وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

Lord God
may we, your people
who look forward to the birthday of Christ
experience the joy of salvation
and celebrate that feast with love and
thanksgiving.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ
your Son
who lives and reigns with you
the Holy Spirit
God, for ever & ever
Amen.
��..
��â›ھï¸ڈ����ï¸ڈ���� ��

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III


The release from bonds


It was seven O'clock in the evening, and silence (surrounded) everything when my father monk and I began to set our feet on the sand of the desert. We walked from time to time contemplating on matters beyond human utterance. A long time passed without our being aware until we stopped at the gate of the monastery to discuss together.

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[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III


Impressions and bonds

I do not mean by the 'release of the spirit from the body' what Simeon the Elder meant when he said: "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word.." .. What I mean is the release of the spirit while still in the body; its release from any bonds encompassing it. Only then, one can experience complete peace and live the free life of God's children.

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[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III




Do you know, dear brother, that a child, after being baptised, has his spirit free, in the original condition in which it was created..? Do you know what happens to it afterwards? The world, the customs and the environment implant in it many impressions. Many bonds bind it and hinder its movement towards God to be united with Him and abide in Him. What God's children seek is to be freed from all this.. to have their souls released from the bonds of the world and the environment and from the bonds of the senses and human wisdom

��â›ھï¸ڈ����ï¸ڈ���� ��

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

At this point the father monk said: 'Perhaps some think of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, “unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 18:3). that they mean, "Unless you become as young as children.." No , He wanted to say, "Unless you become as great in spirit as children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven

🙏⛪️🌹🕊️📿🤲 🌿

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

The bonds of the senses



St. Macarius the Great once met a monk who was fought with self-righteousness, he thought he had overcome adultery, love for money and anger.. St. Macarius began to ask him about his feelings on seeing a woman.. The monk replied that he would discern that she was a woman but would fly away lest he should feel lust.. St. Macarius asked him again what his feeling would be when he saw some money in the desert.. The monk said he would be able to distinguish money from stones but he would abstain from the love of money.. The saint asked him a third time how he would feel if someone insulted him.. The monk replied that he would feel that he was insulted but would not let anger remain within his heart. Here, St. Macarius told the monk that he was still frail and needed to strive more and the saint began to teach him..


��â›ھï¸ڈ����ï¸ڈ���� ��

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

The bonds of the senses, dear reader, make a person discriminate between a man and a woman, between an old woman and a young girl, and between a beautiful girl and an ugly one..

Such bonds also make one discriminate between money and stones
��â›ھï¸ڈ����ï¸ڈ���� ��

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III


What about praise and insult then?



Once a monk asked St. Macarius for advice.. St.Macarius ordered him to go and praise the dead. He did so but no one replied to him. The saint then ordered him to go and insult them, but when he did no one replied either.

Then St. Macarius said to that monk, 'You also must be like the dead since you have died to the world.. You must not be affected by anything whether this be praise or insult'..
��â›ھï¸ڈ����ï¸ڈ���� ��

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III


Once a rich man brought some money to the monastery in order to be distributed among the monks.. the abbot wanted to teach that person a practical lesson, so he put the money aside and rang the bell. When the monks gathered the abbot asked them to take their need of the money as an expression of their love for the rich man. But the monks looked at the gold as if looking to stones and took nothing of it in spite of it. Their behaviour had so great effect on that person that he asked to be a monk
��â›ھï¸ڈ����ï¸ڈ���� ��

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III

The world and the flesh, dear brother, have many impressions on our senses. This makes us look upon the worldly and material things as being more beautiful and attractive than they really are and as having a deeper effect. However, when the spirit is elevated and released partly-from the bonds which hinder its way, the senses will be elevated accordingly . In other words , they will be released from the worldly feelings and you will have a new spiritual understanding of matters



You can feel this if you were away from your family for a long time, and on you return they embraced you in excessive love and longing.. You felt overwhelmed by their love, but would you, amidst this love, feel that the person who embraced you whether your father or mother, your sister or brother was a man or a woman