• Am I oppressive and irksome to you in constantly declaring that wealth betrays those who use it badly?

    Saint John Chrysostom
    HOMILY TWO, After Eutropios, having been found outside the church, was taken captive
    On the Vanity of Riches

  • When you are confused and you don’t know the voice of God, you have to ask yourself, When was the last time I read my Bible? “Father, so the Bible is going to solve my problem? God is going to tell me the answer?” One hundred percent. One hundred percent. When I learn to hear His voice, He will show me the answer.

    —Fr. Mina Dimitri

  • “The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; as it seemed good unto the Lord even so has it come to pass, blessed be the name of the Lord forever.” Let this speech be our utterance also over each event which befalls us, whether it be loss of property, or infirmity of body, or insult, or false accusation, or any other form of evil that happens to mankind, let us say these words:

    “The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord so has it come to pass; blessed be the name of the Lord forever.”

    If we practice this spiritual wisdom, we shall never experience any evil, even if we undergo countless sufferings, but the gain will be greater than the loss, the good will exceed the evil.

    By these words you will cause God to be merciful to you, and will defend yourself against the tyranny of Satan. For as soon as your tongue has uttered these words, immediately the devil flees from you. And when he has hastened away, the cloud of dejection also is dispelled and the thoughts which afflict us take to flight, hurrying off in company with him. And in addition to all this you will win all manner of blessings both here and in Heaven. And you have a convincing example in the case of Job and of the apostle, who having for God’s sake despised the troubles of this world, obtained the everlasting blessings. Let us then be trustful and in all things which befall us let us rejoice and give thanks to the merciful God, that we may pass through this present life with serenity and obtain the blessings to come, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ to Whom be glory, honor and might always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

    Saint John Chrysostom
    On the Two Paralytics in the Gospels
    Homilies on Profitable Subjects

  • Once when Abba Macarius was passing through Egypt with some brothers he heard a young woman saying to her mother: “Mama, a rich man loves me and I hate him while a poor man hates me and I love him.” Abba Macarius was amazed on hearing this. The brothers said to him: “Father, what is this saying that you were amazed [at it]?” The elder said to them: “Truly our Lord is rich and he loves us—and we do not want to hear him. Our enemy the devil is poor and hates us—and we love his impurity.”

    Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers

  • Our various trials and weaknesses and disadvantages are perfectly in proportion to our callings and our given abilities—those gifts, that grace has put into each of us to handle our life circumstances so we can succeed in fulfilling God’s purpose for us.

    God’s Path to Sanity
    Dee Pennock

  • I should never have contentions with somebody. You should never see someone in the hallway [of church] and look the other way.

    —Fr. Mina Dimitri

  • What you do to God, He does to you. He reciprocates what you do. If you give Him something, you receive that same thing multiple fold. If you give Him money, you receive money. If you give Him effort, then He facilitates your life—and this is the rule, with no exception.

    —Fr. Jacob Magdy

  • You feel after [sinning] void of inner peace, you feel unhappy, you feel there is no support, you feel the fear that bad things will happen, you feel that the Lord will not answer me because we live with this comfortable thing that God is supportive, but if God is not supportive, where can I go? I cannot afford life without having support from God.

    —Fr. Jacob Magdy

  • We say that we have faith in God, but anything happens, we get worried, we get anxious. We just said we have faith in God. We just said that He resurrected from the dead, and everything is in His hands. In 50 days, we’ve been doing nothing but saying that He is risen from the dead, and He trampled death by His death. Death, which is the greatest enemy, nothing is higher than death. Any issue happens, we get scared. Why did God Leave me? Why did God allow this to happen in my life? So we say words and our actions don’t necessarily line up. This lesson from today’s Gospel is: your faith and your works have to match together. Is faith enough or is works enough? St. James tells us that you’re saved by your faith, but you show your faith by your works. “I believe that God is in control.” But what’s the true test? When something happens, Am I in peace, or am I worried? Am I anxious? Am I regretful? I can’t fall asleep. I’m always going to Abouna or to people saying, “help me, I don’t know what to do.”… If we believe that God is in control, if it’s good or it’s bad, it’s still God in control, who said that something bad is always bad, maybe something bad is an opportunity. Maybe something bad.

    —Fr. Benjamin Girgis

  • Galatians 6:4

    But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.

    Let go of comparison. Spiritual comparison is the enemy of joy and fruitfulness. We look at other spiritual lives and feel I’m less or I’m better. St John Climacus says this: “Do not compare yourself with the strong lest you become discouraged, nor with the weak lest you become proud.”

    What’s the worst word that we say as Egyptians comparison? Ishmahna.

    I don’t know how many times you would say ishmahna, like, how come this person gets to do this? And I’m comparing. Because God wants them to do this and God wants you to do another thing.

    You feel that you’re being measured and that’s why ishmahna this person gets this. Be careful of this. Your value is not based on what you’ve been chosen to do. Everybody has their calling.

    —Fr. Paul Girguis