Journey Back to Eden.pdf - St Mark Coptic Orthodox Church Chicago

A TIME TO INTERCEDE 117ceived and ordained him for that diocese, to serve the parish fromwhich he comes.He was once a naval officer. He told me that he had fought inthree wars in the service of the Egyptian navy and was never onceafraid. But now, before the altar, he said, he is always trembling.He is a good example of Coptic spirituality, because he recognizesthat to approach the altar is to approach the living God. This laysbare all that is fragile and delicate and vulnerable in us. It also exposesall that is sinful in us, either to judgment or to mercy, dependingupon our honesty and our humility before God.Gifts of the SpiritFEBRUARY 12, THURSDAYAbuna Elia told me today that there are, ideally, an indefinitenumber of positions or niches to be occupied, if the Church is tohave its fullest orchestration, if the Church is to be fully functionalin the world. For, he said, the Church is a great parade which can bedisplayed in its entirety only if all of its segments are fully engagedin any given age or generation. The Body of Christ can fulfill itsmission upon the earth to touch, to heal, to speak only when thereare sufficient numbers of people to perform its various ministries.That is the work of the Holy Spirit, Abuna Elia said, to constitutethe Body of Christ by providing various members with hisvarious gifts. He quoted from St. Paul’s Letter to the Corinthiansthat to some it was given to be apostles, prophets, teachers, orhealers (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:6-10). But he also said that this is notmerely a functional unity of so many interactive parts. Rather, it isa mosaic, or an iconographic unity, where Christ is witnessed notonly to the world outside the Church but also to the various memberswithin its own life. The Church has a “visual, apostolic mission”to fulfill and to uphold.He reminded me of Christ Jesus on the mountain as a backdropto his historical life and public mission. Christ on the mountainwas not just preparing and praying for that mission. We aretold that, sometimes, he went there to remain true to his mission.There is one story in the Gospels in which, after Christ had fed thefive thousand, he was aware that the crowd intended to crown himking, so he fled from them to the mountain to pray alone.