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Why Millions Love Pope Shenouda Very Much?

March 19, 2012 in Copts, General, Spiritual with 1 Comment

I haven’t been myself since Saturday when I heard the news of the departure of our beloved Pope and Patriarch Anba Shenouda III. We did not lose just the church leader but we lost OUR FATHER! I lost MY father and so did Millions who are gathered in these attached pictures. People walked miles, stood more than 10 hours in lines, some fainted and some passed away in these long lines. WHY??? They just wanted to say good bye to THEIR FATHER!

Fatherhood is not something I can explain but I only can experience. I can say confidently: it’s the best thing in the world. If you have a good father blessed are you. If you never experienced the love of a father you are missing out on  a lot! I didn’t get to enjoy my biological father a lot. He worked abroad and died when I was a teenager. My Good Father in heaven sent me spiritual fathers and mentors who influenced my life positively beyond words. His Holiness Pope Shenouda was one of them! He taught me through his sermons and books. When I became a priest He guided, supported and trusted me as a true father with his son.

The amazing thing here is that Pope Shenouda did that with thousands of clergy (bishops, priests and monks). He was close to thousands and millions of others. He helped them spiritually, emotionally, financially and more. HOW??? I have been thinking about this for days and the only answer that comes to me is: this is the FATHERHOOD of God given to Pope Shenouda as a spiritual gift so he can shepherd his flock. He was very compassionate like God! Very gentle beyond measure! He really showed the love and compassion of God in his dealings with every one as well as his sermons and teaching.

Thank you God for giving us such a father! Thank you for Your  everlasting fatherhood!

(Pictures of hundreds of thousands standing at the gate of the Cathedral in Cairo hoping to just have a look at their father to say good bye.)

For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 4:15

The Mother of the Church

May 10, 2007 in Family, General with 5 Comments

As Orthodox we do emphasize the importance of the role of the church’s leader(s) or the priest(s). We often underestimate the role of the priest’s wife. In my opinion, her role is of a higher importance. She is the behind-the-scene support. If he is the father of the church she is the “Mother of the Church” who works behind the scene in love and humility to support the priest to support the church.

On the occasion of Mother’s Day I would like to recognize my wife “Irinie” and her role in supporting me and the church. I always told her “I think God chose you for the job before choosing me”. All the blessings that I have experienced in the ministry have to do with her and her support. I would have never been where I’m now without her and the church would have never been where it is now without her.God wanted to confirm this message to me (and to the church) lately in a strong way. She went last week by herself to Canada to visit her sick mother for a couple of days. I had to stay with the kids for these couple of days and tried to do my ministerial work as usual. It was a challenge! I used 15 baby sitters, I got sick with a bad flu, didn’t get any thing done and finally we had to cancel a service on Sunday! If I leave the church for a couple of weeks no body notices but she leaves for a couple of days every thing turns upside down!

Just wanted to recognize my dearest wife on Mother’s day. Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Give it up for God’s sake!

April 26, 2007 in General with 8 Comments

So many people are enslaved to their jobs. They have no life but don’t know what to do. No time even to look for another job; if there are any available jobs! Some brave people decide to give it up for God. It’s a test of faith: is God going to find them another job? Will they be unemployed forever?!

Just wanted to share with you what this young lady did bravely. She has a very good position in a consulting company …I will have you hear the story from her. May be this will encourage you to do it. if you have a similar experience please feel free to post it as a comment.

“I had been struggling with the idea of leaving my job for the past 3 years.  The main problems I had with my job were the long hours and travel.  After I began serving as a Sunday School teacher, the problems I had with my job intensified because I couldn’t give to the service the way God wanted me to.  One evening, during my weekly Servant’s meeting, I confessed to my fellow servants that it was a huge challenge for me to adequately give to the service due to my job.  At the same exact time, two servants said “Just Quit”.  For the next week, all I kept hearing in my head was “Just Quit” and it was becoming more and more clear that this was from God.  Without thinking about the outcome, I contacted my Partner and met with him right away.  I walked into my Partner’s office and said, “I am here to formally resign”.  I had no back-up plan, but I had a peace within me that I knew was from Heaven.  My Partner asked me why I wanted to leave and I told him that my job was getting in the way of me being able to serve my God.  To my surprise, he told me that he would find a position within my firm that would provide me with a 40 hour work week and no travel.  He also told me that if the new position didn’t work out, he would personally help me find another position within or outside of my firm.  The last thing he said to me was, “I wish there were more people at this firm with your values”.  It was then that I knew this was from God.” –G. O.

