Give Us Lord Holy Priests
Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ;
Our Maronite Church has now concluded its Season of the Epiphany and this Sunday begins the three-week of commemorations before we enter into the Season of the Great Lent. Each week the Maronite Church invites us to reflect upon and pray for the Priests, the Righteous and the Just and the Faithful departed respectively. We find ourselves this week at the Sunday of the Priests.
It is of vital importance that we continuously pray for and remember all our priests, those who are living and those who are departed. This occasion is a great opportunity to give some serious thought to the work the priests do in the parish and to say a prayer asking God to keep our priests dedicated to their life of prayer, to be loyal to the flock of Christ which they have been made responsible of, to remain faithful and grounded in the faith of Christ and to grow in dedication in all areas of their priestly life.
On this occasion, I invite all our parishioners to light a candle for all priests around the world. Let this candle be a replacement for the stones that we throw them with when we are unhappy with things a priest is doing. Let this candle be an offering of gratitude and appreciation for all the good that the clergy do. Let this candle be a prayer of blessings and graces for all priests and that God may have mercy on the souls of those priests who have gone before us. Let this candle be a prayer that the Lord of the Harvest may send more laborers into His vineyard.
Our Church celebrates today also the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. According to Moses' Law, every firstborn male shall be designated to the Lord. Forty days after the birth of Jesus, the Holy Family (Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus) went to the temple to offer a sacrifice prescribed in the Law: two turtledoves or two young pigeons. The Church celebrates this feast since 541. On that day, candles are blessed, symbolizing the light of which the old Simeon said: "for my eyes have seen the salvation which you have made ready in the sight of the nations." (Luke 2: 30-31). During the week of the Commemoration of the Priests, the priests, deacons and subdeacons of the Eparchy are holding their annual spiritual retreat. And of course, the priests, deacons and subdeacon of our parish are participating in the retreat which will be held under the theme "Am I my brother's guardian?" (Genesis 4: 9). Hence, the weekday masses in the parish will be as follows: on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, masses are held at 7 am and 6 pm, while on Wednesday, masses will be celebrated at 7 am, 5.30 and 7 pm.
After a well-deserved long rest, the holiday season is over! As most of our parish children have returned to work or study, we wish you all the best for the new year. All activities in the parish, including Fersen, Teens, Arabic classes, etc, will resume this week. Our committees are doing a wonderful job preparing for these activities. We have planned for many things for this year. We ask for your assistance and support to continue building your family parish.
The Logic of Jesus Is Different to The Logic of The World
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
On the fifth Sunday of the blessed season of Lent, our mother the Church calls us to reflect on the story of the paralysed man, his four mates and their community which was gathered around Jesus. Through this story, we come to know the true essence of grace: every touch of mercy in our lives is a call for repentance. Through repentance, the soul is healed. Healing the soul is required before healing the body.
The Gospel of the paralysed man has a special place in the liturgical memory of the Church. It is the passage that focusses more than any other Sunday passages during lent on the Sacrament of Penance. In fact, is there a lent without repentance and confession?
The fruit of good repentance is forgiveness, getting rid of sins and debts, boundless peace and joy toward God and the human. Who does not experience a wonderful inner peace and an indescribable joy when practising this sacrament? The closer we are to God, the more we become aware of our sin and of the greatness of the Sacrament of Penance. The farther we are from God, the weaker is our awareness of our sin. The distance between us and God reduces the level of confrontation necessary to discern our situation and
scrutinise it.
The confession, for which the Church has rites, holds celebrations and calls to practice it, stressing its importance on every occasion is a call for transformation from what is visible to the invisible. When the soul is healed, it leads to the Kingdom of God, while the body, even after being endowed with the grace of healing, will relapse one day and wear off.
How moving was the scene of the crowds gathered around Jesus, overflowing that place where he was. But He is here too in the confessional with all His mercy! How lovely would it be to see the confessionals similarly overcrowded by all of us, clergy and lay, people, like the situation in Capernaum where the four men lowered down their paralytic friend to bring him to Jesus.
Is it not strange what the paralytic’s four friends did? They challenged all difficulties and lowered him down from the roof, as one united group, as if they were interacting with the gifts of the Holy Spirit without realising it! As usual, the Lord Jesus surprised them and went far beyond what they were asking for. His logic is different from that of the world. He goes to the essence: “your sins are forgiven.” But to demonstrate to the crowd that his authority to forgive sins is authentic, he made the paralytic stand up before them.
How about you? Would you go beyond what people ask from you? Do you know how to read what is beyond the direct need? Do we realise that behind every request, the question is: “do you love me?” Do you know that love is the only need for all people? And if you have experienced the peace and joy of the Sacrament of Penance and touched by this love, why do you not take it to others? Why do you not proclaim the source of this love around you and bring those who are far, those who have been paralysed by sin, to the confessional as the paralytic’s friends did so they can heal?
Come, do not be late! The Lord is waiting.
