His Holiness Pope Tawadros II delivered his sermon this evening which was held at Archangel Michael and St. Bishoy Church, Beit Al Karma, King Mariout.
The sermon was broadcast on Christian channels and C.O.C. and over the internet.
H.H. continued on the educational series “The Dictionary of Marriage” and explained a part of the first St. Peter’s Epistle, chapter 3, verses 1-12), where H.H. explained the image of women in a household through the following verses:
“The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.” (Proverbs 14:1) – a wise woman builds her house by wisdom
“Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.” (Proverbs 21:9) – a contentious woman pulls her house down.
“A foolish son is the ruin of his father, And the contentions of a wife are a continual dripping.” (Proverbs 19:13) – continuous contentious pulls down her house
H.H. mentioned the role of the woman in the house as the heart of the family, centre of emotions, and the fragrance of the Christian house. H.H. mentioned the main ideal roles for women in the home which are:
1- Education and encouragement through:
– Joviality – as it has a huge impact on encouraging the husband and children
– Time – giving time to the husband and children, according to the needs of each
– Simple and polite words – to teach her kids nice words (sorry, thank you, please), because through these words they can understand the spirit of repentance.
– To know the capabilities of her husband and children, and accepting their weaknesses and mistakes
– Growing in different aspects, because the wise wife reads more about bringing up her children from different aspects such as psychological, medical and social.
– Being proud of her children in front of the community as this will have an impact on building their personalities
– Providing affectionate touches to her children, because physical touch and embracing is a reminder and expression of love.
2- Spreading the spirit of joy, because activities are linked to a joyful atmosphere, and this is through
– Paying attention to listening to hymns, pictures of saints, commemoration of saints, as well as paying attention to occasions such as birthdays and celebrating them
– Telling her kids about her memories and stories about the past, because parents’ timing is different and children will learn new experiences
3- Spirit of fellowship and worship, as the mother is responsible for the disciplined freedom inside the house, she should not be completely strict, neither to be easy-going and neglectful, but rather she should be wise to distinguish between the times of rejecting and times of accepting, and to achieve a balance between giving and depriving. She should take care of her home through:
– Taking care of the quietness of the house
– Taking care of the organisation of the house
– Taking care of how nice the house is
– Taking care of the spiritual atmosphere of the house
– Paying attention to modesty inside the house in regards to clothes and talking
4- The spirit of giving and serving, because service involves feeling others and requires meekness and sacrifice as an expression of love, and love is a remedy to weaknesses.
She should pay attention to expressing service through simple ways, and encouraging her children to serve to be an interactive family.
This series is the second educational series for the “Christian Family”, coinciding with the launch of the year “My Family is Holy”, which came as a recommendation from the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church during their meeting, to consolidate the principles and values of a Christian family..
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