The message of the Christian thought to youth. January 1998

We meet again: What should I present to Him?....................................Editorial

 True story of faith: A lady arrests a policeman!!

 Miracles of Jesus Christ: "The Wedding feast at Cana" (Jn 2:1-11).

 The candle of love: The curled pound.

 My Mother Church learned me :The Feast of circumcision.

 The hidden voice: Step by step!

 How does love grow in the heart? ..................................... By Fr. Youhanna Nassif

 The story of an icon.

This is a fable connected with the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ:

It was late night and silence had spread over the fields and the surrounding hills, and a faint glow came from the manger where Baby Jesus had lain. Around Him stood the friendly beasts in awe, warming Him with their breath. Suddenly they heard footsteps they knew well, it was the fox, their ancient enemy. They froze, what brought him here!! They wondered. They made voices and stamped their feet, but the fox didn't care and went right in until he drew near to the Baby and sat down watching Him.

The donkey couldn't stand it any more so he said: "What brought you here? This isn't your place".

Fox: " This is my right place, why should the donkey, the cow and the sheep be here without me?"

Donkey: "We are here to worship Him and to offer Him what we can".

Fox: " I shall give Him a gift too".

Cow: " Ha Ha, and what have you got to give Him? Besides he doesn't need your gift, I have given Him milk to drink, the sheep gave Him wool to keep Him warm and the donkey carries Him and His mother around".

Fox: "Don't worry my gift is different from yours and it will not lessen the value of yours for I shall give Him my cunning!".

The animals' voices rose in protest after this announcement, but the Child smiled and said: "It is a good gift, because he can't live without his cunning, but when he gives it to me I shall give him life according to my will".

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Years ago during the soviet rule over Ukraine, Christians were forbidden to celebrate Christmas in churches, or they will be severely persecuted. So a poor lady used to prepare her humble house and invite the congregation to celebrate the Christmas liturgy there. She stood by the door so that she would be able to warn them in case the police attacked.

One Christmas, as she was standing in her usual position from where she could hear the soft voices praying, she asked the Lord that He may be born in her heart too. Suddenly she felt strong hands on her shoulders; it was a policeman coming to arrest the congregation. All she cared about was to tell the man about Christ the Savior, so she asked God to help her and slowly began to tell the policeman about the salvation and how mush God loved us. His stone heart relented and instead of giving the signal of attack he went inside to celebrate the Christmas.

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Miracles of Jesus Christ:

During the earthly life of Jesus Christ he went around doing good to all, healing the sick, opening blinds' eyes, purifying the lepers, and raising the dead.

Together now my friends we shall start an exploration to discover that Jesus didn't only provide health, nor only show His great glory, but in the first place He gave love and salvation to all those who came in contact with Him.

Let's now start with the first miracle and it is the wedding feast at Cana, which the church celebrates on the 13 of Tobah.

The invitation: Christ was invited with his mother and disciples to attend a wedding in Cana in Galilee, so why don't we invite Him to all our occasions, He will surly come and bless us all.

The Virgin's service: It is evident from the circumstances that St. Mary wasn't only one of the guests, but she also helped with the chores that is why she was one of the first to notice that there was no more wine.

The intercession of St. Mary: As soon as she noticed that there was no more wine she went directly to Jesus. The meaning of the lack of wine meant the end of the wedding. The wine wasn't prohibited in the O.T.

My friends our mother St. Mary sometimes sees that we are sad, and without telling her she goes and tells Christ about us. Yes, this is how she always intercedes on our behalf. If anything makes you feel sad ask her to intercede on your behalf saying, " They have no more wine"

Christ's service: " Why do you involve me my time has not come yet". 2:4. Jesus didn't mean to refuse his mother's request, but wanted to show that the time for his service hadn't come yet, but for her sake he will answer her petition.

The Virgin was sure of her son's power so she said to the servants "Do whatever he tells you". And that's what they did without questioning, and so St. Mary puts a very important rule in front of us, and that is to obey Christ in whatever he tells us and be sure that he will bring joy to our hearts.

Jesus the Creator: Lord Jesus asked the servants to fill the jars with water, and then with the power of his divinity he changed it to wine by adding a new component which is carbon. {Water contains hydrogen and oxygen only, while wine contains carbon in addition}.

The new joy: The servants gave the master of the banquet from the new wine, when he tasted he was surprised they had kept the good wine till the end.

