By H.H. Pope Shenouda III
BE RELEASED Of THE FEELING OF POSSESSION
Many people think themselves rich and think they possess many worldly things.. ..But as for you, my beloved brother, you were relieved of this feeling of possession since the time you realized that possession restricted your spirit.
Certainly, you have come to the world poor like me, possessing nothing in it.. You have come naked out of your mother's womb, not even possessing the swaddling clothes which you were wrapped in or the cradle in which you were lain...
Anything you had afterwards is only a gift given by God to you.. This was not a possession but a charge entrusted to your hand for a limited time ie. your lifetime.. When you pass away from earth, you will be as poor as you entered it.. naked as you were born.. As for the things which you thought you have possessed in this world and which you were forced to leave behind, someone else will claim a right to possess them and when he also passes away a third will claim the same right and so on...
