Beloved brother,

I beg you to review your accounts! All that is on earth will perish, and all that is in heaven is permanent! "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and dust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for  yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal" (Mt. 6: 19, 20).

These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ for your life, so I beg  you  to   listen  to  them  and   to ponder them well.  For this is a truth that we often lose sight of because of our earthly preoccupations and our temporal and narrow aspirations.  "For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mt. 16: 26).

In Truth,
Is there a price for one moment in eternity?
Or even for one moment of certain happiness?
Or even for one moment of certain health?
Or even for one moment of assured life?
 

Dear brother,
Reconsider your life now.  Commune in silence with your deep self, and pay  attention  to  your deep seated needs.  In the depths of your self, beneath the surface of your physical needs for food and drink, or your   psychological  need to play and be merry, beneath your instincts, and your intellectual needs to read, learn and acquire knowledge and culture, you will meet your soul and discover its need for God!

You need to find Jesus Christ in the depths of your being!  He is in the ship of your life which is tossed by high waves.  All that you need to do is to call Him and say:  "Master, I perish", and immediately He will rise and save you  from  the  waves of life and the pressures of sin.

Would that you  experienced what St. Augustine did when sin had embittered his life.  He then heard the words of the Gospel "now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand.  Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.  Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in licentiousness and lewdness, not in strife  and  envy.   But  put  on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts" (Rom. 13: 11 - 14).  After that, St. Augustine met the Lord, repented, was united to Him, and became a monk, then a bishop, a saint, and a Christian philosopher.  He said to the Lord:  "Where were you, O Lord, when I was panting for You?  You were in me.... deeper than my depth, and higher than anything that is high... You were with me... but to my misery, I was not with You."

Dear reader, let us begin;   let us grow in Christ, and may the Lord be with you.

 

My Lord Jesus Christ,
How do I repay You for all You have given me:  the blessings of the Mother Church, the Spirit dwelling in it, the Lord Jesus Christ seated on its throne, who was crucified out of love for it, the holy and life-giving sacrament, worship, praise, the fellowship of the saints, fellowship in service, love, effort, money and time?

My Lord Jesus Christ,
My loyalty to Your Church is no less strong than my loyalty to You, for it is impossible to separate Christ from the Church, or the Church from Christ.  You are the Head, and  it is Your Body.  And I, miserable man, am one of its members.  So grant me the essence of Your love,  the work of Your Spirit, so that I may become a living, fruitful member and  servant.
 

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Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate 
Bishopric of Youth bookstore

   WHAT NEXT? 
Number 45

by  HG Abba Moussa Bishop of the Youth

Dear Reader, 

We have quickly reviewed the Sacred Sacraments of the Holy Church.  Christianity has no objective other than that:  "holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12: 14).  The only objective of these seven sacraments is to sanctify your being for Christ so that He becomes everything in your life. 

By becoming everything, the Lord does not annul your ordinary natural   life   be  it studies, work, success, marriage, the begetting of children, and such like.  What is meant is that all these should be sanctified in the light of Christ and that the Holy Spirit work in you so that your life might have another flavor to it and a beautiful meaning. 

Simply, your finite and earthly life gains an infinite and heavenly dimension.  Imagine with me that your  life  opens  up  to  the    Lord Himself, to eternity, to immortality, to the things of the spirit and of heaven.  Believe me, your life will have a new taste, and a desire for the Kingdom and for your eternal   heritage  will be born in your heart. 

You will not be content to be lost in the dust and in what is made of dust, or to be lost with those who are lost in the crowd of  worldly life! 

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