HE WILL TURN MANY OF THE CHILDREN OF I SRAEL TO THE L ORD THEIR G OD 1 st Sunday of Kiahk 1728

عيناك منجذبتان نحو خطوات البشر إذ أنت مهتم بكل خليقتك لا تحرم أحدًا من جبلة يديك من فيض حبك القديس اغسطينوس Your eyes are concentrating on the footsteps of humans. As You care for all Your whole creation. You are not depriving any of Your creatures of the flood of Your love! (St. Augustine)

 4 that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed …. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless …. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard ; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Lk 1:4-17

كل من يبتعد عنك أيها النور الحقيقي يتوغل في ظلام الخطية وإذ تُحيط به الظلمة لا يقدر أن يميز الفخاخ المنصوبة له على طول الطريق القديس أغسطينوس All who distance themselves from You, the true Light, will go deep into the darkness of sin; thus, will be unable to discern the traps set for them along the way. (St. Augustine)

هكذا تتطلَّب منَّا الطاعة للمسيح ألا نؤجِّل لحظة من الزمن القديس يوحنا ذهبي الفم Such is the obedience which Christ seeks of us, as that we delay not even a moment of time. (St. John Chrysostom)