وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III



Say to Him, 'I have words to say to You, O Lord

I am sure of Your love for me and of Your good intentions towards me, and I know that You are able to realize all this for me. Shall I not then talk with You as I do with my beloved? Do I find pleasure when I open my heart to those who are mere dust and ashes (Gen18: 27), and keep away from You, the Creator of everybody?! Is it proper when You call upon me that I get involved in other things and find no time for You?!

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III




We certainly feel comfort when we speak with God.

We feel comfort because we put on Him our troubles, seeing in Him a loving Father. We love Him as He loves us, and we do not conceal anything from Him. We let Him into everything we do, and in love we submit our thoughts to Him that He may lead them and correct them if they were wrong.

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III




To love God, set Him always before you.

The feeling that He is before you gives the heart faith, trust and peace. Therefore David the Prophet said, "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved." And he immediately said after that, "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices." (Ps 16: 8, 9; Acts 2: 25)

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III




Elijah the Prophet was aware of the presence of the Lord, so he said, "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand …" (1 Kgs 18: 15)

If you do the same the Lord will fill all your senses, your heart, and your mind. You will be on your guard and do what pleases Him. Not only you will feel His company and reveal your doings to Him, but He also will work with you or call you to work with Him for your benefit or for His Kingdom.

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III





The feeling that God is present before you will give you the power not to do wrong.

Joseph the Righteous was aware of that, and God never departed from his mind even for a single moment, so he said, "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God." (Gen 39: 9)

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III



You adorn your home with various pictures which you see all the time, why not put God's image with them or rather above them?

Let Him be before you all the time, on the way, at home, or while with others. No doubt the Lord's image was not before the eyes of Peter the Apostle when he denied Him, but when the rooster crowed he remembered the Lord and the words He had said to him. So he went out and wept bitterly (Mt 26: 75).

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III




In your love for God, you do not only see Him before you, but rather you see yourself in His bosom.

Say then with the Bride of the Song, "His left hand is under my head, and His right hand embraces me." (Song 2: 6) You are His child whom He loves and has done all this for your sake. If you remember how much He loves you, you will love Him in turn and will never do wrong, but will rather sing His praise every day. You will say with the Bride of the Song, "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. He feeds his flock among the lilies." "I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." (Song 6: 3; 2: 3).

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III




How beautiful it is to feel that God is with you, holding your hand, before you, on your right hand, and around you!

You are in His right hand; He has inscribed you on the palm of His hands; no one can snatch you out of His hand; even the hairs of your head are all numbered (Rev 2: 1; Isa 49: 16; Jn 10: 28; Lk 12: 7). If you remember this loving God and set Him before your eyes, you will certainly love Him and feel secure in His presence.

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III





Can you love Him without feeling His presence?

It is unreasonable. We do not love an unknown God, for the apostle says, "… we have heard … we have seen with our eyes … we have looked upon, and our hands have handled." (1 Jn 1: 1) And David the Prophet says, "I have set the Lord always before me." (Ps 16: 8) If those had seen him, we now see Him through faith.

[Mary Naeem]

By H.H. Pope Shenouda III





What is God's position in your life, that you may love Him?

Is He before your eyes? Are you always aware of His work in your life? Or days may pass without you remembering Him till you go to church? Do you remember that Sunday is the Lord's Day, or you call it "the weekend"? Try to feel His presence all the time. St. Augustine, before his repentance, meditating on his past life, said to the Lord: