Sunday, 18 March 2012

Season of the Great Lent - Sunday of the Paralytic Man

Dear parishioners and friends of St Charbel’s Parish,
This Sunday, the Maronite Church commemorates the Sunday of the Paralytic where Christ heals the paralysed man. One point that always strikes me in this Gospel is the faith of the four men who brought the paralysed man to Jesus. The Bible tells us that since they could not get the man to Jesus because of the crowd, they lowered him through the roof. The effort and determination of these four men should make us reflect on our own actions and whether we also bring people to Jesus with faith that He alone can heal them, physically and spiritually. Are we sensitive to the needs of others? 
As charity is part of our practice of the faith especially during lent, I invite you all to contribute to the annual appeal for Beit Chabab Hospital for Handicapped – Lebanon, that is launched every year in the Paralytic Sunday. Your prayers and donations are a sign of solidarity with the less fortunate of our brothers and sisters the handicapped. 
I invite you to read Kadishat, our weekly parish newsletter which includes reflections on the readings of the week as well as other insightful articles and our parish activities: 
Please click here to download the full Kadishat newsletter. 
I wish you all a blessed week!
In Christ,

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20th Year—Number 1000 Sunday 18/03/2012
Season of the Great Lent
Sunday of the Paralytic Man
Sunday’s Readings: 1 Timothy 5: 24-25, 6: 1-5 & Mark 2: 1-12 

I say to you, stand up
“ When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 

Then some people came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven", or to say, "Stand up and take your mat and walk"? 

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ he said to the paralytic ‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’ ” Mark 2: 1-12

Reflection of the Week

The ultimate sickness
In the healing of the paralytic man, we see Jesus healing the ultimate sickness - the sickness of sin. 
Sin is a paralysis of the spirit. Jesus cures the man of physical paralysis as a sign of His power to liberate him from the deeper underlying paralysis of sin. It is important that Jesus heals in response to faith; in this instance, not the faith of the man himself, but the faith of his friends (Mark 2:6).

Just as the paralytic man needs his friends to enable him to move, so we need a community to take us to Jesus. In this scene, Jesus is determined to show the scribes how wrong they are in their conception of God (Mark 2:6). 

For Jesus, God is at the heart of the human condition, God is love; therefore wherever there is God, there is love. Conversely, wherever we find love we can be sure that God is present. In this scene, Jesus wanted to reveal, that He was God, for to forgive sin is beyond the power of man, and is a particular sign of divinity. 

God is a source of forgiveness, and wherever God is, there we find forgiveness. But God is at the heart of people and so He forgives us through each other. It is true as the scribes say, that only God can forgive sin (Mark 2:7). 

Jesus showed that God does this through people. A person united to God can be a channel to others of God's forgiveness and peace.

Life's Journey
"From sin to union with God, that is the journey which each one of us has to travel; it is our human pilgrimage. Day by day we have to travel along that road, from that which separates us from God to that which unites us to Him."
Cardinal Basil Hume O.S.B.

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Lent - The Call to Change
The Lord's expectation and a theme of Lent is that we change and become more deeply committed to His way of life. While the call to change and to become more like Him is strong and demanding in the Gospel, we also know that God is patient with our change and growth. Conversion to the way of Jesus is a lifelong process.

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Forgiveness
From the Middle Ages comes this legend about a nun who claimed that she had had a vision of Christ. The bishop asked, "Sister, did you talk to Him?" And she said, "Yes, I did." He continued, "If you have another vision, ask Christ this question: "What was the bishop's great sin before he became a bishop?" He knew that only God and his own confessor would know. About three months later, the nun made an appointment to see the bishop. When she came in, he said, "Did you see our Lord again?" "Yes, I did." "And what did he say?" She smiled and answered, "The Lord said, "I don't remember anymore."
Author Unknown

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Saint of the Week
19th March—Saint Joseph Feast Day

“When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do”
Matthew 1: 24

St Joseph is recognised as the foster father of Jesus. He is recognised in this way because our Lord was not conceived by human means, but rather by the intervention of the Holy Spirit.

