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Vol. 1 No. 2 July/August 1998

My beloved brethren, friends of the BLESS USA program:

The peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ embrace us all.

My beloved, I am thankful for your kind and merciful hearts. We have received $55,000 from your generous contributions for the period between 5/15/98 and 8/12/98. This modest amount was an aid to us in the service of your brothers and sisters in Egypt ("The Brothers of the Lord").

In this message, I would like to contemplate with you on some of the verses of Psalm 41. The Divine Inspiration says: "Blessed is he who considers the poor. The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive. And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed ." (Ps. 41:1-3)

Blessed

Blessed is a Hebrew word meaning complete joy. How completely joyful is the one who sympathetically considers the poor and the helpless?

Considers

Considers means opening one's heart and ears, listening with concern, studying the matters carefully and giving the helpless and poor a place in the heart. Consider also implies sympathy. The one who is sympathetic with the poor has a kind heart that overflows with love and compassion, as well as extends monetary help to them.

The Poor

+ My dear brethren, notice that the word poor has an equivalent translation of helpless or powerless. Thus when the Divine Inspiration mentions the word poor, He is also implying those who are helpless or powerless. The helpless might not need money, but rather love, affection, kind words and an open, accommodating heart. Also people who are helpless might be those who are sick, handicapped, tempted, expelled, treated unfairly, have low esteem, etc.

+ The helpless and poor are those whom Our Lord of Glory called: "the least of these My brethren." (Mt. 25:40) Do not forget my beloved brethren that this is a very important divine fact: every time we consider the helpless and poor, we consider our Lord Himself. "Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." (Mt. 25:40) Moreover, the Lord compensates such sympathetic people with seven rewards in this present life, as mentioned in Psalm 41:

    The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.

    The Lord will preserve him.

    The Lord will keep him alive.

    He will be blessed on the earth.

    Not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

    The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness.

    The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed.

+ Only those who consider the poor, and are sympathetic with the helpless, can experience these blessings. With the grace of God, we will contemplate on these seven rewards in the upcoming messages, with verses and stories from the Holy Bible, as well as from our extensive history and practical daily experiences.

+ Once again my beloved, I am thankful for your profound love and merciful hearts. May our Lord compensate you with the incorruptible instead of the corruptible, the heavenly instead of the earthly and the eternal instead of the temporal.

Bishop Youannes
General Bishop and Secretary of H.H. Pope Shenouda III


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