My beloved brethren, friends of the BLESS USA program:

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

+ I would like to wish you all a holy Advent fast. May this fast be a time of blessing and spiritual growth, through our Lord's grace. + My beloved brethren, we spoke in the last newsletter about how divine inspiration blesses those who have merciful hearts and show understanding and sympathy toward the needy and poor. As mentioned in Psalm 41, the Lord grants them seven rewards here on earth. The first reward is: "The Lord will deliver him in times of trouble." (Ps. 41:1) We mentioned how the Lord rescued David the prophet and king because of his kind and merciful heart.

+ Another example of God's rescue in times of tribulation is that of St. Paul's.

St. Paul, the Apostle:

+ Our teacher, St. Paul the Apostle, showed understanding and sympathy toward the needy and poor. He said to the Ephesians, "I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:35). And it is he who said to the Romans: "Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality… he who gives, with liberality" (Rom. 12:13,8). Also it is St. Paul who said to his disciple Timothy: "Command those who are rich… (to) do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing in his share; storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they lay hold on eternal life" (I Tim 6:17-19).

+ Our teacher, St. Paul the Apostle, who showed understanding and sympathy towards the needy and poor, confirmed how the Lord saves him in times of trouble. In Damascus, the governor who protected the city under Aretus the King wanted to apprehend St. Paul. The Lord saved him in this time of trouble, as he fled through a window in a basket, down the wall, and escaped from the hands of the governor (II Cor 11:33). So he praised God saying, "[God] Who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver; in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us" (II Cor 1:10).

+ In closing, my beloved brethren, I wish to thank you 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