St Joseph was from the line of David (Luke 2:4) which saw the prophecies come true that the Messiah would be born from the house of David.

As a carpenter, St Joseph was engaged in a respectable profession of the time and he would have imparted that knowledge to his son along with all the other beliefs and traditions.

St Joseph is described in scripture as a righteous man (Matt. 1:19). This means that he always sought to do what was right in all his dealings. This righteousness showed itself in the way he handled the difficult situation of Mary’s pregnancy. In order not to embarrass her, he chose to dismiss her privately, until told otherwise by an angel of the Lord.

St Joseph is the patron of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus' public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him. Joseph is also patron of the universal Church, fathers, carpenters, and social justice. He is also recognised as St Joseph the worker.

We can imitate the life and virtue of this man in several ways. Firstly, in our dealings we can use his example and always choose to do what is right, in business and in our social life. We need to ask God through the intercession of the Holy Spirit for the moral courage needed to do what is right. Our choices are difficult sometimes, and it is only by imitating the virtue of St Joseph that we are able to find the strength for our righteous actions.

Fathers can use the example of St Joseph in their daily life. One can imagine St Joseph as the ideal father to Jesus and husband to Mary. Slow to anger, patient and gentle, wise and virtuous, only speaking kind words from a gentle heart.

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The Maronites and Lebanon (3)
“Lebanon and the Church before the Maronite (1)”

Lebanon was the first country to welcome the church, and the Lebanese were the first people to receive the promise of salvation which originated in Palestine.

What were the reasons for this?

The reasons for this are: Geographical: Palestine the country where Jesus lived is linked to Lebanon without any natural obstacles. 

Historical: Jesus preached and performed some of His miracles in South Lebanon and Galilee. Our Lord lived in Galilee which was dominated by the Can’anite-Phoenician race since the days of Isaiah. 

Cultural: Christianity was not alien to the inhabitants of Lebanon and was not drastically different from some of the ancient Lebanese beliefs. Because of its natural, intellectual and cultural characteristics, the ancient indigenous of Lebanon were the most likely to accept Christianity following its initiation in Palestine.
Lebanon as a refuge for the persecuted church

When the disciples carried out their mission, persecution began. St. Stephen the first Christian martyr was stoned by the Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 7: 55 -60). Persecution of the early Christians forced some followers to seek refuge in Lebanon around 34 A.D. (Acts 7:19). 

There is no doubt that the early persecuted Christians were highly welcomed by the Lebanese as they welcomed Jesus before them and shared together the same faith. Moreover, it is mentioned in Acts that while St. Paul was returning to Jerusalem from his 3rd apostolic journey, boarded at Rhodes a ship ready to sail for Phoenicia. Loading at Tyre, he found a substantial Christian community there (Acts 21: 1-7). 

By reading these verses we can notice clearly that Christianity was implanted in the Phoenician capital at the beginning of the apostolic era. Christianity also spread in Sidon as it had in Tyre. In Acts it is stated that St. Paul was allowed, on his way to Rome as a prisoner around 60 A.D., to meet his friends in that city. (Act 27: 3-4).

Lebanon is between Antioch and Jerusalem

What helped the growth of the church throughout the coastal Lebanese cities is their location on the way between Jerusalem (the mother & first church) and Antioch (second capital of the Christian faith). The disciples had to pass through Lebanon on their way from Jerusalem to Antioch in the north and vice versa. So after Tyre and Sidon, Christianity spread throughout the coastal Lebanese cities. St. Libby Otadaos, known as Judas (one of the 12 Apostles) came to Beirut after Jesus's ascension and preached Christianity. 

He built a church in Beirut and was martyred and buried in the city. Pope St. Clement I (88-89 A.D.), the disciple of St. Peter revealed that St. Peter himself appointed John-Mark as Bishop of Byblos and Maron or Maronos as Bishop of Tripoli, as well as designating a Bishop for Beirut.

Next Sunday “Lebanon and the Church before the Maronite (2)”
Did the Lebanese Bishops participate in any of the early church councils?







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