah's disobedience.  Jonah was an instrument in the hand of the Lord by which He conquered, with its obedience and with its disobedience.

It was as though the Lord said to Jonah: "Do you think Jonah, that you have fled from Me?!
NO, you have not.  I will send you to the mariners, not as a prophet nor as a preacher, nor as a voice crying out calling people to repentance, but as a guilty person and a sinner, and a cause of a dilemma and trouble for others, thus I will save them through you."

" In this way you will be a blessing when I send you and a blessing when you flee. You will be a blessing to the people of Nineveh when they dread you as a prophet, and a blessing to the mariners when you are cast out into the sea as a guilty person. I will carry out My purpose through you in whatever state. Even when you are in the belly of the whale, not among the Ninevits nor the mariners, but when you are on your own in the belly of the whale, I will make you a prototype of My death and resurrection so that in mentioning your story people will learn.

"Did you sail in the sea when you were fleeing from Me, O Jonah?
Then you entered also in the domain of My will, because I own the sea as I own the earth; both are the work of My hand.
 
 Anything that comes into the hands of God will surely yield something good. God saves by all possible means people, and as the apostle said: "all things work together for good to those who love God,"

We also notice in the Book of Jonah that, in the same way God use Jonah's rebellious attitude and disobedience in performing His will, He also used irrational creatures who were more obedient than the prophet.

The Road Home

The Road Home

 And So, brethren, in this life we are pilgrims; we sigh in faith for our true country which we are unsure about. Why do we not know the country whose citizens we are? Because we have wandered so far away that we have forgotten it. But the Lord Christ, the king of that land, came down to us, and drove forgetfulness from our heart. God took to himself our flesh so that he might be our way back. We go forward through his Manhood so that we may be with him for ever in his Godhead. Do not look for any path to him except himself; for if he had not vouchsafed to be the way we could never have found the path. I do not tell you to look for the way - the way has come to you: arise and walk.

 You are not walking on the lake like Peter, but on another sea, for this world is a sea: trials its waves, temptations its storms, and men devouring each other as fishes do. Don't be afraid, step out stoutly lest you sink. Peter said, 'If it is you, bid me come to you on the water'. It was, and he heard his cry and raised him as he was sinking. Gaze in faith at this miracle, and do as Peter did. When the gale blows and the waves rise, and your weakness makes you fear you will be lost, cry out, 'Lord, I am sinking', and he who bade you walk will not let you perish.


     DAILY READING WITH
St Augustine --- The Heart at Rest

 

Verses and Fathers Sayings

Verses and Fathers Sayings


 Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord
who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name)
Jer. 33: 2


 O my God, let me remember with gratitude and confess
to thee thy mercies toward me. Let my bones be bathed
in thy love, and let them say: “Lord, who is like unto thee?

(St. Augustine)