On Life 141 – The Very First Lesson – September 9, 2016

   Many happy returns to our Muslim brothers in Egypt and the four corners of earth, on the occasion of Greater Bairam (Eid al-adha). We beseech God to grant us peace and happiness, wishing our dear Egypt prosperity.

   With feasts, everybody is joyful, be he the one who celebrates or that who congratulates. People wish one another happy returns. Feelings of love and giving spread throughout. Here, one would recall Chen, the child who led an unfinished life, offering people life and a role model of the first of feasts’ lessons, namely, giving. Not only should we give whoever we know. We should give everybody: family, relatives, neighbors, acquaintances, strangers, and the needy.

Refining Humanity

   Humanity is one family. When you give, you have already decided that humans are the most important thing. They should be given money, effort, and toil. Man’s dignity should be preserved. He should be edified and educated.

A Lifestyle

   Man cannot “give” and “not give” at the self-same time. Giving should be authentic. Love others and help them obtain what they need faithfully. Otherwise, affectation of giving can hurt others or just make them acquire what they do not need. Giving is not a mere temporary passion that fades away fast. Rather, it is “a lifestyle”. Hence, those who give their loved ones only do not know what true giving is.

Likewise, giving is not a reciprocal practice; you cannot wait for a reward.

A Two-way Channel

   It is said that good deeds are never wasted. Giving is but a two-way channel. When you give, you take at the self-same moment. This does not mean that you take something in return of what you give. Rather, you are filled with joy and bliss, for deep down, the roots of a good deed give rise to invaluable fruit. Thus, the joyful giver is full of love which makes him close to God who is loving, generous, and rewards man according to his deeds. No matter how much time elapses, your good deeds will return. Thus, life becomes a way for making others happy. As we give everybody, God gives us whatever we need. The more man gives, the more he finds himself offered, even without asking.

Giving does not have to do with money only, but with other features of life.

Many happy returns!

General Bishop

Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center