Our Priesthood - A witness of hope to the world
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The next three weeks of Commemorations in our Maronite Lectionary prepare us for Great Lent through our Liturgy. This Sunday is the Sunday of the Priests, next Sunday is the Sunday of the Righteous and the Just which is followed by the Sunday of the Faithful Departed.
It was very fitting last week that in preparing for this Sunday all the priests of our Maronite Eparchy together with our Bishop, His Excellency Antoine-Charbel participated in the clergy retreat. This gave us time away from our parishes to renew ourselves and the bonds which we share both spiritually and pastorally through prayer, reflection, rest and appraisal. It helped us to focus on our mission as priests and discern the theme of the retreat: “Our priesthood - a witness of hope to the world.” It gave us time to start anew and renew our priestly journey in vigour, strength and zeal. With our Shepherd, we prayed for each other, our parishioners and the world asking the Lord to guide us in every action that we take so that it can be for His greater glory and the service of His people.
In turn I humbly ask you to pray for me, for all my brother priests that serve this beloved parish, for all the priests who have served this parish and especially for all the departed priests who are no longer with us.
I also ask you to pray that the Lord of the harvest may grant us “wise and prudent” labourers to continue this important ministry in our parish, our eparchy and in the world because the “harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few” and O’ how much we are in need of these labourers. For this intention I ask you to join me in this small prayer:
O Lord God, in order to govern Your people You willed to unite Yourself to the ministry of the priests. Grant them the grace of accepting Your holy will so that, in their ministry and in their life, they may seek only Your glory. Grant us who serve and hope to serve Your holy church the strength to follow Your call and submit ourselves to Your love and mercy that they may glorify Your holy name and that of Your only Son and Living Holy Spirit, Now and Forever. Amen.
Fr Tony Sarkis
Rabbi, Where are you Staying?
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In this week’s Gospel we find the disciples Andrew and Simon Peter asking our Lord a question that we in one way or another also find ourselves asking: “Teacher, where are you staying?” We especially ask this question when we are desperately seeking Christ in light of a tragedy, illness or loss or when we feel lost. However, it is a very important question that we should be asking ourselves not just in the times that we are feeling down but all the time. We need to ask ourselves this question on three levels. Firstly, where is Christ staying in “my” personal life? Secondly, where is Christ staying in “my” family life? And thirdly, where is Christ staying in “my” parish life?
On a personal level we need to find where Jesus is staying in our words, in our actions, in our working life, in our prayer life and in the inner depth of our souls and our faith life. On a family level we need to find where Jesus is staying in our relationship with our spouse, with our children, in our communication with one another and in our family prayer life. On a parish level we need to find where Jesus is staying in our communion and unity with one another, in our co-operation and collaboration with one another and especially in our worship and prayer life together.
Between Christmas and New Years, I was privileged to join a group of families from our parish in a spiritual camp whose theme was “For His Love is Never Ending.” Together with them, we sought to find Christ and revitalise His presence in our lives; personal, family and parish. The spiritual camp allowed each one of us on a personal, family and parish level to seek Christ, find out where He is staying on all levels and follow Him and reside with Him. This was a wonderful experience in which we lived the joy of God’s never ending love together as a family. We came to understand the mystery of His human nature and how we can be like Him so that our love too, can also be never ending.
In the near future, we are planning as a parish to build on this wonderful experience and prepare many events and activities including spiritual days and camps for our families because it is in our families that we will find where Jesus is staying. It is in our wider parish family that we will seek Him, follow Him and then stay with Him so that we can find the never ending love that He is.
Fr Tony Sarkis
Repentance, Freedom, Renewal, Salvation & Holiness
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In this Glorious Season of the Epiphany of our Lord, each one of us is called individually by name so that we can be immersed in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and uncover the splendour of living with Him through the celebration of the sacraments and especially the sacrament of baptism. During this Season we renew the effects of our own baptism and from it we gain repentance, freedom, renewal, salvation and holiness.
When we acknowledge our sins and mistakes and are truly sorry for them we are freed from the heaviness that their weight places on us. It can be compared to the feeling that we get when we immerse our heads in water and as we lift our head from the water there is a great grasp for breath, a sigh of relief, a loud “aaahhhh”. It is as if we have been saved from drowning in the waters of this earth and a great load has been removed. This freedom comes from God who has given us the liberty to choose between right and wrong and in turn leads to renewal. To renew oneself is not easy! It is very difficult to rid ourselves of old habits, attitudes and feelings and it is much easier said than done. However when we renew ourselves in the knowledge of Christ’s love and allow it to work in our lives, this is when we are filled with the self awareness of our faults and work hard to rectify them. Offcourse the ultimate reward in achieving this is salvation and holiness which can only come through Christ.
Just as we renew the effects of baptism in our own lives and families, we must also work hard to renew its effects in our parish life. Each one of us is called to acknowledge our faults and mistakes and re-immerse ourselves in the life giving waters of the Jordan which is our parish. It is here that we are called as disciples to cooperate in the mission of the church according to the charisms and gifts with which we have been endowed by the Holy and Life Giving Spirit. Let us all work together hand in hand in the knowledge of our Lord’s everlasting love so that we, our children and the generations that will follow, can truly reap the benefits of our actions.
