His Holiness Pope Tawadros II delivered his weekly sermon at the Wednesday meeting this evening, from the Church of the Saint George and Saint Abraham, Heliopolis. The sermon was broadcast on Christian satellite channels, the Official Website of the Coptic Orthodox Church and the COC channel of the Church’s Media Center on the Internet.
His Holiness offered his condolences to the three monks who were martyred in South Africa yesterday, indicating that he is following matters related to this matter moment by moment, offering condolences to their families and to the Church in South Africa.

The meeting hosted the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity organized by the Middle East Council of Churches, held under the slogan ”You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.“
(‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬), in the presence of the heads and representatives of the member churches of the Council, who were welcomed by His Holiness before the start of the sermon.
Representatives of the churches delivered speeches and a collection of biblical texts, hymns, church prayers were recited
and the Lord’s prayer in different languages.
This was concluded with a speech by His Holiness the Pope, entitled “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17)

H.H. pointed to the three signs of fasting: charity (mercy), prayer (solitude), and fasting (repentance), so that we obtain eternal life. H.H. addressed two verses from the first epistle of our teacher St. Paul the Apostle to his student Timothy in the first chapter, which are:
”Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk,“ (‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭6)

H.H. pointed out that the purpose of the Bible’s commandment is to guide our behavior and inherit eternal life, through:
1- Love from a pure heart:
True love comes from a pure heart in the form of action and work, and this heart must constantly offer repentance, and not be satisfied with formal acts of worship ”redeeming the time, because the days are evil.“ (‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬)
During the period of fasting, we enter the room to pray, and close the door (mouth), to be alone with God in privacy

2- A good conscience:
A living and awake conscience guides a person. When we receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, we become very sensitive, and conscience is one of God’s assets in us, so we present our actions with a good conscience because of its connection to the Holy Word.
”Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.“ ‭‭(Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭10‬) ‭

3- Faith without hypocrisy:
It is the energy of faith that God has given us, and trust in God’s work in crises. God is the Lover of mankind, the Maker of good deeds, and He is the ruler of all. Everything in creation is accomplished by His knowledge and power, so our faith must be firm and steadfast.

His Holiness recommended that we make these three elements the focus of our contemplation during the period of fasting, so that we may inherit eternal life.

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