Remember, O Lord, Our Gatherings

The lecture speaks about the meaning of the gatherings of believers in the Church, and that they are not merely human meetings, but rather a holy encounter in which God meets with His people. His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that the Church always prays in the Divine Liturgy saying: “Remember, O Lord, our gatherings, bless them,” because every spiritual gathering is a divine work in which the grace of God dwells.

He explains that since the beginning of creation, God loved to meet with الإنسان, as He met with Adam and Eve in Paradise, then with Moses in the Tent of Meeting, and with the people in the wilderness, then with the disciples after the Resurrection, and His presence remained continual with the Church in every time and place.

He also confirms that the true Church is the gathering of God with His people around the Eucharist and the word of teaching, and that the Lord rejoices in the gatherings of His children wherever they are, whether in churches, homes, or even in times of distress and persecution.

The lecture shows that the presence of God transforms every place into blessing, light, and peace, just as the face of Moses shone after his meeting with God, and just as God preserved the three youths in the fiery furnace, and Noah and his sons inside the ark.

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III stresses the importance that every home should have the spirit of the Church and prayer, and that homes should become houses of blessing, purity, and gathering with God through prayer, hymns, and reading the Word of God.

He also explains that God arranges the gatherings according to His good and blessed will, and removes obstacles and hindrances so that the believers may receive the blessing of His presence and the joy of meeting with Him.

At the conclusion of the lecture, he calls the believers to love spiritual gatherings and to have continual longing to be with God, because the greatest blessing for a person is that God may be present in his midst and in his life always.

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