A Profound Resonating Silence
Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Today we begin our journey to Christmas. The birth of our Lord is certainly one of the most joyful Seasons in the life of the Church. Today’s Gospel speaks to us about the visit of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah and next week’s Gospel speaks to us about the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary. It is in these two announcements that we are faced with the Theology of contradictions. Even though Zechariah was a priest who believed, he was weak in faith. He symbolises the Old Testament. Mary on the other hand was young but strong in faith. She represents and symbolises the New Testament, the new beginning. Mary responded with great joy and enthusiasm and her “Yes” continues to resonate today. On the other hand Zechariah’s doubt brought him into a deep silence which also resonated and continues to resonate till this day.
This profound resonating silence allowed Zechariah to contemplate the great mystery of God and think more carefully about God’s will for his life. Through his silence he was able to discover God, so much so that when John was born he cried out with joy and enthusiasm (in the same way that Mary did) “God is compassionate”. If we contemplate on this for a moment, we realise how important silence is in our lives. If we make an effort to be silent and listen, we give ourselves the opportunity to discover many beautiful things. We start listening to what others have to say, we start listening to our own internal thoughts and emotions but most importantly through all of this we listen to what God has to say. Silence allows us to sift through our thoughts and discern what is important and what is superfluous. Silence allows us to make the right decisions so that when we do speak, our words resonate the voice of God.
On Saturday four men who have been discerning and listening to God’s voice were ordained to the Subdiaconate. Three of them are from our parish, Ron Hassarati, Robert Albayeh and Charbel Dib. All of them, like Zechariah are married. It is wonderful that we can continue this beautiful tradition in our Church and it is truly a blessing. Ron is a father of three and has been serving with Monsignor Shora in the Hills Parochial District. Ron has been a teacher for many years at the Maronite College of the Holy Family. Robert is a father of three and is very passionate about helping and showing mercy to all those in need. He has been working with the homeless for many years and is the coordinator of our parish charity group, Heaven on Earth. Charbel is a father of two and has served many committees in this parish including Fersen. He is currently working as Resource Coordinator at the Institute of Mission for the Catholic Diocese of Parrmatta. Robert Albayeh and Charbel Dib will be serving here at Our Lady of Lebanon. On behalf of all the priests and parishioners, I would like to congratulate them and I ask you all to pray for them as they begin this new phase of their journey.
Father Tony Sarkis
Consecrating & Renewing ourselves in Christ
Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Happy New Liturgical Year! Welcome to the new liturgical year in our Maronite Church. As with all Traditions, the Maronite Church organises its Liturgical and Biblical life around the life and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. The aim of this is to enable us to cultivate a life which is centred on Christ so that we can in turn think and act like him so that we can enter one day into his glory. Each day brings with it a different Epistle and Gospel Reading and each Season brings with it a Liturgical dimension that allows us to discover the reality of our Lord in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. This Liturgical dimension is beautifully represented with the change in colours of that Season. This colour change allows us to transition from one Season to another and emphasises the beauty and symbolic significance of that particular Season.
This prayerful journey towards the Kingdom of God is two-fold. It is individual and it is communal. Through our individual reflection on the scriptures and the lives of the saints we grow in our individual Christian knowledge and depth. Through our communal participation we grow together as a Church. Do you ever notice how each time you listen to a particular passage from the Gospel or the Epistles you discover and learn something new? It is the same with the different seasons. Although they are repeated through the liturgy, each time we participate in them we experience something new in our relationship with each person of the Holy Trinity. This means that each year that both the Church and the faithful live and experience deeper faith which elevates us towards the Holy Trinity so that we can be united with it and with each other.
This year we will celebrate the Consecration and Renewal on one Sunday (being this Sunday). It is fitting that we start the year off with the Sunday of the Consecration and Renewal of the Church by actually focussing on the Church. The Gospels focus on the Jewish temple and Jesus as the New Temple. We are asked to renew our lives and reconsecrate ourselves to Christ and his life of redemption. Each year this helps us to refocus and put our lives back on the path to holiness. Let us all try this new year to make a resolution that allows us to do this.
On a parish note, we are now entering into the joyful time of the year where we celebrate the birth of our Lord. The Pastoral Council met this week to start planning for Christmas. Some dates that you need to start putting in your diaries include: Christmas Novena starts on Thursday 15 December and Carols by Candlelight will be held on Friday 16 December. On Wednesday, His Excellency Bishop Antoine-Charbel celebrated the 7pm Mass to commemorate the souls of the deceased Bishop, priests and sisters who have served our Eparchy in Australia. On Thursday night our Stewardship Committee met to discuss important matters relating to the maintenance of the church and its facilities. Finally, as we begin this Liturgical year and to celebrate the conclusion of the year of Mercy, His Excellency will ordain four new subdeacons next Saturday 12 November in a private ceremony. These are Robert Albayeh, Charbel Dib, Ron Hassarati and Wade Ayoub. Three of these men are sons of this blessed parish. Please join me in praying for them and their families as they begin their journey of consecrating their lives to Christ.
Father Tony Sarkis
Which side will you be on?
Dearest Brothers and Sisters, After seven weeks of journeying with the Lord and reflecting on the cross we finally arrive at the pivotal point. The Gospel passages of the last seven weeks have been leading us and preparing us for this moment, the moment of judgement. This is the moment where the sheep will be separated from the goats. The good will be separated from the bad! But how can this be? The one who tells us not to judge is actually telling us that we will be judged.
We all know and understand this parable very well. One of the most important words in it is the word “I”. It is repeated eleven times. Jesus actually identifies himself with the people that he is speaking about. When he refers to the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned and so on, he is referring to himself. He is the “I”. After all, we are created in his image and likeness and he is present in us. Therefore when we help the person who is in need of us, we don’t help them for the sake of helping them but as Christians there is that added dimension that we are helping them because they are in the image of Christ. Jesus is shouting out to us “this is me.” This is where the Kingdom of Heaven exists. Contrary to what we imagine it to be, it exists where the poor are, where the sick are and so on. It exists wherever Jesus is! Let’s face it, if the human Jesus was here today in 2016, who would he be with? He would be with the drug addict, the prostitute, the poor, the sick, the outcast, no different to his presence over 2000 years ago. The Kingdom of God is at hand and it is at hand wherever Jesus is present. Today’s Gospel is a new law for us to abide by. Knowing what we know through this new law, we no longer have an excuse to be indifferent to the cry of those in need. On the basis of our actions, we will definitely be judged!
In the light of this, we need to ask ourselves a very important question: if the Last Judgment was to take place today, would we be on the side of the sheep or on the side of the goats?
Merciful Father in Heaven, Give us the ability to recognize your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ in our brothers and sisters. Make us witnesses of his living presence amongst us on this earth through our actions so that we can truly say that your Kingdom is at hand and so that on the day when you will judge us, we will enter into your eternal majesty and glorify you, your only Son and your life-giving Spirit forever.
Father Tony Sarkis
