We are a few days away from hearing the bells ringing, announcing the end of one year and the beginning of another. With the bells’ strokes, the journey of life continues bearing new hopes in hours and days which God – blessed be His name – grants to His creation. Between the beginning and the end, man shall be careful lest the days and years would entangle together, making him unaware of the reason of his existence and his mission in life. Many people think that a new year is only about celebrations and reiterated words bearing good emotions, or mere words of compliments, but even some people view the New Year as a new volume of pain, suffering and misery. Some others are lost in the life journey, indifferent to the new comer and another part turned their days into similar copies that nothing is distinct in them. But in fact, the New Year bears a new message for each one.
Every year, God grants man an opportunity to continue his life, so man shall make this continuance a growing developing one, as life bears motion, progress and development. On the contrary, some people stop at a certain point, ceasing to achieve any growth in their life, including: growth of their relationship with God, growth of bonds with brethren, and growth of themselves.
Among the features of the growth of man’s relationship with God is to achieve a spiritual progress so others would see his behaviors filled with good, love, and intimacy towards everyone; all people are the creation of God; He cares for them, provides them with good, even to those who refuse Him and do not believe in Him. So, every man who loves God and wants to follow Him ought to offer good to everyone as His Creator does.
When man follows intimacy, peace and goodness, he also grows in his relationships with others and realizes that all human beings are one family that must unite and cooperate for the good of all. I stop at the words of an English five year old girl, who innocently expressed a vision that adults may lack! She sent a letter to the British Prime Minister Theresa May, saying: “My name is Brooke Black, I am five years old, and I have to tell you about something, Theresa May: Yesterday, I was at the street where I saw hundreds, millions of homeless people, you had to be there. Theresa May, you should have offered them (food) biscuits, sandwiches and chocolates; you should have built them houses. Behold, I am only five years old and I can do nothing about it! I will save my money for them, but it will never be enough! But, you have a lot of money; give some of it to help people. This is what you should do. Because we live in many wars in this country, and I do not like this, Theresa May, I am very angry!” The message of this angry child is not addressed only to the British Prime Minister; it is rather a message to everyone, to which we shall give an honest answer: What did you do for others? Others may include your family, your relatives, your neighbors, your friends, or even outsiders. What counts is what you did and what you offered.
Man shall also grow in his relationship with himself: to understand himself more; his motives, his hopes and dreams, his abilities and talents, what he has achieved and what he wants to achieve; to grow in training to get rid of undesirable habits; to realize that he was created for success and life, not for failure and death.
I wish you all a new year filled with blessings, with peace overshadowing our lives and our Egypt… Stories about beautiful Egypt never end!
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