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  The candle of love:

This story was told by a non-believer who worked as a guard in one of the apartments Fr. Pishoy used to visit a lot.

Fr. Pishoy came to visit this family lot, and every time he came he would ask about my family and made sure they had all they needed. And while he was talking he would take a pound - a big some of money at that time- out of his pocket and keep curling it until we reach the third floor. When I ring the bell he would put the pound in my pocket ask me to quickly before anyone sees me.
In my job many people give tips, but they do so with much showing off, but Fr. Pishoy was so tender. May God resyour soul in peace, what happenin 't too much, thousands of people came, and all Egyptwas sad on your departure.

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The 8^th day after Nativity, is the circumcision feast, it commemorates the circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the law. Its hymns are sung in happy tunes, as it is a minor Lordly feast.

What is circumcision? It is cutting off the foreskin.

It goes back to the time of our Father Abraham when God made a covenant with him based on circumcision on the 8^th day. It symbolizes starting the life with God and purifying the body. In the old it was performed using a flint knife, which is very sharp, so a small amount of blood is shed. This reminds us that God has prepared another covenant in which He will shed his own blood on the cross. The Jews kept this rite and named their children on the 8^th day.

The response of the psalm on the circumcision feast is "Jesus Christ accepted the circumcision unto Him". But why did he accept it? St Paul answers this in his letter to the Galatians chapter 4 saying that for Christ to save us He had to fulfill requirements of the law, including circumcision. Also, He had to prove to the Jews that He came from the line of King David, and so no one could deny the fact that He was the Messiah.

It is of no importance as it is replaced with spiritual circumcision, as it is written " Not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in Baptism and raised in him through your faith". Colossians2: 11. Circumcision meant pure bodies but baptism means pure hearts, souls and spirits.

Circumcision is now performed now for health reasons only.

Let's obey Our Lord's commandments keeping both our bodies and our souls clean.

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Years ago when I was in class one, and my brother was in class 9, we were both doing very well in our studies.

One day I went into my brother's room and sat at his desk, and opened one of his books. I didn't understand a word because I hardly knew how to read and the book was full of scientific expressions. So I became depressed because I thought that I would never be good as my brother was in his studies, I wouldn't even be able to complete my education, because it will be very difficult for me to cope with all this stuff. The best solution I thought would be to quit school from now on. I didn't sleep all night and when I finally did my mother came to wake me up in time for school. I announced that there would be no school for me from now on. When my mother asked why I told her and she comforted me saying ‏" My dear boy, don't worry about the 9^th class from now, your brother was as young as you were and gradually grew up as we all do. You need to pass through the 1^st, 2^nd years and so on till you reach the 9^th year. You don't take it all at once but a step by step till you reach your goal. And don't forget that your father and I help him whenever he needs. I understood and went to school. I am now in class 9 and as good as my brother was.

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1. Prayer is the key, which opens the streams of Divine love. As much as we are connected to heaven our hearts become full of love, to all and without waiting for anything in return. When you feel that love has become weak in your heart, pray that God may recharge it again.
2. Drawing closer to the altar:

Nothing touches the heart more than the image of Christ crucified on the cross, for our sake. The Alter is the cross upon which Christ is crucified, so participating in the holy liturgy and partaking of the communion gives us power to love as He loved us.

3. Reading the Holy Bible:

The Bible tells us about the work of God, His love for every one of us. So when we read the Bible we discover how God saved us from condemnation. So we start to think about what we did to repay His love and gifts, so the heart is filled with love towards whom loved us so much. He who doesn't read the Bible will not know how much God did for us and so will be weak in love.

4. Acting with love :
   Let's ask God to give us the chance to show love towards all, these small acts will grow by time and are appreciated both by God and men. For example: saying " thank you", visiting a sick person, asking about someone in trouble, helping the needy, comforting words, etc

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This is an icon from the 16^th century showing:

+ A cave in a mountain through which the Jordan River flows.

+ St. John the Baptist, on the left, bowing with respect.

+ The angels, on the right, affirming that the heaven has been opened, waiting for Him to come out, carrying towels to dry His Holy Body.

+ An angel, on the right, looking at the Holy Spirit as it descends on Christ. Mt 3:17

+ A dragon under Christ's feet representing the crushing of the evil forces.

 

Until the 4^th century the Coptic Church celebrated the Nativity with the Epiphany, this tradition is still practiced in the Armenian Church.

You who were baptized and came out of the water take our hearts off the world.

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