MIRACLE PROVES THE SONSHIP OF JESUS

 

It was not what they saw happening that the disciples believed but what could not be seen by bodily eyes. They did not believe that Jesus Christ was the son of the Virgin-that was something they knew. Rather, they believed that he was the only Son of the Most High, as this miracle proved. 

And so let us too believe wholeheartedly that he whom we confess to be the Son of man is also the Son of God. Let us believe not only that he shared our nature but also that he was consubstantial with the Father; for as a man  he was present at the wedding, and as God he changed the water into wine. 

If such is our faith, the Lord will give us also to drink of the sobering wine of his grace.  

 Maximus of Turin

The Apostles Feast - HH Pope Shenouda III

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; 

and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, 

and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 
Acts 1:8

The Church celebrates the memory of the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul on the 5th of Abib, which is the 12th of July. This feast is called in our Church by the name of "the Feast of the Apostles." Its date is unchanged in every year.

The Church venerates these two apostles very profoundly; and raises them and honors them exceedingly; especially in the prayer of the partition" or "the division" which pertains to the fast of the apostles and to the feast of the apostles, which we pray during the holy mass.

These two saints represent two distinguished kinds as regards the personality, the mission, and the style. Each one of them has distinct characteristics.

THE POINTS OF DIFFERENCE

Peter was among the first whom the Lord had chosen to work with Him.  (Matthew 10) 

And Paul was not among the twelve, and not even among the seventy apostles, but the Lord chose him lastly, after the resurrection and years after the choice of Matthias......

He did not follow Christ during His predication on earth. He rather said about that: "Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God."

(1 Cor. 15: 8 -9)

And although he was the last in his call, yet he "labored more abundantly than they all." (1 Cor. 15:10)  That shows that it is not a matter of precedence, but according to the amount of weariness from exertion for God.

A person may not be the most ancient among the workers in ministry, and nevertheless he may be the strongest of all the workers.

John the Baptist was not the first prophet in the Old Testament, but he was the last of them in their chronological order. Nevertheless it was said that "among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist." (Matt. 11:11) 

The apostle Peter was a married man. It was mentioned in the Gospel that Christ healed his step-mother from fever. (Matt. 8: 14-15)  In his journeys for the predication, he wandered accompanied by his wife as a sister. (1 Cor. 9:5) 

But the apostle Paul was a virgin. (1 Cor. 7:7). He called for the preference of virginity. "But each one has his own gift from God", "as the Lord has called each one...... Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called" (1 Cor. 7: 7,17,20). That proves that the Lord calls everybody to His service, whether they are married like Peter, or virgins like Paul.

Peter began his life with the Lord Christ with love, confidence, and faith. But on the contrary:

Paul began by enmity, as a persecutor of the Church and of everyone who followed Christ, so that the Lord, when He met him on the road to Damascus, began his conversation with him by reprimanding him saying: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4) Saint Peter was a simple man, a fisherman (Matt. 4:18). He was ignorant and was not instructed into culture or science. He is one of whom "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise" (1 Cor. 27). It was said of him, of him and saint John, "that they were uneducated and untrained men." (Acts 4:13) But saint Paul was one of the learned of his age, who was educated at the University of Tarsus, and brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. (Acts 22:3)  He was well-known for his culture and for reading many books. (Acts 26:24) 

That shows us that the Lord equally employs everybody for His kingdom, the learned and the simple. The important thing for them is to be useful utensils for the work of His grace

The Church Rite: The Lakan

Lakan is a Syrian word means basin, and it is the pot of marble or stone placed in the third Khurs of the church where the priests pray on the water to make it a force for healing and Beatification ...

The Mass of Lakan has been Instituted to remember the baptism of Jesus and to exercise of the virtue of humility as bending to wash the feet of His disciples in the holy Thursday as well as to practice the meaning of service.

The mass of the Lakan is prayed three times per year: Epiphany – The Holy Thursday – The Feast of Apostles

H.H. Pope Shenouda III 

The Woman At The Well

The Woman who had come to the well of Samaria as a prostitute returned chaste from the source of Christ. She who had come to look for water brought  back chastity.

As soon as the Lord points her sins out to her she acknowledges them, confesses Christ and announces the Saviour. Abandoning her pitcher she brings not water but grace back to the city.

She seems, indeed, to return without a burden, but she returns full of holiness. She returns full, I say, because she who had come as a sinner goes back as a proclaimer, and she who had left her pitcher behind brought back the fullness of Christ, without the slightest loss to her city.

For even if she did not bring water to the townspeople, still she brought in the source of salvation. Sanctified, then, by faith in Christ, the woman goes back home.  

Maximus of Turin 

3rd Sunday - Sunday of the Living Water

CHRIST is Risen - Truly He is Risen  
Khristós Anésti! Alithós Anésti!  

Sundays of the Holy Fifties  

Meditation on Church reading during the Holy Fifties: 

The fathers of the church arranged and named Sundays of the Holy Fifties as they did with the Sundays of the Great Fasting. 

3rd Sunday - Sunday of The Living Water: John 4: 1-42

Our reward on 3rd Sunday is the Living Water, that is given to us by God. (John 4: 1-42)
God described Himself as the fountain of living water “ ..they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters.”   Jeremiah 2:13
From Him comes the Holy Spirit. The Lord told His disciples: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."  John 14: 26
 
We are spiritually reborn and get the seal of the Holy Spirit at the Sacrament of Baptism and Chrism (Mayroon) “Most assuredly I say to you unless one is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of GOD.”  John 3: 5
When our Lord talked to the Samaritan woman, He said: "but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him, will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”  John 4:14
“… he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”  John 6:35
“…If any one thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of Living Water."  John  7:37- 38
 
O Lord, we are thirsty ”As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul  for You, God.”  Psalm 42:1
O Lord deliver us from the stormy waves “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.”   
Psalm  23: 2
O Lord You promised to give us “I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”  Revelation  21: 6