His Holiness Pope Tawadros II delivered his weekly sermon at the Wednesday meeting this evening, from the Church of St. Anthony in the Zahraa El Maadi area. The sermon was broadcast on Christian satellite channels and the C.O.C channel of the Church’s Media Center on the Internet.
H.H. handed over graduation certificates to two batches of graduates of the Bible Study Center in Maadi. The church choir presented a group of church hymns, and His Holiness commended them and encouraged them.
His Holiness also expressed his happiness at his presence in the Church of St. Anthony in Zahraa El Maadi, and extended his greetings to His Eminence Metropolitan Daniel, Metropolitan of Maadi and Secretary of the Holy Synod, and to the attending fathers, deacons, and the congregation.

His Holiness continued the series of “Strong, Short Prayers from the Liturgy,” and addressed part of the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of our teacher Matthew and Verses (14-21), and referred to a short request from the requests that the Church makes in the Gregorian Mass, which is “Goodness to the rich”.
In the beginning, H.H. explained that what is meant by rich is “blessing,” and that there are many types of richness , as an example:

To be rich with love
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
‭‭(I Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭1)‬ ‭

Rich by giving
“but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.””
‭‭(Mark‬ ‭12‬:‭44)‬

Rich by faith
“Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?”
‭‭(James‬ ‭2‬:‭5)‬ ‭

Richness through the commandment and the word of God.

Richness in covering

H.H. pointed out that in Christian history there are many saints who are rich in money, for example: Solomon the Wise, Joseph of Arimathea, Saint Anthony, Saint Queen Helena, and Saint Teacher Ibrahim El Gohary.
His Holiness also explained that “righteousness” is one of the characteristics of God, and what is meant by the word “goodness” is “good management,” and he addressed the meaning of “goodness” as follows:

Honesty, that a person is honest and does not earn his money through crooked ways because he behaves uprightly.
“Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, But he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall.”
‭‭(Proverbs‬ ‭28‬:‭18)‬ ‭

Gentleness, for a person to be merciful and whose heart is full of tenderness.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”
‭‭(I Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭10)‬ ‭

Sufficiency, that a person is not greedy or selfish

“So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.”
‭‭(Acts‬ ‭12‬:‭21‬-‭23)‬ ‭

Wisdom, for a person to have the wisdom to act, as St. John Chrysostom says: “There is no sin in being rich, but in being rich without mind.”

His Holiness presented a comparison between the “rich, stupid man” and the child who has five loaves of bread and two fish, through:

1- The stupid rich man has a lot of money, but the child has little food.

2- The rich man thought only of himself, while the child gave what he had to others.

3- The result is that the rich person received a curse, while the child received a blessing.

His Holiness developed a plan for the phrase “Goodness to the rich”, which is taken from the first epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to his student Timothy. It is divided into three parts. In the first part are the things that he forbade, in the second part are the things that we should do, and in the third part are the goals that must be achieved, as follows:

“Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”
‭‭(I Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭17‬)

Not to be arrogant, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.(Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭18)

Not to have high hopes in money, “He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity.”(Ecclesiastes‬ ‭5‬:‭10‬)

“Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share” (I Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭18‬)‭

“Let them do good”, as in to use money in righteousness

“that they be rich in good works”
That a person’s mind expands in giving his money to the services provided by the church, such as: the Mesat channel, or theological institutes and colleges such as the seminary, or the “The King’s Daughter” project.

“ready to give”, for a person to be generous, this generosity brings many blessings to the person, and God is generous with him

“willing to share”, to be generous in giving

“storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”(I Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭19)

“storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come”, for a person must be a good manager and thus lay a good foundation for the future.

“that they may lay hold on eternal life”, for a person to always look to Eternal life.

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