Oh by the way she is now working half the hours she used to work and getting the SAME salary!!!

On This Day

February 9, 2007 in General with 1 Comment

February 8, 1998 his Holiness Pope Shenouda III along with 9 other bishops consecrated the alter of our church on the name of St. Mark the Apostle.

One-Year-Bible

December 28, 2006 in General, Spiritual with 1 Comment

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This is the time to think about reading the bible in one year. I have used this before, I will use it this year also (by God’s grace) and I do recommend it. After looking at many options I came to this schedule/system that is designed by Tyndale publishing.

You can get it as a hard copy or soft copy.

https://www.orthodoxbookstore.org/product.details.aspx?ProductID=1822

http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/

You can find it in many translations. I’m using the NIV because it’s easy to read and understand. It’s not the most accurate but again this is just ready through the entire bible and not a study.

I found many advantages of using the one-year-bible:

1- It puts you on a system: what you should read every day vs if you leave it up to you. You may read a lot some days and other days you might not read at all.

2- It helps you develop the habit of reading the bible daily.

3- It let’s you go through all the books of the bible including the ones you do NOT like to read and will NOT read if it’s up to you!

4- It gives you a variety of Old Testament, New Testament reading and also a psalm and a proverb.

5- You will find a message in it in case you don’t get a message from the Quiet Time.

6- If you do it with the family it gives you chance to discuss together and even to read it together. I know couple of families who did that before.

Have fun with it!

Here are some more resources:

http://www.oneyearbibleblog.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Companion-Questions-Answers-Reading/dp/0842346163

https://www.orthodoxbookstore.org/product.details.aspx?ProductID=706

https://www.orthodoxbookstore.org/product.details.aspx?ProductID=97

I love you … I hate you …

September 21, 2006 in Devotional, General with 7 Comments

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A young monk asked a wise monk for a word of advice. He told him “go to the cemetery and praise the dead and say all good things about them.” The young monk did so, even though it was very weird, and came back. The old monk asked him “what was their response to praise?” he said “nothing!” “Go back and curse them then” the old monk ordered. The monk obeyed and when he came back the old monk asked him “and what was their response to insult?”  He replied: “Their response was the same NOTHING!” The wise monk advised him to imitate the dead in their response to praise and insult. Not to be proud when people praise you and not to be angry and hateful when they curse you.

I have read this story many times ever since I was a young deacon but I never learned the lesson except after many years of priesthood and many experiences of: you are the best …you are the worst! The people who praised me criticized me later on. The people who didn’t like me became friends later on. In the beginning I thought the people who liked me are the smart ones and the people who didn’t like me are not as smart! Well, neither was true. They are neither good nor bad, they are NORMAL people. Just like myself. I liked someone one day and I didn’t like him the next day, then I liked him again the day after…. People like me when I tell them what they want to hear and they don’t like me when I tell them otherwise. People like me when I do things their way and they don’t like me when I don’t do things their way. C’est la vie!

I used to take these things personal. It used to bring me up and down but not any more thank God. When I hear good words I thank people especially when it’s genuine. But I don’t favorite the people who praise me and I don’t have high expectations from them because they are NORMAL human beings. At the same time I don’t take it personal when people criticize me because they are also NORMAL human beings. Both of them will change anyways one day. Or even if they don’t change I might change!

Jesus heard “Hosanna” and “crucify him” in the same week. The great thing is that He loved the people regardless of what they said. They are humans and humans change.  God wants us to genuinely love all as He did, and not seek to please them but only Him.

Does that mean that I shouldn’t listen to what people say and totally ignore it? NO. But rather I should listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit in what people say. St. Anthony heard God’s voice through a comment from a sinful woman. I have to decide first whom I’m trying to please. I can choose to please people but good luck with this! And I can try to please God but people may not be pleased.

If you try to please people you may need to change the truth. You may not live with one standard. You may have to be always guessing, always careful, always sensitive, always anxious and finally always frustrated! You may have one hour of good self esteem but 10 days of depression.

When you try to please God you will find ONE standard. God is NOT moody and does NOT change. What He liked 5000 years ago is the same today, tomorrow and forever. He will always put you up and NEVER down; even when He rebukes.

