In this profound sermon, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that all God desires from man is love, for love covers everything, and without it, no deed or service has value. Love is not merely an emotion but a whole way of life lived in God’s presence.

1. The Essence of the Divine Message
God seeks man’s heart, not his external form, and wants a relationship based on love, not fear or obligation. One who loves God does good out of love, but one who has lost his first love acts from fear or routine.

2. The Difference Between Loving Virtue and Loving God
The Pope distinguishes between doing good for the sake of virtue and doing good for the sake of God. Some live moral lives without truly knowing Him, but the true Christian makes God the center of all actions.

3. Signs of Losing the First Love

• Prayer becomes a habit without feeling God’s presence.

• Fasting, reading, and service become formal practices.

• The “familiarity” (intimate dialogue) with God disappears.

• The spiritual longing and joy of being with God fade away.

4. Love and Intimacy with God
The first love was marked by open-hearted simplicity with God, like a child speaking to his father without fear. When that intimacy is lost and replaced by formality or coldness, the Lord says: “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

5. Love Means Continuous Presence
Those who truly love God feel His presence in every moment: in prayer, in reading, in walking, in stillness. Those who no longer sense His nearness have lost their warmth of love, even if their prayers are long or eloquent.

6. Biblical Examples

• Adam: Moved from love to fear after the fall.

• Joseph the Righteous: Faced temptation saying, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”

• David the Prophet: His prayers were filled with longing, not ritual performance.

7. Spiritual Childhood
The first love is like the simplicity of a child who trusts his father without argument or doubt. With time, reasoning and analysis enter, the heart cools, and simplicity fades. The Pope calls believers to return to their “spiritual childhood,” full of faith and trust.

8. The Final Divine Call
“Remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works.” The Lord not only reproves but also calls back to repentance — to the early burning love, to a heart on fire with grace, and to a living relationship with God filled with honesty, warmth, and longing.

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