My Beloved the benevolent                    September 2026

Grace and peace, wishing you every goodness and blessings

This year, we celebrate the Feast of Nayrouz, which marks the Coptic New Year 1743, on Friday, September 11. Our Church adopted the Coptic calendar as the Calendar of the Martyrs. Our celebration of the holy martyrs continues until the Feast of the Cross on Sunday, September 27, and our celebration of the Feast of the Cross continues for three days.

During this joyful season, we remember our good God, who became incarnate in order to offer Himself as an acceptable sacrifice on the cross for our salvation. We also remember our fathers and mothers, the martyrs, who held firmly to the faith unto death and offered their lives as a living and acceptable sacrifice before God.

The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is a sacrifice of love: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

The sacrifice of the martyrs is a sacrifice of love: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

The Holy Bible calls us to offer our lives as a sacrifice of love: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

Worship is a sacrifice of love: “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15)

Spiritual struggle is a sacrifice of love: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Bearing with others is a sacrifice of love: “We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written: ‘The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.’” (Romans 15:1–3)

Caring for the needs of others is a sacrifice of love. St. Paul wrote to the Romans, instructing them, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” (Romans 12:9)

Among the signs of love without hypocrisy, he mentioned: “Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.” (Romans 12:13)

Giving is a sacrifice of love. The motivation for giving must be love for God and love for those in need. One of the signs of true love is sacrifice.

Our Lord Jesus Christ gave us an example of true giving in the story of the poor widow: “Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites, which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.’” (Mark 12:41–44)

+ The Lord Jesus considered what this poor widow put into the treasury to be more than what everyone else had given, even though they had given much. From the perspective of worldly calculations, what the widow gave would be considered less than what the rich gave. But according to God’s way of looking at things, He looks at the heart and at the manner in which we give. The widow’s two mites were more than what the rich had given. The Lord Jesus explained why: she gave all that she had, her whole livelihood. The widow’s two mites were a sacrifice of love before God because she sacrificed everything she had. She did not give merely what was left over, because she had nothing except the two mites.

+ God accepts any offering, no matter how small, as long as it is given with love and sacrifice. Therefore, we should offer whatever we are able to give with sincere love toward God and toward others.

The needs of the saints, our brothers and sisters who are in need, are many and are continually increasing. We should share in the needs of the saints with sincere love, so that we may receive God’s blessing and beatitude, just as the poor widow did.

May the Lord bless your offerings to support Santa Verena Charity’s programs.

Metropolitan Serapion