Message From The Bishop - Year of Maronite Spirituality
Dearly beloved,
The journey of the Year of Maronite Spirituality has started in our Eparchy with the celebration of the Feast of St Maroun. For the next twelve months, our Eparchy will be focusing on the Maronite spirituality and heritage, with the motto: A Journey towards Holiness in Today’s World.
This year was announced as a result of the recommendation of the Maronite Diocesan Assembly. I am pleased to announce that we have started implementing these recommendations with the establishment of the two Maronite Offices for Family and for Youth.
There are seven foundations to living our Maronite spirituality and faith. These are:
- A prayer life. Prayer is essential to build a relationship with Christ. We are called to pray individually, as a family and as a community. “Pray, hope, and don’t worry. God is merciful and will hear your prayer,” writes Padre Pio.
- Reading the Bible. We cannot love our faith if we do not know it. And the Bible is the source of our faith.
- The Sacraments. The celebration of the Sacraments is a vital part of the life of the Church, especially the Eucharist. There is no greater gift that God can give us.
- The Saints. The Saints and holy Martyrs are bright examples of the faith for us. Reading about their lives and their writings helps us grow in faith and knowledge.
- The Liturgical Seasons. Throughout the year, the Church family celebrates the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as feasts and saints. This journey we take together, as a community, brings us together as one family and strengthens our faith.
- Charity. Actions speak louder than words. If we attend mass every Sunday and know our faith but do not live it, we are but “a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal” (1Cor13:1). Works of love are a necessary part of our spirituality.
- Mary. We honour and love Mary because Jesus did so. Mary prays with us and for us and she leads us to her Son.
As we celebrate the Sunday of the Righteous and the Just, we look up to and honour the Glorified Church in heaven. We hope to live by their example of holiness and heroism so that, we too, may be drawn by the immense love of the Father, saved by the sacrifice of the Son, and sanctified by the descent of the Holy Spirit, so that we attain unity in the faith … to the extent of the full stature of Christ (Eph 4:13).
