At this time, the Maronite Church continues to celebrate the Epiphany in which we reflect on the manifestation of Our Lord as Son of God and our Saviour. Another feast is celebrated in the Maronite Church at this time (17 January) and that is the Feast of St Anthony the Great, also known as St Anthony of the Desert.
St Anthony was born in Egypt in 251 to wealthy parents. In 285, at the age of 34, he was touched by the words of Jesus to the rich man "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21). St Anthony felt that this message was meant for him directly so he gave away some of his property and sold the remaining property, donated the money to the poor and went to live a poor and ascetic life in the desert. St Anthony is regarded as the founder of Monastic life in the Oriental Church.
We kindly ask you to keep the monks of St Charbel’s and all the monks of the Lebanese congregations (Lebanese Maronite Order, Antonine Maronite Order and Mariamite Maronite Order) in your prayers as they renew their vows on St Anthony’s feast day.
On this occasion, I would also like to wish all those who bear the name of St Anthony (or its derivatives) a Happy and Blessed Feast Day!
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In God’s Love,
Fr. Dr. Antoine Tarabay
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21st Year—Number 1044 Sunday 20/01/2013
Season of the Epiphany
Priests Sunday
Sunday’s Readings: 1 Timothy 4: 6-16 & Luke 12: 42-48
On a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know.
“The Lord replied 'Who then is the wise and trustworthy steward whom the master will place over his house-hold to give them at the proper time their allowance of food? Blessed that servant if his master's arrival finds him doing exactly that. I tell you truly he will put him in charge of everything that he owns.
But if the servant says to himself ،"My master is taking his time coming " and sets about beating the menservants and the servant-girls and eating and drinking and getting drunk his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as the unfaithful.
'The servant who knows what his master wants but has got nothing ready and done nothing in accord with those wishes will be given a great many strokes of the lash. The one who did not know but has acted in such a way that he deserves a beating will be given fewer strokes. When someone is given a great deal, a great deal will be demanded of that person; when someone is entrusted with a great deal of that person even more will be expected.” Luke 12: 42-48
Reflection of the week
The journey to Jerusalem provides a training site for Christ and the apostles. Their conversations unfold like the story of our lives. All passages in life - school, grief, work - require faithfulness to the goal and watchfulness along the way. We need to concentrate on living the life of a servant rather than being concerned with the timing of the final revelation of Jesus.
As disciples we will be judged on our service to others. If we follow Jesus in a life of service, we will enjoy the intimacy of the Messianic Banquet with Jesus and experience Jesus Himself ministering to our needs. It is something offered to everyone who follows Jesus faithfully.
Reflection
We are all called, as baptized Christians, to share at different levels in the priestly mission entrusted to us by Jesus, thus it is funda-mental that we offer the sacrifice of our own lives in the service of others.
There are some among us however, who have a special calling to be ordained priests. They have a special obligation to carry out their ministry of service in a manner taught by Jesus. Leadership for Jesus is a matter of self-sacrificing service.
The only priesthood is that of Christ and it is entrusted into the hands of the priest who has a fundamental role in the sacrifice of the Eucharist, as well as teaching the Word of God and being a shep-herd helping the people of God on their pilgrimage through the difficulties of modern living.
Through ordination the priest receives authority and dignity and a heavy responsibility. Christ gives the help needed to carry this responsibility. Through faith, trust and hope, may priests be inspired throughout their lives to love and serve the people of God.
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To Know Christ
A dialogue between a recent convert and an unbelieving friend.
“So you have been converted to Christ?”
“Yes.”
“Then you must know a great deal about him. Tell me: what country was he born in?”
“I don’t know.”
“What age was he when he died?”
“I don’t know.”
“You certainly know very little for a man who claims to be converted to Christ!”
“You are right. I am ashamed at how little I know about him. But this much I know: Three years ago I was a drunkard. I was in debt. My family was falling apart. My wife and children would dread my coming home each day. Now I have given up drink: we are out of debt: ours is a happy home. All this Christ has done. This much I know of him!”
To really know. That is, to be transformed by what one knows.
(By Fr. Anthony de Mello S. J.)
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Reading 1 Timothy 4:6-16
Paul speaks of his expectations regarding the ministry of Timothy. God desires salvation especially, but not only, for those who believe. The saving power of God is experienced by those who believe and who experience now the life of Christ and look forward in hope to being with him forever in glory. God also has ways of drawing to salvation those who have never heard of Christ. This mystery is left to the unrevealed ways of God's mercy. Through the laying on of hands, the power of the Holy Spirit works to assist in the priestly mission of those who have been called in a special way to serve and bear witness to Christ.
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Saint Of The Week
25 January
Conversion of St Paul
«Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation.»
