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

A TIME OF SIGNS: CAELUM ET TERRA 65God but in the primal desire to be hospitable to others, to givegenerously, to prevail upon others in charity, to pour ourselves outfrom our hearts in acts and gestures of love? So I do not regard thisbehavior as superstition on the part of the pilgrims. I see it as partof the great gift exchange between heaven and earth, the exchangebetween God and man, which takes place precisely on this level.The Cross of Jesus, after all, was man’s worst attempt to prevailover divine goodness, and yet it was also God’s greatest desire andGod’s greatest success in giving himself generously to us.The hospitality the Copts afford the monk, which at once delightshim and offends him, seems to me, then, to have both the elementof genuine generosity and the Paschal Mystery enfoldedinto it, both at the same time. The Copts know they are being offensiveon one level, but they are filled with so much joy, knowingthat even by human offense, they are obtaining grace. “O felixculpa, O happy fault,” we say in the Latin Church. In the offense ofthe Cross, the love of God was engaged by man for our blessing,our forgiveness, and our salvation.Apocalyptic ResignationDECEMBER 6, SATURDAYIn my discussions with the monks and with the pilgrims whocome here, I have no doubt that, secretly, in the deepest places oftheir soul, the Copts have preserved the missionary spirit of theChristian Church and that, therefore, they cannot but hope for aChristian Egypt. It’s a poignant thought. They are a small minority:ten to fifteen percent at most, and for purposes of denigration,they are accounted as fewer. They are silenced; they are muted.They are unable to politicize their needs or to obtain recourse forthe injustices done to them. And yet that they should hope thatthey might somehow be a leaven in their society and draw it in anew direction is very touching. They hope for this, not only becausethey would be free of the onus of being a minority, but alsobecause they would joyfully share their Faith with the majority ofthe nation. Of course, such a hope on their part is vital to the integrity,the authenticity of their spirituality if it is to be trulyGospel-oriented. I can see that it lives itself out in a variety ofways.