وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

لقِديسة تريزا دي كالكوتا

"إنّ الأمر الوحيد الذي يمكن أن يجعلني حزينة هو إهانة الرَّبّ
بسبب أنانيّتي أو لتمنّعي عن مساعدة الآخرين،
وعندما نؤذي الفقراء، إنّما نؤذي الرَّبّ

[Mary Naeem]

فيُجيبُهُمُ المَلِك: الحَقَّ أَقولُ لَكم:
كُلَّما صَنعتُم شَيئًا مِن ذلك لِواحِدٍ مِن إِخوتي هؤُلاءِ الصِّغار،
فلي قد صَنَعتُموه"


"إِخوتي" فتشير إلى تلاميذ المسيح (يوحنا 20: 17) وشركائه في ضيقه (العبرانيين 2: 10-11) وأعضاء في الكنيسة الحقيقيَّة. "لأَنَّ كُلاًّ مِنَ المُقَدِّسِ والمُقَدَّسينَ لَه أَصْلٌ واحِد، ولِذلِكَ لا يَستَحْيي أَن يَدعُوَهم إِخوَةً حَيثُ يَقول: ((سأُبَشِّرُ بِاسمِكَ إِخوَتي"(عبرانيين 2: 10)، ثم امتدَّ معناها إشارة إلى جميع النَّاس. وهكذا استبدلت كلمة "التَّلاميذ" بكلمة " إخوتي" لا لاقتصار صفة الأخ على التَّلاميذ وحدهم، بل لإعلان الصِّلة التي تجمع بين يسوع وكل إنسان محتاجٍ، إذ أراد يسوع أن يتقمّص شخصيَّة الفقراء المُهمَّشين، فيطابق بينه وبين جميع هؤلاء البؤساء الذي يعتبرهم إخوته. فصانع الرَّحمة للآخرين من أي دين كان، إنَّما هو صانعها للمسيح. فيكشف لصانع الرَّحْمة أن ما عمله كان له معنى عميق يجهله.

[Mary Naeem]

فيُجيبُهُمُ المَلِك: الحَقَّ أَقولُ لَكم:
كُلَّما صَنعتُم شَيئًا مِن ذلك لِواحِدٍ مِن إِخوتي هؤُلاءِ الصِّغار،
فلي قد صَنَعتُموه"


"الصِّغار" فتشير إلى المؤمنين الذِين هم أقل اعتبارًا من غيرهم والمُحتقرين عند سائر العَالَم، ولكن في الواقع، يدل يسوع على "التَّلاميذ" وحدهم " ومَن سَقى أَحَدَ هَؤلاءِ الصِّغارِ، وَلَو كَأسَ ماءٍ باردٍ لأَنَّه تِلميذ، فالحَقَّ أَقولُ لَكم إِنَّ أَجرَه لن يَضيع” (متى 10: 42). إن الأهميَّة المِحوريَّة هي العلاقة بالمسيح. يجازي يسوع المَلِك الدَّيَّان الأبرار عن ممارسة المَحَبَّة الأخويَّة تُجاه الذِين يعيشون على هامش المجتمع. ويجازيهم على أعمالهم بحسب ما قاموا به من أعمال الرَّحمة نحو المحتاجين إليهم.
ويعلق البابا فرنسيس
"نعرف جيّدًا أننا في النهاية سوف نُحاسب على الحب،
ونعرف أيضا أسئلة الامتحان في الدينونة الأخيرة:
إنها أعمال الرحمة"
(الإنجيل وعلامات الأزمنة، 14/3/2019).

[Mary Naeem]

البابا فرنسيس

"نعرف جيّدًا أننا في النهاية سوف نُحاسب على الحب،
ونعرف أيضا أسئلة الامتحان في الدينونة الأخيرة:
إنها أعمال الرحمة"

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Repentance and the work of Grace

Many Protestant groups hold that repentance is one of the works of Grace and all man's strivings are void. It is sufficient that man casts himself at the feet of Christ to save him from his sins. The Orthodox doctrine holds that the whole spiritual life of man is a fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit supports but man should strive. If man does not strive the Apostle will reproach him, saying: “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Heb. 12: 4).
The Holy Bible portrays the spiritual life as a struggle which needs the whole armour of God: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph.6: 12). This war undoubtedly needs man to struggle and win.
This fight is what the Lord Jesus Christ meant in His message to the angels of the seven churches when He said: “To him who overcomes I will give...” (Rev.2: 17). Grace does not
do all the work, otherwise God would not have said: “Return to Me... and I will return to you” (Zech.1: 3).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III








Many Protestant groups hold that repentance is one of the works of Grace and all man's strivings are void. It is sufficient that man casts himself at the feet of Christ to save him from his sins. The Orthodox doctrine holds that the whole spiritual life of man is a fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit supports but man should strive. If man does not strive the Apostle will reproach him, saying: “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (Heb. 12: 4).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III








The Holy Bible portrays the spiritual life as a struggle which needs the whole armour of God: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph.6: 12). This war undoubtedly needs man to struggle and win.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III








This fight is what the Lord Jesus Christ meant in His message to the angels of the seven churches when He said: “To him who overcomes I will give...” (Rev.2: 17). Grace does not
do all the work, otherwise God would not have said: “Return to Me... and I will return to you” (Zech.1: 3).

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Repentance and experiences

Our Protestant brethren consider repentance an experience, and encourage repentant to inform people of their experiences. So you hear from them the expression: “I was so and so, and now I have become so and so”. The repentant continues to recount his previous sins in front of everybody without shame, covering his sins with the grace he has now attained. If he keeps silent, he will be asked: “Tell us about your experiences.” but Orthodoxy forbids these narrations as they mainly involve boasting of the change, which the repentant has reached.

[Mary Naeem]

Pope Shenouda III

Repentance, joy and contrition

Orthodoxy emphasises the contrition of the soul of the repentant. He should remember before God the sins he committed, drenching his bed with his tears as David the Prophet did. Protestantism, however, pushes people towards joy, which involves no contrition. In most cases, the repentant directly becomes a minister, which gives him no chance to grieve in his inner self over his sins. The reason the Protestants give for this attitude is that a repentant should rejoice over his salvation.
In replying to this point, we put before them the incident of the people of Israel eating the Passover lamb: In the midst of their joy for their salvation from the sword of the Angel of Death, they had to eat the Passover lamb with bitter herbs, according to the Lord's command (Ex.12: 8). The bitter herbs
reminded them of their sins because of which they were enslaved to Pharaoh. It is true that eating the Passover lamb reminded them of salvation and its joy but the lamb had to be eaten with bitter herbs.
What is the position of bitter herbs in repentance according to the Protestant concept? One of the Protestant books even attacked the phrase “Lord have mercy” which we say in our prayers! It also attacked all the phrases of contrition, condemning them to be against the joy of salvation.