His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about the importance of thinking about the end of the road and not the comfort of the road, explaining that man is in a journey of exile on earth, and the path he walks either leads him to eternal life or to destruction. Therefore, a person should always ask himself: where does this road lead me?

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III confirms that tribulations are not a sign of God’s anger, but are often a sign that the person is walking in the correct path, provided that they are because of righteousness and not because of sin or negligence. For tribulation in Christianity is always connected with God’s help and His presence with man.

He explains that tribulation is not the whole truth, because the other half is God’s intervention and deliverance for His children, as happened with the three youths in the fiery furnace and Daniel in the lions’ den. God does not leave His children alone in the narrow path, but supports them and grants them victory and strength.

He also explains that the narrow path gives man a deep spiritual experience, and leads him to true prayer, dependence on God, and feeling His help, and that tribulations create in man spiritual strength and an eternal crown.

He also speaks about the necessity of spiritual struggle and paying the price of life with God, confirming that salvation is a free gift by the grace of Christ, but it requires will, struggle, works, and labor for the sake of the Lord. Man does not gain the Kingdom through carelessness or spiritual laziness.

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III warns against looseness and spiritual pampering, explaining that throughout its history the Church used rebuke and discipline to preserve the life of holiness. He also confirms that excessive leniency weakens spiritual life and leads man to the wide path.

He speaks about the importance of fasting, prayer, and standing reverently before God, explaining that seriousness in spiritual life protects man from carelessness, and that the narrow path requires self-control and resisting sin even unto blood.

At the end of the lecture, he encourages believers to walk in the narrow path with confidence and joy, because God accompanies His children in it, and the angels and saints support them, and the narrow path leads in the end to glory, the Kingdom, and eternal life.

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