Relationship with God
Pope Shenouda III discusses our personal relationship with God and clearly asks each person: Have you formed a true and lasting relationship with God, or is your relationship with Him still connected to occasions, formalities, and habits?
He explains that religion is not merely a book, rituals, or practices that we perform, but a complete life that continues throughout our entire lifetime.
A person may be connected to the Church, service, liturgies, preaching, and activities, while having no direct personal relationship with God Himself.
He also explains that fasting, prayer, prostrations, and reading the Holy Bible should not be merely physical or routine practices, but means that lead a person to meet God and enter into true fellowship with Him.
Spiritual Message
A true relationship with God is based on knowing Him, loving Him, living with Him, and speaking with Him from the heart, rather than merely performing religious duties.
True prayer is a meeting with God, in which a person feels that he is standing before Him, speaking to Him, and asking for His guidance, strength, and help.
True fasting is meant to lead a person to God, so that he experiences His help and feels his need for Him, rather than merely abstaining from certain kinds of food.
Pope Shenouda points to examples such as Enoch, who walked with God, and Mary, who sat at Christ’s feet, emphasizing that life with God is a life of fellowship, love, joy, and spiritual satisfaction.
Educational Lesson
The teaching warns against becoming occupied with religious knowledge, service, activities, and physical virtues without reaching a personal knowledge of God.
Doctrinal knowledge and spiritual practices have their value, but they do not achieve their full purpose if they do not lead to a true relationship with God.
Religion, in its essence, is knowledge of God, fellowship with Him, friendship with Him, and loving Him with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Practical Application
Pope Shenouda calls every person to sit with God and speak with Him honestly, telling Him what is in the heart, including needs, weaknesses, questions, and desires.
A person should pray in order to meet God in prayer, read the Bible in order to meet Him through it, and fast in order to draw near to Him and experience His strength and help.
He also encourages the person to ask God to purify and sanctify the heart, work within him through the Holy Spirit, and make his life abide in God and God dwell within him.
The central call at the end of the talk is for each person to begin from now to love God and experience fellowship with Him, because the Christian life is not merely about formalities, but about a true personal relationship with God.
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