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“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”
(Hebrews 12:2).
In the sixth hour of the Agpeya, we remember the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, the cross He chose to bear for our sakes. Leading up to His crucifixion, Christ experienced such intense suffering for His love for us, seeing each one of us as His joy! He allows us to share in His suffering in our day to day lives,
through all our struggles, we know that He suffered first. It’s important for us to keep our eyes on Him, remembering Him in all aspects of our lives so that when we encounter suffering, we remember Christ, knowing we aren’t going through our college career alone. In order to not lose sight of Christ, we need to always thirst for Him, knowing that we are always in need of Him.
“God, my God, I will rise up early unto You; for my soul has thirsted for You: to make my flesh blossom for You, in a barren land and a trackless and dry place. So I have appeared before You in the Holy, to see Your power and Your glory. For Your mercy is chosen more than life: my lips shall praise You"
(Psalm 62).
It’s so easy to lose sight of what’s important with our busy schedules, prioritizing our school, work, and social life, before we even consider setting time for God. David the psalmist reminds us that Christ should be the center of our lives, that without Him, we’re like a barren land, unable to bear any fruits and blossom; but when we rise up early, dedicating ourselves to spending time talking to God in prayer, hearing His words in our Bible readings, and bearing fruits that reflect the goodness of God, is the best thing we can do in our time in college.
Sometimes the reason we lose focus from Christ is because we have weak faith,
unable to trust God with our future, whether it’s our education or relationships or careers, learn to leave things in the hands of God, who takes care of the birds in the sky, how can He forget us!
In Psalm 90, it says, “For he has hoped in Me, and I shall
deliver him: I shall protect him, because he has known My name. He shall beseech Me, and I shall hear him: I am with him in affliction; and I shall deliver him, and glorify him. I shall satisfy him with length of days, and show him My salvation."
The God of the universe cares about every one of us, Being “the author and finisher of our faith,” He can never forget us, so how do we of little faith believe and trust Him with our lives, not planning out every next move, but leaving everything to Him, bring all our worries to Him. Praying about our worries only helps us grow in faith, just like the demon possessed boy's father, let us pray in our worries saying “O my Lord Jesus Christ, I believe, help my unbelief, for I am weak and in need of You.”
In our worries, let us pray, but also in our struggles; as St. James said in his
epistle “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,” don’t let your struggles be something that deters you from God but rather something that brings you closer, leaning and depending on Him for we are in need of Him, always in thirst for Him.
“Guide me, O Lord, in Your way, and I shall walk in Your truth: let my heart rejoice, that I may fear Your name. I will confess You, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify Your name forever. For Your mercy is great toward me; and You have delivered my soul from the lowest Hades. (Psalm 85)”
The devil will try to make us feel alone and isolated, we will be thrown into various tribulations, but in all our struggles, make sure to pray, to always talk to the Maker, and when we struggle, and feel alone, always pray for guidance and wisdom in our decisions, for faith, for comfort in difficult times, for strength when we feel we have nothing else to give, and for anything else, no matter how small. Prayer is the tool we use to persevere.
Perseverance allows us to share in the suffering of Christ, even with something
as small as struggling to study, we are allowed to relate our sufferings to that of Christ because as we suffer, we know that Christ suffered first. Suffering becomes a power that we cannot erase from our life, it becomes a cross we carry, our identity in Christ, a vehicle in this life.
One of the smallest but strongest weapons we can use is the Jesus Prayer.
O My Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the only Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
O My Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the only Living God, help me to understand what I am studying.
O My Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the only Living God, help me pick a career that glorifies You.
The Jesus Prayer isn’t only used for repentance or for when we ask for something from God but also when we are thankful for the God that never leaves us in need and is always caring for us.
O My Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the only Living God, thank you for this opportunity.
O My Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the only Living God, thank you for letting me live a new
day in Your presence.
Fr. Lazarus el Antony reminds us to not be afraid to connect our sufferings to
that of Christ, the difference is Christ suffered with hope for us. There is nothing that happens to us that Jesus did not experience and St. Paul said we do not have a high priest who doesn't know what we are feeling; we have a high priest who was like us in everything, who suffered everything that we suffer. Use the Jesus prayer in your suffering, a tool helping us as we struggle in this life.
The gospel of the sixth hour is the Beatitudes and it’s so well known.
‘"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in heaven."
It reminds each of us to glorify God in our daily actions, each one of us being a living gospel, as Abouna Bishoy Kamel would always say. Sometimes we become numb to the teachings of Christ on the sermon of the mount, always being told to be the light of the world, especially in college when we are exposed to so many ideas but how often do we hide this light? In all our interactions we have to remember that God expects us to show His light, but how can we do this if we don’t know our Creator. When we put ourselves at the foot of the cross, allowing God to renew our hearts, we reflect the light of God, even in our struggles. We find joy in knowing that Christ chose to suffer for us. We keep our eyes on Him, and if and when we stray, it’s important to not look at our own failures and fallings but to look to Him on the cross
as our hope.
In the Absolution of the 6th Hour, we pray saying
“We thank You, our King, the
Pantocrator, the Father of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, and glorify You, for You have made the times of the passions of Your Only-Begotten Son, to be times of comfort and prayer.”
May we always sit at the feet of the Cross, remembering the love
Christ has for us, to the point of death.
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