||    Pope Shenouda    ||    Father Matta    ||    Bishop Mattaous    ||    Fr. Tadros Malaty    ||    Bishop Moussa    ||    Bishop Alexander    ||    Habib Gerguis    ||    Bishop Angealos    ||    Metropolitan Bishoy    ||

 

 “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,

to the praise of His glory.”

Ephesians 1:13, 14

Father Matta El-Meskeen (Matthew the Poor)


 

 

H ERE THE GOSPEL IS A POWERFUL FORCE, for as soon as the word of truth is spoken every figure bows down before it with a terrific power that is able to penetrate not subjugate every mind, more exactly to control it with God’s invincible power.

The gospel is the word of God, unlike all other words, due to the word within it being the truth, able to lay bare the secrets of consciences living in accord with the darkness of this age, and places them before the light of God that captures hearts with the compelling power of truth.

When the Apostle Paul, as an experienced one, described the power of the word of God in the gospel he said that it was: “sharper than any two-edged sword”1. When it enters any body it severs every part of it whether meat, bone or brain even between man’s most concealed the soul and the spirit. The word of God can differentiate between that which is of the soul and that of the spirit, a matter surpassing mind and every power controlling man.

This means that when man listens to the word of the gospel he immediately can perceive his situation and unwittingly experience a revival of conscience that cuts through truth as if with a knife.

 

 

The gospel in itself does not reveal its power except to the conscience that has handed over itself to it. The conscience retrieves in a second all man has accomplished stopping him as a judge would, for him to judge his own self without any other interference. The most precious thing the gospel offers, to him who reads it with the intention of getting to know the truth and obeying it, is the redemption Christ fulfilled on the cross. The voice of God from within the gospel wakens the conscience alerting it to the truth.

Thus man realizes that a hidden power has started to take control of the soul. Paul the Apostle says that this inner notion is the beginning of the down-payment of the Holy Spirit that God gives to the man of gospel, because the gospel is the way that leads to the Holy Spirit. For as soon as the conscience is moved it means that the Holy Spirit has put its imprint on man’s heart, opening to him the way to salvation. At the same time it guarantees him his share in the inheritance of Christ ready for those who have given themselves to the gospel to acquire the Holy Spirit, without us making any effort or accomplishing any work. For all gifts of redemption are totally free and cannot be acquired except by obtaining the gospel, the word of our salvation.

To merely listen to the word of truth with a living conscience and open heart is an invitation to the Holy Spirit to come, own and lead man, till he inherits redemption and consequently the prepared inheritance. It is the greatest gift of the Holy Spirit to the person who returns to Christ.

The Holy spirit has a seal he puts on the spirit of man to become among the owners of the Son’s possessions in His glory.

All these matters are true without any perfidy, addition or subtraction, only deserved by the person who believes in them.

Prayer

Your words my Lord are sweet in my throat,

when I consumed them they became my prattle all through the day,

I got to know the truth when I read Your words,

that consequently became light on my way,

I was an alien, alone in the distracting world,

but Your word made me go back to my senses,

Your word teaches wisdom, and makes man inherit sagacity,

I had been like an animal,

but Your gospel made me heir to the inheritance of Your Son,

I was the poorest of the world’s poor,

but when I acquired Your gospel then wisdom entered within me,

The wise men no more boast of their wisdom,

for the word of the gospel has impeded them.

July 11, 2005

 

1 Heb 4:12.  

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