Anxiety and the Samaritan Woman

Our gospel read­ing for the Ves­pers Rais­ing of Incense on the Fourth Sun­day of the Great Lent, the Sun­day of the Samar­i­tan Woman, came from the Ser­mon on the Mount in the Gospel accord­ing to St. Luke 12:22–31. Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us not to worry or have any anx­i­ety about what we will […]

On Riches and Discipleship

A rich young man approached our Lord Jesus Christ and asked a ques­tion: what shall I do to have eter­nal life? Our Lord responded to him and listed the com­mand­ments that lead to life: “‘Do not com­mit adul­tery,’ ‘Do not mur­der,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false wit­ness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your […]

Two Ways of Suffering

Peo­ple react quite dif­fer­ently when con­fronting suf­fer­ing. Some cry out in anger; oth­ers rebel in frus­tra­tion. Another might seek scape­goat to vent his frus­tra­tions. A fourth might instead aban­don the way of purity and right­eous­ness, and decide to live a life of plea­sure and lust, feel­ing almost jus­ti­fied to lust for his light afflic­tion.
St. Cyril of Alexandria […]

Carrying our Cross through Love

For the past two Sun­days, the Gospel read­ings have related the Para­ble of the Sower. The Sower is God and the Seed is His Word, Jesus Christ, who has been planted in all of our hearts. The Cop­tic month of Hatour focuses on the com­ing of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, […]