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Resurrection of Christ (video)
Post date: 2020-03-14Autor: BCP
Resurrection of Christ. + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Seven words from the cross – 7th word from the cross: “Father (Abba), into Your hands I commit My spirit.” (Lk 23:46) (video)
Post date: 2020-03-13Autor: BCP
Seven words from the cross (reflection) – 7th word from the cross: “Father (Abba), into Your hands I commit My spirit.” (Lk 23:46)
Seven words from the cross – 6th word from the cross: “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30) (video)
Post date: 2020-03-12Autor: BCP
Seven words from the cross (reflection) – 6th word from the cross: “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30)
Reflection on Rom 8:17
Post date: 2020-03-12Autor: BCP
The example of the martyrs shows us that to suffer with Christ means to obtain eternal glory and that even amidst the most terrible suffering, which makes us tremble with fear, the Lord Jesus gives the strength. Let us remember that He is with us even amidst our little sufferings. But we mostly suffer without Christ. Often in bitterness, hatred, obstinacy, or seeking a false way out in sin. The martyr Arcadius could have escaped suffering if he had bowed down to the pagan gods – modern Pachamama. Those, however, who worship them will be where they are – in hell. By contrast, those who suffer with Christ will live in the eternal glory of heaven, and that is a big difference! Each of us personally must make a choice. May we always choose Christ in our life trials!
Seven words from the cross – 5th word from the cross: “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?) (Mk 15:34) (video)
Post date: 2020-03-11Autor: BCP
God has the right to us (+german version)
Post date: 2020-03-10Autor: BCP
Jesus has a kind of right to us. We no longer belong to ourselves. Why not? Partly because God created us, called us into existence, created us in His own image. He is really our Father. Our spirit longs for Him, as St Augustine says: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” This is a deep truth. Our soul is hungry for God. God not only created us but He also has the right to us because He gave His Son for us. Jesus shed His Blood for our sake. He paid a high price for us – not with silver or gold but with His Blood, out of His love for us.
Seven words from the cross - 4th word from the cross: “I thirst!” (Jn 19:28) (video)
Post date: 2020-03-10Autor: BCP
Seven words from the cross (reflection) - 4th word from the cross: “I thirst!”(Jn 19:28). + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Seven words from the cross – 3rd word from the cross: “Behold, your mother!” (Jn 19:26) (video)
Post date: 2020-03-09Autor: BCP
Seven words from the cross (reflection) – 3rd word from the cross: “Behold, your mother!” (Jn 19:26)
Seven words from the cross – 2nd word from the cross: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Lk 23:43) (video)
Post date: 2020-03-08Autor: BCP
Seven words from the cross (reflection) – 2nd word from the cross: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Lk 23:43)
Seven words from the cross – 1st word from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do!” (Lk 23:34) (video)
Post date: 2020-03-07Autor: BCP
Word of Life – Rom 8:17 (8/3/2020 – 22/3/2020)
Post date: 2020-03-07Autor: BCP
“And if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”
From Gethsemane to Golgotha (Way of the Cross) (video)
Post date: 2020-03-06Autor: BCP
From Gethsemane to Golgotha (Way of the Cross). Patriarch Elijah Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
The lamp of the body is the eye (+german version)
Post date: 2020-03-03Autor: BCP
There is light which comes to us through our physical sight. We can see the light of the day, people, trees, houses, the beauty of nature. There is also the light of reason through which we can know certain hidden truths. Then there is also the light of faith. The light of reason is not sufficient for the fight with darkness. But if we open to the Holy Spirit, He will open God’s Word to us and give us the light. If we seek the truth and repent, God really works. He gives the true light to all who pray in earnest and seek the will of God with a sincere heart.
Reflection on Rom 8:16
Post date: 2020-02-26Autor: BCP
Let us realize that the Spirit of God is in us. But let us also realize that the deepest part of our being is our spirit. What is the difference between our soul and our spirit? Both are spiritual and it is hard to distinguish between them. The soul has God-given powers, but the spirit is the pure “self”, the deepest essence of our being. At the same time, it is the opposite of the negative self, the so-called old self, ego, which binds and substitutes for the spirit. Our spirit longs for God as the magnetic needle always points to the North, because God is our beginning, and we are created in His image having an immortal spirit.
Word of Life – Rom 8:16 (23/2/2020 – 8/3/2020)
Post date: 2020-02-22Autor: BCP
“The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Reflection on Rom 8:15
Post date: 2020-02-13Autor: BCP
Jesus is the Heavenly Father’s own firstborn Son, true God and true man, and through faith in Christ we receive adoption as sons, we become children of God. As it is written in the following verses, we are heirs of God, heirs of God’s kingdom, and so we can call God our Father like Jesus, and even intimately “Abba”, “Daddy”. This is great dignity! But there is one problem – we always forget who we are. We forget who created us, who our true Father is. We also forget at what price we were redeemed from sin so as not to be its slaves anymore, and we forget our ultimate end, our true homeland and true home which Jesus prepared for us in heaven.
Word of Life – Rom 8:15 (9/2/2020 – 23/2/2020)
Post date: 2020-02-08Autor: BCP
“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."”
Reflection on Rom 8:14
Post date: 2020-02-01Autor: BCP
Bear in mind for the following two weeks, when reciting the Word of God, who you are. You are a son (daughter) of God. Through baptism and faith you have the life of God. And therefore you need to be led by the Spirit of God, and not by the spirit of the world. Try to bear it in mind in your private prayer too. Recite the word of life also before you fall asleep.
Word of Life – Rom 8:14 (26/1/2020 – 9/2/2020)
Post date: 2020-01-25Autor: BCP
“As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Word of Life – Rom 8:12-13 (12/1/2020 – 26/1/2020)
Post date: 2020-01-11Autor: BCP
“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”