Our forefathers the Apostles were chosen by the LORD JESUS himself as HE said “John 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you”, most of them were very simple people and the Holy Bible says “1Co 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”

After HE chose them, they spent a long period of discipleship with LORD JESUS, they were disciples at the hands of LORD JESUS himself and spent more than 3 years in discipleship and were with LORD JESUS full collateral throughout the week. And after the 3 years, HE commanded them not to leave Jerusalem until they wore a power from the highest, and this power the HOLY SPIRIT, HE said to them (Act 1:8) “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth

Today the Church celebrates two important feasts of St. Mary the Virgin Lady. The feast of consecration of the first church in her name and the second feast is the miracle of St. Mary the Virgin when she came on a cloud from Jerusalem where she lived in the house of St John the beloved ………… She stood at the gate of the prison, and the Virgin prayed to our LORD JESUS CHRIST to dissolve the iron to save Matthias the Apostle from prison, so the LORD responded to her intercession, and melted the iron, the chains, and the weapons of the soldiers, and all the iron present in the city. The governor and all the people of the city believed in Christianity and were baptized by Saint Matthias the Apostle and the Iron returned to its normal state again.

This miracle shows that the LORD GOD can deliver HIS people from every tribulation this makes us confident that we have confidence, trust and joy that our GOD is present among us, no matter what circumstances we pass by. We are sure million % that we shall not be harmed because our GOD is in our midst. Our LORD sometimes might allow HIS children to enter into distress or hardships, but HE says “Isa 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them”, and HE will be with us and HE will not leave us.

The Gospel of today is about the paralytic whom his four friends brought to the LORD JESUS lowering him through the roof, when our LORD saw their faith HE said to the paralytic man (Mark 2: 5) “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mar 2: 11) “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” The man stood up and walked in front of all those who were there and they were all amazed to the extent that they said (Mar 2: 12 ) “ We have never seen anything like this!”

Today is the second Sunday of the month of Baounah, the Sundays of this month all goes around the work of the HOLY SPIRIT and that is because this month coincides with the Feast of the dissention of the HOLY SPIRIT and so the fathers of the Church arranged the readings of this month to be going around the work of the HOLY SPIRIT from the point of view of our salvation.

The coming of the Holy Spirit is the last end of the story of salvation. The LORD JESUS in HIS incarnation has blessed the human nature, and then at HIS crucifixion HE solved the problem of sin and in HIS resurrection solved the problem of death. So the human nature was blessed, sin was absolved, and the rule of death was lifted from human nature and thus man became ready for the dwelling of the HOLY SPIRIT. For the LORD to dwell in us, first the human nature must be blessed because it was cursed, then the sin must be absolved and the sentence of death which was put on the human nature must be lifted and thus the human nature becomes ready for the LORD GOD to dwell inside us, (2Co 6) “For we are the temple of the living God “ and this is the aim for the story of salvation.

  Today is a great feast in the Church, which is the end of the fifty holy days and the dissention of the HOLY SPIRIT upon the Apostles on this day. It is considered the birthday of the Church because the Church was established on this day. Our LORD chooses the fiftieth day because the number 50 expresses eternity, we have time 7 weeks 49 days to complete time. Today, the fiftieth day means the beginning of the time. The LORD JESUS sent us the HOLY SPIRIT to enter us into the experience of eternity, and it was 50 days after the Resurrection of the LORD JESUS, and for the Jews it was 50 days after the feast of the Pass Over. The Jews also had a fest on this 50th day known as the feast of the weeks or the feast of the Harvest. This was one of 3 feasts when the Jews were obliged to be in Jerusalem to offer worship and prayer. Easter, the Feast of Weeks and the Day of Atonement. The Atonement for us is the Good Friday, the Easter is the Feast of the Resurrection and the feast of the weeks is for us the Feast of Pentecost.

Today is the forth Sunday of the Holy Fifty days, in general they are seven weeks resembling a journey from the Earth to the Heavens. In a summary, the beginning of the journey needs faith and belief since no one starts a journey if he is not convinced with it, so the First week is the week of Faith, in it we read the Gospel talking about St Tomas and we call this Sunday St Tomas’s Sunday. The Second Sunday talks to us about the Bread of Life. Every journey needs food and the bread we take with us for this journey is not earthly bread but heavenly Bread which is the Holy Communion. The Third Sunday (last Sunday) talks to us about the Woman from Samaria and about that whoever drinks from water of life shall never go thirsty again. So; the things we need for the journey are Faith, Bread and Water, those are the first three Sundays.