Day 6 (1st Saturday of the Great Fast)

“My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways.” (Pro 23:26)

“Love, simply is God.

For the [Bible] says: ‘God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.’

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength.’

It needs to be from all your heart, [therefore] your whole heart has to be given for the love of God. And there is no one else in the heart apart from God alone.

One of the monks, was once praying and walking and in his prayer, his heart was in communion with God. Then he saw two angels walking beside him, one on his right and the other to his left, and he didn’t allow himself to turn to look at one of them! He used to say to himself: ‘Nor angels nor principalities shall be able to separate me from Christ.’ ‘I am busy with the Lord now, I am not going to be preoccupied with the angels!’ The whole heart is given to God…

The whole heart is given to God. Why? Because the song says: ‘My beloved is mine, and I am his.’

‘My beloved is mine, and I am his.’ An amazing mutual love between man and God. It doesn’t give him a chance at all to love something else! But I tell you honestly, if you love God with a complete love, the whole world becomes nothing in your sight. ‘I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.’ The whole world becomes rubbish. Why do we love things in the world? Because the love of God hasn’t completely taken over us.

You shouldn’t think that God wants you as a religious person to fulfil duties or obligations…Not at all. God doesn’t give you duties or obligations…but wants you to love Him in the same way as He loves you. So how does He love you? The [Bible] says: ‘Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.’

‘He loved them to the end.’ Do you, love our Lord like that? To the end? He loved them and died for them. Do you love the Lord till you die for Him? He loved them and said to them: ‘That where I am, there you may also be.’ So are you, where God is?”

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III

1st Saturday of the Holy Great Fast

• (Day 5) Make God Himself your way
• (Day 4) How? Seek to grow in the likeness of God
• (Day 3) How? Unite with God through prayer 
• (Day 2) How? Fulfill the will of God
• (Day 1) How? Be devoted to God
• How To Live a Holy Life (The Holy Great Fast 2018)