One would not have expected these words to be spoken so profoundly to the heart of St. Paul. For he, then known as Saul, had spent such time and with such vigor had persecuted the followers of Christ. Why does the Lord shine His light all about him? Why does He speak to him and reveal Himself to him? Why is it this man who is picked to bring the Name of Jesus to all the nations?
Perhaps it was his very vigor in persecuting His followers Jesus admired. Perhaps his sincerity and commitment to this cause in the name of God He knew He could use for the cause of justice and right. Perhaps he is a sign to us all that none is beyond the redemption the Lord offers. We know only that he who was persecuting the Church now works to build it up. We know only the story of this great Apostle to the world.
«Recover your sight,» Ananias says to this Saul, and so Paul, once blinded by the light of the Lord, now has his eyes open to see. So he who once went about with scales on his eyes, he whose vision was once so prevented from realizing the truth of the Jesus in his midst... he who was once so like his brother Pharisees, now sees. And what he sees is not simply Ananias standing before him. What he sees standing before him in this faithful disciple of Jesus, is Christ Himself. And he realizes whom he has been persecuting, and repents. And so he is baptized. And so his mission, one wrought in the suffering of Christ, begins.
«Praise the Lord, all you nations; glorify Him, all you peoples!»
are the words of our psalmist, but they could as easily be the exhor-tation of the Apostle Paul. Having himself believed in the Good News proclaimed to all creation and accepted Baptism into its way, he himself now brings so many others to walk along the same path. Great signs accompany him, and his words to our ears are as those of Jesus to him, for now he is such a strong part of the Body of Christ, persecuted by this world and calling it to salvation. On this day all our hearts should turn to the Lord, that we might join Paul and profess our faith in His Name.
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Devotions to Honour Our Lady of Lourdes
The next mass and blessing of the sick will take place on Sunday 10 February 2013 at
Our Lady of Lourdes, Earlwood.
His Eminence Cardinal Pell will be the Principal Celebrant.
Devotions will begin with the rosary at 2.30pm and followed by mass at 3.00pm then the blessing of the sick. Parking is available. In case of rain, the event will be held in the Church.
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COMMUNION AND WITNESS
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION for the MIDDLE EAST (14)
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION for the MIDDLE EAST (14)
PART TWO (4)
The consecrated life
51. Monasticism in its different forms was born in the Middle East and gave rise to several of the Churches in the region.[47] Monks and nuns have devoted their lives to prayer, sanctifying the day and night hours and bringing to their prayers the concerns and needs of the Church and all mankind. May they be a constant reminder to everyone of how important prayer is for the life of the Church and of each member of the faithful. May monasteries also be places where the faithful can find guidance in learning to pray!
52. The consecrated life, whether contemplative or apostolic, is a deepening of the consecration received in Baptism. Men and women religious seek to follow Christ more radically through the profession of the evangelical counsels of obedience, chastity and poverty.[48] Their unreserved gift of self to the Lord and their disinterested love for every individual are a form of witness to God and a real sign of his love for the world. Lived as a precious gift of the Holy Spirit, the consecrated life is an indispensable support for the Church’s life and pastoral activity.[49] Religious communities will be prophetic signs of communion in their Churches and throughout the world if they are truly grounded in the word of God, fraternal communion and the witness of service (cf. Acts 2:42). In the coenobitic life, each community or monastery is meant to be a privileged setting for union with God and communion with one’s neighbour. It is a place where consecrated persons learn each day to start afresh from Christ[50] in order to be faithful to their mission in prayer and recollection, and to be for all the faithful a sign of the eternal life which has already begun here below (cf. 1 Pet 4:7).
Whatever the canonical status of your religious institute, always be open to cooperate, in a spirit of communion with the Bishop, in pastoral and missionary activities. The religious life is one of personal devotion to Christ, the Head of the Body (cf. Col 1:18; Eph 4:15) and it reflects the indissoluble bond between Christ and his Church. Since this is so, support families in their Christian vocation and encourage parishes to be open to the various priestly and religious callings. This will serve to consolidate the life of communion for the sake of witness within the local Church.[51] Never grow tired of responding to the appeals of the men and women of our time, pointing out the right path and the profound meaning of human life.
54. I would like to add a further consideration directed not only to consecrated persons alone, but to all the members of Eastern Catholic Churches. It concerns the evangelical counsels, which are particularly characteristic of the monastic life, a form of religious life which played a decisive role in the origins of numerous Churches sui iuris and continues to do so in their life today. It seems to me that we ought to meditate long and hard on the evangelical counsels: obedience, chastity and poverty, in order to discover anew their beauty, the power of their witness and their pastoral dimension. There can only be inner rebirth of the faithful, the believing community and the whole Church, if each person, according to his or her vocation, makes a determined and unequivocal return to the search for God (quaerere Deum) which helps us to define and live authentically our relationship to God, neighbour and self. This certainly concerns the Churches sui iuris, and the Latin Church as well.
Next Sunday: The laity
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