• It is important, then, that your spiritual senses be trained to recognize God’s voice calling you to return to Him. Therefore you must correlate whatever you go through—whether disease, troubles, or problems—with your relationship with God. Make all of them an occasion to strengthen your fellowship with Him, to deepen your prayers and increase your love for God.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity

  • Grace may visit you through sickness; this would be God’s voice to you. Saint Oghris had a disease that led him not only to repentance, but to monasticism also.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity

  • All of these punishments on earth are different from the eternal punishment. The eternal punishment is eliminated by repentance, but the earthly punishment remains intact. So the mother who does not bring up her son properly repents and her sins are forgiven, but her son remains as a bitterness of heart to her on earth. The student who does not study and fails can repent and the Lord will forgive him for his negligence, but this does not bring back a year of his life lost on earth in vain. The person for whom since causes disease can be forgiven his sin by repentance, but the disease remains with him as an earthly punishment as a natural result of sin.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity

  • You may ask, “Is it possible for me to live the rest of my life away from sin, even though my heart loves it? If I were to repent of it, I would return to it.” The error in despair is that the devil makes us think that we will live in repentance with the same heart that loves sin. On the contrary, the Lord will give you a new heart (Ezekiel 36.26). He will remove from you the love of sin, and you will not think about returning to it. On the contrary, God will make you hate sin in your repentance and be disgusted by it. Your present feelings will change.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity

  • Repentance is a complete change in a person’s life, not a temporary emotion. It is a real and fundamental change felt by the person, as well as by everyone that deals with him. His thoughts change, as well as his principles and values, his outlook on life and his manner of speech, his habits and dealings with people, and most importantly, his dealings with God. The person also changes from within, with a heart refusing the once-beloved sins. The love of God enters his heart and he becomes spiritually revived, in a state of spiritual ecstasy.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity

  • This reminds us of the saying of Saint Bishoy: “I do not remember that the devil has tempted me into the same sin twice.” It is possible that the first sin was as a result of ignorance, negligence, weakness, or lack of awareness of the tricks of the devil, or lack of cautiousness. But after repentance and awakening, there is strictness in living and a caution of sin. The person who discards sin and then returns to it—therefore sometimes leaving it, and sometimes returning—has not yet repented. This is only an attempt toward repentance. Every time the sinner arises from his sin, sin drags him lower.

    Repentance is a cry from the conscience and a revolt against the past. It is repulsion from sin, great regret, and rejection of the old state with embarrassment and shame.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity

  • “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

    —Roald Dahl

  • It is You who will find solution for my problem, for it is You alone who has solutions. Whenever I seek others, my problems get more complexed and increase.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Hope

  • Reasons and wisdom behind the alleged delay:
    3. The reason might be to test our faith

    It is a test for us whether we become worried when our prayers are not responded to immediately, whether we grumble, resort to a human being, complain to others, blaspheme, or we wait with faith, hope, and trust. It is a test from God to our faith, and a test from us to ourselves so that we may be able to treat any weakness that may be found in us.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Hope

  • As for other people’s errors, do not let them make you stumble, no matter how great those people are.

    —H.H. Pope Shenouda III, The Life of Repentance and Purity