{"id":39082,"date":"2016-09-09T12:46:34","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T10:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/site\/?p=39082"},"modified":"2017-06-01T10:27:19","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T08:27:19","slug":"%d9%85%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%a9-141-%d8%a3%d9%88%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d8%b1%d9%88%d8%b3-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/%d9%85%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%84-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%a9-141-%d8%a3%d9%88%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af%d8%b1%d9%88%d8%b3-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a\/","title":{"rendered":"On Life 141 \u2013 The Very First Lesson \u2013 September 9, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0Many happy returns to our Muslim brothers in Egypt and the four corners of earth, on the occasion of Greater Bairam (Eid al-adha). We beseech God to grant us peace and happiness, wishing our dear Egypt prosperity.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0With feasts, everybody is joyful, be he the one who celebrates or that who congratulates. People wish one another happy returns. Feelings of love and giving spread throughout. Here, one would recall Chen, the child who led an unfinished life, offering people life and a role model of the first of feasts\u2019 lessons, namely, giving. Not only should we give whoever we know. We should give everybody: family, relatives, neighbors, acquaintances, strangers, and the needy.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #800000;\"><strong>Refining Humanity<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0Humanity is one family. When you give, you have already decided that humans are the most important thing. They should be given money, effort, and toil. Man\u2019s dignity should be preserved. He should be edified and educated.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #800000;\"><strong>A Lifestyle<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0Man cannot \u201cgive\u201d and \u201cnot give\u201d at the self-same time. Giving should be authentic. Love others and help them obtain what they need faithfully. Otherwise, affectation of giving can hurt others or just make them acquire what they do not need. Giving is not a mere temporary passion that fades away fast. Rather, it is \u201ca lifestyle\u201d. Hence, those who give their loved ones only do not know what true giving is.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #000000;\">Likewise, giving is not a reciprocal practice; you cannot wait for a reward.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #800000;\"><strong>A Two-way Channel <\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #000000;\">\u00a0 \u00a0It is said that good deeds are never wasted. Giving is but a two-way channel. When you give, you take at the self-same moment. This does not mean that you take something in return of what you give. Rather, you are filled with joy and bliss, for deep down, the roots of a good deed give rise to invaluable fruit. Thus, the joyful giver is full of love which makes him close to God who is loving, generous, and rewards man according to his deeds. No matter how much time elapses, your good deeds will return. Thus, life becomes a way for making others happy. As we give everybody, God gives us whatever we need. The more man gives, the more he finds himself offered, even without asking.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #000000;\">Giving does not have to do with money only, but with other features of life.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #000000;\">Many happy returns!<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #800000;\">General Bishop<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'andale mono', times; color: #800000;\">Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0Many happy returns to our Muslim brothers in Egypt and the four corners of earth, on the occasion of Greater Bairam (Eid al-adha). We beseech God to grant us peace and happiness, wishing our dear Egypt prosperity. \u00a0 \u00a0With feasts, everybody is joyful, be he the one who celebrates or that who congratulates. People [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":10623,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[6804,8649,6385,6371,6373,6372,240,170,6370,482],"class_list":["post-39082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-on-life","tag-the-very-first-lesson","tag-youm7","tag-6371","tag-6373","tag-6372","tag---2","tag-170","tag-6370","tag-482"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39082"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39082"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47444,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39082\/revisions\/47444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/copticocc.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}