A Reason to Rejoice
This Sunday in our Maronite Liturgy, we celebrate Trinity Sunday. A week after Pentecost, this Sunday celebrates the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, fully revealed. This is not to say that the Trinity was not fully revealed in previous times, but at the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is given to us. It is through the Spirit that we can now call God “Abba” and it is through the Spirit that we become brothers and sisters of Christ.
On Friday 25th May we held our annual Gala Fundraiser Night in celebration of the great milestone of the 40th Anniversary of the Consecration and Opening of Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Harris Park. The foundation stone for the parish was actually laid in 1970, almost 50 years ago, but the building structure itself was officially opened and blessed by Archbishop Abdo Khalife on Sunday 6th August 1978 and this year of 2018 marks its 40th anniversary.
With over 30,000 parishioners, Our Lady of Lebanon Parish has grown into the largest Maronite Parish in Australia, and we continue striving to be a sanctuary for thirsty souls from the beginning to the end of our earthly journey. Centred on the Eucharist and our Blessed Mother, the Divine Liturgy provides us with spiritual nourishment necessary to endure, empowering us with the Sacraments as we persevere in Faith, Hope and Love. Wherever we go, our Maronite spirit flows from our veins and embraces the world around us… whether we are here for 40 years or 400 years, our presence makes its mark.
The significance of celebrating this 40th Anniversary can be related to the many biblical events that we are most familiar with. The number 40 is mentioned 146 times in the Bible and is symbolic of a period of trials, struggles, and testing of faith. And so, today, united as one Parish family, we celebrate our own struggles and achievements over the past 40 years of continuous construction, in the physical and temporal sense. 40 years of building up our Church is monumental and should be celebrated with gratitude, glorifying Almighty God for His goodness to us. None of our past and ongoing projects would have been made possible without the support and tireless generosity of our all our sponsors, parishioners, countless volunteers and of course the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother and Patroness of our Maronite Church.
On Saturday 26th May, our Parish held a celebratory Mass in honour of His Excellency Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay and his 25th Anniversary to the Priesthood. We pray through the intercession of Our Lady and St Charbel, for strength and perseverance for His Excellency as he leads the flock of Christ towards Heaven.
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I will not leave you orphaned
This Sunday marks the commencement of a new season in our Maronite Church, the Season of Pentecost. This is a special time in our Church and the universal Church, as it celebrates the anniversary of the first Church and the descent of the Holy Spirit, on Mary and the Apostles, in the Upper Room.
Pentecost is a time of great joy in the fulfilment of the promise of Christ “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” (Jn 14:16) This Paraclete is the Holy Spirit, proclaimed in our Creed as “the giver of life.” The sending of the Holy Spirit ensures that we are not left orphaned but rather we become adopted children of the Father and brothers and sisters of Jesus. This Paraclete grants us a sense of belonging; we become a Church united in faith, hope and love; we become the voice of God, the voice of righteousness, mercy and forgiveness in our world; we become beacons of love and hope to the unloved and hopeless.
This special Feast of Pentecost will be celebrated in a special Maronite way with the Rite of Adoration of Pentecost. During this special rite, the clergy together with the faithful will adore three times, the Holy Trinity. The first adoration will be to the Father, the Creator. The second will be in adoration of the Son, through whom all things were made.
The final adoration will be to the Holy Spirit, the giver of life. The blessing of the water that becomes holy and the sprinkling of this water will also follow this. The sprinkling over the heads of the faithful is a reminder of our baptism and the baptismal promise we make. This coming Tuesday, 22nd May, is the Feast of St Rita and I invite all parishioners to join us in prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord for giving us the example of St Rita and seeking her intercession. Also on the 26th May we will be celebrating a Mass in honour of His Excellency Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay’s 25th Anniversary to the Priesthood and 5th Anniversary of his Episcopate. Furthermore, there will be a procession for the end of May, the month of Mary and this will also be held on the 26th May at 5pm.
I encourage all our faithful parishioners to attend these special and commemorative celebrations and I pray that our lives always reflect and glorify the Holy Trinity. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our stewardship committee for their continued dedication and work within our parish and to all committees who are working tirelessly to ensure our parish is vibrant and alive in the love of Christ.
Seated at the Right Hand of God
This Sunday, although it is the 7th and final week of the Season of the Glorious Resurrection, our Maronite Church celebrates the Feast of the Ascension. This feast is celebrated forty days after the Resurrection when Jesus ascends to heaven and takes his rightful place at the right hand of God. Before leaving, Jesus instructs his disciples to “go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel,” (Mk 16:1) and this is exactly what they did. Even though Jesus was no longer physically present with them on Earth, he was still with them in spirit; he was with them in his word and in their love. Furthermore, Jesus promised the Apostles that he would send them the Paraclete who would also help them and guide them but that they would have to wait for this to happen. Therefore, the period of waiting is very important because it is a time of great anticipation when we should be in deep prayer and charitable action, carrying out the commandment to preach the Gospel to all. This is not the job only of the Priests and religious but also the duty of each and every baptised member. This proclamation can be done through word and deed so that all may know that we are Christians and who our Lord and God is.
On this blessed Feast of the Ascension, let us lift up our cares and worries, our troubles and stresses, our joys and blessings to heaven. The Lord is waiting for us to be lifted up, all that is needed is to stretch out our hand and ask him to do so.
This Sunday is also Mother’s Day and on behalf of all the Clergy and staff of Our Lady of Lebanon Co-Cathedral, I would like to wish our mothers a blessed and beautiful Mother’s Day; may Our Lady, our mother, intercede for you always. We also npray for all those mothers who have gone before us to their heavenly rest, may the Lord grant them eternal rest in His Heavenly kingdom.
This week, we commenced work on the shelter in the grotto area. The estimated time for completion of this project is 6 weeks. Therefore, we ask of all our blessed parishioners for your patience and understanding as the work continues throughout the upcoming weeks. This shelter is for the benefit of all the parish and we apologise for any inconvenience this work may cause to anyone.
