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

14 SEPTEMBERlabored without rest or reward till they died without rites.Only the names of the tribes from which they came remainedwith them, the bloodlines of their tragic heritage, for theywere still given in marriage, and still they extended their fathers’lineages. This was an act of hope, a virtue of theCovenant you had made with Abraham so long before, butthat had been otherwise forgotten.All this befell them here in Egypt, and here, till now,your other children languish as before. You said to Abraham,“I will bless those who bless you.” So I say, “Blessed be Abraham,”and bless this poor man who seeks my help. To theprophet, you spoke, “Blessed be my people, Egypt.” Make itcome to pass, this word which was true when you first spoke it,for they have sunk low into poverty and desperation. Blessedbe the Moslem, the Christian, the Jew! Show your Face ofMercy—to all of us here.And I, in the House of Jesus, who know of Abraham onlybecause of his sacrifice in yielding up Isaac, I bless Jesus’Name and his holy lineage from Abraham. I bless Jesus’ sojournin Egypt where he was hosted as a child. By Abraham’sfriendship with you, call down your blessing on this poor soulwho has too little known your help.Oh, what ruin has been visited on his people! They labor,too, as slaves in Eastern Europe under a yoke twice as bitter,because no names either of yours or of their cultural lineagesmay be invoked. They marry little and bear young less inloveless days. In crowded, darkened cities they huddle, theirformer churches gutted and their hearts cold. Bring it down,this terrible slavery! Make it go, uproot it forever! You whohave always hated slavery, liberate them there and tell themyour Name. Make them yours again or, better still, makethem yours as never before.But this poor man here, let him sleep a little and forgetmuch. And when you wake him, let some secret seed of gracetake root and give him hope. Once, as a baby, he was loved, orat least he believed it enough to risk living and growing older.Now, reconfirm that original hope by a new faith in yourProvidence. May he even see his sufferings as a sign of a greatsacrifice, to be joined to the Covenant of Abraham and Isaac,Christ and his Cross. For this I pray in his Name. Amen.