Thank God

September 8, 2006 in Devotional, General with 6 Comments

On the same day that an employee received his salary, a thief took advantage of the crowded situation on his bus ride home and stole it all from his pocket.  When the poor employee arrived home, he searched through his pockets for the money to give his family to take care of their monthly expenses and then realized that he had been robbed.

In the midst of the grief that came over the poor family, the man was thinking deeply, “How am I going to provide for my family this month?  And what about our debt from last month??”  The whole family, which has nothing to live on except the father’s salary, was crushed by this incident.

In the middle of all this thinking, the man shouted loudly, “Thanks God!”  His wife thought he must have found a solution for their dilemma.  But then he picked a paper and a pencil and wrote down his thoughts:  “Thanks God.  Thanks God that I was the one who was robbed and that I was not the thief.  Thanks because what was stolen is only some of what I have but not all that I have.  He stole my salary, but not my job.  He stole some of my money, but not all my money.  He stole the food of the month, but not the furniture of my house.  He stole the money from my clothes, but not my clothes.  Thanks God because I can compensate for what I lost.  Because if he stole my son, how would I compensate for him??  And if he steals my soul, what am I going to benefit if I gain the whole world instead??”

This father found something to thank God for in the middle of this tough test.

Do you ever thank God that you’re the victim and not the oppressor?  And the one who was knocked down, not the one who knocks others down?  You might thank Him for a gift or a raise in your salary, but will you thank Him when He allows you to be robbed or deceived?  Will you thank Him for sickness as you would thank Him for your health?  For death as for life?  Will you thank Him when He takes as you thank Him when He gives?  So thank God.  Would you believe that a thief thanks God because He covered up His crime and did not dishonor him before his victim?

Is it possible for us to have this kind of relationship with God?  That we thank God that He didn’t let us become burglars, thieves, and killers?  God, who allows the hands of such people to reach us, is certainly able to compensate us for the evil inflicted by man with a great godly compensation.  So let’s thank God for everything.

 

 

Our Blessed Mother

August 23, 2006 in General with 1 Comment

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B G is a good nine-year-old kid went to the liturgy 5:30 AM yesterday because it was the feast of St. Mary. After the liturgy he went with group of missionaries and did mission work in DC. They were serving other kids their age and talking to them about Jesus. They had a blast and God really did great things in their ministry. Because he is a good kid he decided to treat his mother with a car wash even though it was already a very tiring day. When he was getting his stuff ready for the car wash he got hit by a careless driver who was backing up very fast like a rocket. He was rushed to the hospital but when he got there things became really scary. His head was swollen really bad as well as his belly (almost like a soccer ball in his stomach). That’s when we really called on God and His blessed Mother St. Mary (because it was her feast).
He went into CT scan, X-ray, you name it …doctors said it looks like an internal bleeding and don’t know what to expect. But, when he came back from the scans and tests he looked normal as if there is nothing happened to him! All tests came also very normal as of a very healthy kid. He went home same night walking and talking. His mother said “my son was dead and now he is alive”!
 

If God said “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16. How about the prayer of the mother of God wouldn’t avail much? If God said “honor your father and mother” wouldn’t He honor His mother first? That’s why she said in the Spirit “For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. Luke 1:48

A Miracle!

July 27, 2006 in General with 6 Comments

The man was expected to die from bleeding; he asked to buy a burial site from our church just 2 days ago. After the best doctors in America gave up God decided to intervene and prove His power! Read what his relative doctor said: the miracle.pdf

Save On Car Insurance!

July 16, 2006 in General with 9 Comments

A year ago my car was hit by another car from the back. I stopped and looked; it wasn’t too bad and my bumper is decorative any way. The man was going to give me his info in order to repair my car but something told me “forgive and you will be forgiven.” I told the man, “I’m cool it’s not a big deal … have a nice day!” As I meditated on my bumper a couple of days later, I doubted the voice. “Why didn’t I just get his info even if I don’t use it?” I said to myself; but I remembered the sound was very clear “forgive and you will be forgiven.”

Two weeks later, I hit the door of an SUV. I left my info and was waiting to hear from these people. Now it’s a year after and I haven’t heard from them – I guess they forgave me!

Just last week I hit another car when I was parking (that’s why the church decided to dedicate a special parking spot for me next to curb – to avoid constant lawsuits!). Anyway, I left my info again and still haven’t heard from them; maybe they forgave me too!

So I guess the lesson from this is: Do you want to save on car insurance? You don’t have to switch to Geico; just start forgiving!

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