At the Beginning of a New Year
At the Beginning of a New Year
I congratulate you, my brothers and my children, on the beginning of a new year. We hope that it will be a happy year in the life of each one of us, and that it will be likewise for our dear country, and for the whole world, especially the tense and inflamed areas in it. And the way of our Churches in receiving a new year is to receive it with a full night of prayer. The lights are to be turned off about a minute before midnight, in order to give all those present an opportunity in which each person prays in his heart a special prayer for himself and his loved ones, and also for his homeland, and for whatever requests he wishes. Then the lights are turned on and everyone returns to the general prayer. And by this we mean that God is the first One to whom we speak in the new year, as individuals or as a community. Then this becomes a daily method, that God may be the first One to whom we speak, placing God at the beginning continually.
What is important in the new year is that it be new in the style of our life, not merely in the calendar by using the number 2008 instead of 2007… such that we feel that our life has changed for the better, whether in what is outward in our dealings, or what concerns our hearts and thoughts… So do you truly feel, dear reader, this newness in your life, and that from the beginning of the new year you have corrected some points in your behavior that needed to change… or are you as you are?!
The first duty upon us in our new year is that we thank God from the depth of our hearts for all the good that He has done with us in the past year, whether for us or for those we love… for—as one of the Fathers says—“There is no gift without increase except the one without thanksgiving”… And David the Prophet said in one of his Psalms: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” And surely the benefits of the Lord to us are very many…
A person also needs, at the beginning of the new year, to sit in a frank session with himself, not flattering his own self, but rather examining his life with all precision, and seeing how he is walking, and to what end? And is there for him certain weaknesses, or matters for which others blame him? And are all his thoughts pure? And are all the feelings of his heart chaste? And are his behaviors without fault, and likewise all his relationships? He must also in this session search out what his relationship is with God, blessed is His Name. And is it a formal, routine worship in which he cares only for the outward appearance, that is, he worships God with his lips while his heart is far away from Him?! And is he faithful in all his religious duties? And does he carry out all the commandments of God? And if not, what are the points of his shortcomings? And in this session as well, he must search his relationship with certain main virtues, such as purity of heart and purity of thought, and such as meekness and quietness, and the virtue of giving, and the virtue of chastity, and the integrity of speech and its truthfulness, and the extent of his faithfulness in his work, and his uprightness in his ways, and his relationship with the life of accuracy and seriousness, and the like of such virtues…
Self-examination is a great virtue, and self-blame for its faults is another virtue. And how true and deep is the saying of that spiritual father: “Judge yourself, my brother, before they judge you.” But self-examination and self-blame must also be accompanied by self-correction, that is, its reform. A person may not sometimes accept the rebuke of others toward him, but he accepts it from himself. And the blame of others may not be out of precise knowledge of his reality. But his blame of himself is out of complete knowledge of himself. And the uncovering of his faults by others may embarrass him before others, but his uncovering of himself has no embarrassment in it. And he also accepts direction from his conscience more than he accepts it from any human. Therefore, dear reader, take care for yourself and for its destiny in the other world, and also for its reputation in the present world. For you possess one soul; if you lose it you lose everything, and if you gain it you gain everything. And the Lord Christ said in an immortal phrase: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?!”
And in your examination of yourself, and in your uncovering of your faults and shortcomings and deficiencies, beware all beware of covering all that with justifications and excuses that cannot at all bring rest to the conscience and are not acceptable before God… And true is that spiritual person who said: “The road to hell is planted with excuses and justifications!!” And the reality is that excuses and justifications aim to make a person polish himself before others, while he is exposed before God… and the aim also is to cover the sin, not to reform the self!
And as you, dear reader, know the truth of yourself at the beginning of the new year, try then to set for yourself a plan for the new year that includes your relationship with God and with people and with yourself, such that it may lead you to a better life. The plan must be practical and easy to execute. And there is no objection that it include an element of gradual progress by which you ascend the spiritual ladder step by step, reaching what your soul can reach, even after a while… And in all this you request divine help. Because without the help of God you cannot do anything. You have tried the weakness of humanity and you are still trying… So open your heart before God, and say to Him with all truth and sincerity: “Here is my soul before You, O Lord, with all its deficiencies and weaknesses, asking You to take over its leadership. Take over the leadership of my heart and my thought and my senses and my will. I am Yours, You who created me. Do not allow the devil to snatch me from Your hand.”
And after this prayer, sit also and study the obstacles that stood before you in the past, hindering you in the way of virtue, and stopping your spiritual growth. And ask the Lord for strength to overcome all those obstacles. And on your part, try to close all the doors from which sin comes to you… And set for yourself certain values that you commit to no matter the external circumstances. And just as you set a plan for your private life, set for yourself also a model for your relationship with others, and how affection and cooperation may prevail in it, and distance from all types of conflict. And as much as you can, live in peace with all people. Some of them you grant from your giving, some you endure with your gentleness, and some you avoid their anger. And for all of them you pray: that the Lord may preserve them with His peace, and may preserve you from the harm of any of them.
Do not forget at the beginning of the new year to pray for our dear homeland and the safety of every individual in it, and that God may save it from the problem of unemployment, and the problem of rising prices beyond the capacity of income. And likewise that God may purify it from every place of defect wherever it exists, and preserve it in peace, and continually grant its leaders wisdom and good management. And you also pray for the whole world, especially the inflamed regions whose incidents multiply and whose victims increase. May the Lord be with them and with us. And may this year be blessed and happy…
-
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III published in Al-Ahram newspaper on 6-1-2007 AD
For better translation support, please contact the center.
