St. Mina and St. Abanoub Coptic Orthodox Church

Another important step towards achieving spiritual readiness, is to remember that a broken spirit is a an essential virtue to attain. The more a person continues to grow in his spiritual life, the more will he regret having committed sin. While increasing in good deeds, we ought to see our past sins before our good actions. Thus, we will be prone to focus more on our weaknesses than our strengths. It is wrong to do good, thinking that it will erase our sins. In an attempt to lead a more holy life, a broken-spirited person will focus on his shortcomings. Such a mental and spiritual attitude will eventually cause this person to want to confess his sins before God and renew his life daily.

St. Paul spent many years converting others to Christianity and performing many miracles. Yet he saw himself as the least. He did not insist on being praised by the others for his good deeds; nor did he draw attention to himself by preaching and teaching loudly on the street corners, or claimed superiority over the others for his teachings. His spirit was a broken spirit. St. Paul's internal spiritual disposition is well expressed in his words to the Corinthians, "I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God" (I Corinthians 15:9).

"This therefore was the object of the long suffering of God: that man may always live in a state of gratitude to the Lord. For, having passed through all types of trials, then acquiring the knowledge of moral discipline, then attaining to the resurrection from the dead and learning through experience who is the Source of his deliverance, and finally having obtained from Him the gift of incorruptibility, man might love Him the more" (Irenaeus, Bishop of the Church of Lyons).

During this Holy Great Fast, may we all contemplate spiritual preparedness in order to be worthy of partaking in His Body and Blood; knowing that "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls" (Proverbs 25:28).

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States