Hi all,
This topic/question exists of 3 parts:
1. How can u feel the passion of the Christ when he suffered on the cross?
2. How can u really hate sin?
3. How could we truly benefit from the fast and Good Friday?
I think 1 and 2 connect with each other, but lets take a look at it step by step.
1. Feeling the passion of the Christ.
How could u really feel his pain? I often see pictures, video's, from Christ suffering, but I don't always feel his pain. I want to feel it, not just feeling it, I want to realize his crucifixion..that he died on the cross for me. I can't imagine it. Forgive me, but sometimes it feel like, it happened years ago and he is now alive, so he doesn't feel pain now. I know that we say that each time if we sin, we hit a nail in his body..but i cant imagine! Even if I see it.. often i listen taraneem.. i love it and sometimes it really does help..but after the hymn..i get back to real life.. i don't know how to feel it??
2. Hating sin
And how could someone hate sin?? Sometimes i feel very weak and repeat the sin time after time.. now i heard 100x times that this is normal and we must fall, rise, and repent. But it isn't that easy. I want truly repent. I want to remove the love of sin of my heart. I want to HATE sin. Every sin. I want to realize how worse sinning is. I want to realize the consequences. I saw a lot video's of pope Shenouda (come back to God, etc). They are touching..but it's still not everything.
I want to pray with my heart,,with the idea that God listen to me.. I want to know that he hears me... that he answers me..that ..
3. Benefiting from the Lent and Good Friday
I want to benefit from Lent. Problem is, my dad dont wants me to fast now, but next week. Parents..
I want really at least ONE time feel the spirit of the fast. I want to LIFE the fast. Living For Christ. I want to stop being lazy, !! I want to make my plans true. I even made a spiritual diary which i am supposed to write the days i prayed, read the bible, etc, but unfortunately i don't use it..ya know, study, forgetting..laziness. I want to benefit from y sundayschool service in church. I am feeling like i am not coming any further. I am stuck.
I want on GOOD FRIDAY to LIFE that day. I love Good friday. But sometimes i intend and hope to enjoy that day a lot and pray a lot, but then on the day it doesn't happened. I want to pray with perseverance and tears and to repent.
Oh! And how to benefit from the Resurrection? How to feel the goal of it and the joooy?
Comments
When we love God then we do not want to grieve our Heavenly Father. When we love the Word of God we do not want to add to the burdens He has borne for us. When we love the Holy Spirit we fear doing anything to cause Him to withdraw from us.
Love is the key to spiritual growth. If we do not do things for love of God then we are doing things to earn points or because we are afraid of punishment.
Do you love God? How much do you love God? Enough to live a life of holiness? Enough to turn away from serving your self? If you love to sin then you hate God. If you love God then you hate sin. Hate as an emotion is of no value at all in the spiritual life. Emotions do not save us. If you hate something you will do all that you can to avoid it. And sin is not a list of things you do wrong, it is turning away from God.
We will only want to avoid turning away from God when we love Him more than anything and anyone else in our lives.
Ask the Lord you grant you a greater love of Him. Remember each day all of the gifts and blessings God gives you. Thank God at all times and in all situations. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Offer the sacrifice of your life, your attention, your prayer and your service as a gift of love, not of necessity.
The one who loves God will grow to love Him more. For the one who does not truly love God it does not matter how much he hates sin, such emotions are rooted in our pride.
We do not deserve that God hears us. We cannot demand anything of God. To act in such a way is to be like the crowds who followed Jesus. 'Show us a sign and we will follow you'. What if there is no sign? What if there are no good emotions that come during spiritual exercises. What if it always seems dark and confused for us? Will we still love God? Or is our love conditional on our feelings?
Love God. That is all that we need to seek to do. Everything else follows from that. Ask the Lord to help you to love Him more. Find the love of God in the love of all those He has made in His image.
Feelings are not the goal of our spiritual life.
Good question.. how to love Jesus more? How to see him as your father? And not just as a God, far away from you.. who u aren't able to reach.. How do u love him more than your parents, whom can touch you and hug you and talk to in person? I wish I could..
the priest in my church one year described the time after Lent as "post-passion syndrome"; basically when we forget the Lenten journey and move on with our lives. key word: move on...as if Lent was stopping us from doing so
i dont want Lent to be a freeze in time, where its only for these 50 or so days that i feel God.
in my sunday school, they talked about working on changing a bad habit during Lent. i picked judging others. i really want to stop that...but from your experience, does this changing one habit thing actually prove to be effective & long-lasting?
we must hate the sin by loving God as Father Peter said.
please pray for me and my weakness.
Be courageous in God, and do not get desperate… Do not get desperate however powerful the wars of the devil are. Do not get desperate no matter how many times you fall and forget the commandments and fail in your practices. ...Say to yourself, “...Even If I fall a hundred times on the way, I shall rise and proceed on my way… I shall never accept despair because it is from the devil.” - H.H. Pope Shenouda III
"I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly God was speaking, "My name is I AM". When you live in the past, with it's mistakes and regrets, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I was. When you live in the future, with it's problems and fears, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I will be. When you live in this moment, it is not hard. I am here. My name is I AM."