Arabic original here.
Prayer and Fasting
After the Church has entered us into the mystery of the Transfiguration and we have seen Christ's glory on the mountain, the divine word instructs us today that man is healed by prayer and fasting. Let us go past the healing of the young man afflicted with epilepsy and pay attention to Jesus' words after the disciples were unable to perform the miracle: "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move." By this He meant that if your faith has a mustard seed of warmth, then everything is possible. Impossible things are possible, since nothing is possible for God. But you go back to ingratitude and doubt.
The apostles whom the Lord accused had this ingratitude because they still had not witnessed His resurrection and had not received the Holy Spirit. They were prey to the dust that was in them. They were prey to the passions nestled in their souls. The Lord wanted them to look to God and to His power which was capable of transforming them into new people, as though they were the Lord Himself.
The Teacher wanted them to practice faith in two aspects: in the aspect of prayer first and then in the aspect of fasting. My intention is for us to arrive at the core meaning of these two words. The essence of the prayer that makes us capable of miracles is that by which we know ourselves to be capable of attaining God Himself. God has entered into discussion with us. He has entered into dialogue inasmuch as He has made Himself possible for us. If it is right to say it, He has condescended from His almighty power in order to make us capable of standing before Him and with Him, so that we in turn are creators and renewers of this nature, transformers of our own hearts and of the hearts of people.
Prayer is our being in contact with God such that He acts if we act and He speaks if we speak. When the Bible says that God answers, it is not because we are beggars but because we are sons. God responds because we ourselves in the house of the Father are able to change what must be changed. We are given authority over the house of God, which is the universe. God answers and saves us. When one has the sweetness of God, this sweetens everything. When one has God's kindness, this makes the world kind and it in turn becomes gentle.
As for fasting, its purpose is not only abstinence from food. The ultimate intent of what is called fasting here is chastity. Chastity is our abstaining from a lust that rules over us so that we may give God sovereignty within us. Fasting is our giving control over to God so that we do not speak out of whim, but rather we say what God says by our tongues and we express the grace that God has cast into our hearts. Through fasting, man becomes poor before God and knows himself to be be such. Because of this, if he is chaste he is capable of having his prayer heard.
God dialogues with those who are of Him. Those who have acquired God's grace come to be within God and speak to God from within Him. If we become a chaste, praying people, kind to others, loving them, if we want this then God makes us capable of being transfigured with Him on the mountain and of looking out over our life and the life of all people.
Prayer and Fasting
After the Church has entered us into the mystery of the Transfiguration and we have seen Christ's glory on the mountain, the divine word instructs us today that man is healed by prayer and fasting. Let us go past the healing of the young man afflicted with epilepsy and pay attention to Jesus' words after the disciples were unable to perform the miracle: "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move." By this He meant that if your faith has a mustard seed of warmth, then everything is possible. Impossible things are possible, since nothing is possible for God. But you go back to ingratitude and doubt.
The apostles whom the Lord accused had this ingratitude because they still had not witnessed His resurrection and had not received the Holy Spirit. They were prey to the dust that was in them. They were prey to the passions nestled in their souls. The Lord wanted them to look to God and to His power which was capable of transforming them into new people, as though they were the Lord Himself.
The Teacher wanted them to practice faith in two aspects: in the aspect of prayer first and then in the aspect of fasting. My intention is for us to arrive at the core meaning of these two words. The essence of the prayer that makes us capable of miracles is that by which we know ourselves to be capable of attaining God Himself. God has entered into discussion with us. He has entered into dialogue inasmuch as He has made Himself possible for us. If it is right to say it, He has condescended from His almighty power in order to make us capable of standing before Him and with Him, so that we in turn are creators and renewers of this nature, transformers of our own hearts and of the hearts of people.
Prayer is our being in contact with God such that He acts if we act and He speaks if we speak. When the Bible says that God answers, it is not because we are beggars but because we are sons. God responds because we ourselves in the house of the Father are able to change what must be changed. We are given authority over the house of God, which is the universe. God answers and saves us. When one has the sweetness of God, this sweetens everything. When one has God's kindness, this makes the world kind and it in turn becomes gentle.
As for fasting, its purpose is not only abstinence from food. The ultimate intent of what is called fasting here is chastity. Chastity is our abstaining from a lust that rules over us so that we may give God sovereignty within us. Fasting is our giving control over to God so that we do not speak out of whim, but rather we say what God says by our tongues and we express the grace that God has cast into our hearts. Through fasting, man becomes poor before God and knows himself to be be such. Because of this, if he is chaste he is capable of having his prayer heard.
God dialogues with those who are of Him. Those who have acquired God's grace come to be within God and speak to God from within Him. If we become a chaste, praying people, kind to others, loving them, if we want this then God makes us capable of being transfigured with Him on the mountain and of looking out over our life and the life of all people.
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