"The upright will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matthew 13:43)
This Sunday, our parish celebrates the feast of our patron saint, St Charbel. Looking at the life of this great saint, we see the greatness of God revealed through him. He lived a life of prayer and worship of God renouncing all material things and bearing his hardships with happiness. He was truly a "righteous who flourished like the palm tree and grew like a cedar of Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord." And over 100 years after his death in 1898, people continue to seek his intercession from all around the world.
We pray that, through the intercession of St Charbel, we may be granted the grace to live a holy life carrying Christ to all whom we encounter.
Reminder- Guardians Prayer with Msgr John Essef
This coming Wednesday 18 July at 8pm, our parishioners will have the privilege to hear Msgr John Esseff, a holy priest and former confessor to Blessed Mother Teresa, giving a talk at Guardians titled "The Healing Power of Confession".
Msgr Esseff was favoured by St. Padre Pio and thus has been blessed with distinctive charisms in the confessional. This is definitely a talk not to be missed! We hope to see you there!
Finally, I wish you all a Happy Feast Day! May you be blessed with many graces and spiritual gifts through the intercession of St Charbel!
I invite you all to click on this link to view our parish newsletter for this week with Arabic tranlation.
In God’s Love,
Fr. Dr. Antoine Tarabay
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20th Year—Number 1017 Sunday 15/07/2012
Season of the Pentecost - 8th Sunday
St Charbel’s Feast Day
St Charbel’s Feast Day
Feast day Readings: Romans 8: 28-39 & Matthew 13: 36-43
The upright will shine like the sun
“ Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, 'Explain to us the parable about the darnel in the field.' He said in reply, 'The sower of the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the Evil One; the enemy who sowed it, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of falling and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the upright will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Anyone who has ears should listen!.”
Matthew 13: 36-43
Reflection of the Week
St Charbel
Many non-Catholics question the fact that Catholics venerate saints. The reason we honour the saints is that we wish to celebrate the triumphant grace of God in specific individuals who have fought the good fight, won the race and kept the faith (Timothy 4: 7) They have reached the end for which we were all created. What could deserve more praise and rejoicing than this? Today we celebrate the feast of one such saint, St. Charbel, the patron saint of our parish.
When we look at the life of St. Charbel we see how God's Spirit continually acts in its own manner, producing greatness from the most unlikely sources. From our worldly definition of greatness, we would not view St. Charbel as being great. In today's society, we tend to see people who have power and authority as being great, while those who practise humility are seen as being weak and downtrodden.
Perhaps then, as people living in today's society, we, as Christians, have much to learn from the life of St. Charbel with regard to what constitutes greatness in the eyes of God. During St. Charbel's childhood, his peers ridiculed him for his spirituality but he did not let this obstacle stand in the way of his dream to achieve holiness. It should be the same for us too. We need to strive for goodness regardless of how difficult this can sometimes be. St. Charbel lived a life dedicated to prayer and worship of God. He cared little for the material things of this world and bore any hardships, which came his way in life with humility and acceptance. St. Charbel was exemplary for his politeness, obedience, honesty and humility as he lived out his monastic calling in the
Lebanese Maronite Order.
An author by the name of Irene Campernowne in her book "The One and Only Me" writes: "When I was in Lebanon, I told some Lebanese friends that I loved a certain Lebanese proverb all my life. An old man living in his mountain village wrote it out in Arabic for me…The proverb in English is:
"I will set my face to the wind and scatter my handful of seeds on high."
My little contribution to life…is taken by the great wind of God and scattered where the wind wants to scatter it…we need not bother too much about that part. Seeds grow. But we must have the courage to keep ourselves facing the wind…Peace and joy and fulfilment come when we sow our seed, and sometimes we see the harvest.
But even if we don't other people do and they are grateful. It is our gift to life and God.
This proverb could very well apply to the life of St. Charbel. As he went about his daily life, he would not have been aware of how the virtues he practised in his life were to have an impact on others, even to this day, nearly one hundred and six years after his death which occurred on the 24th of December, 1898 at the age of seventy. He is not a saint who can be easily forgotten for he was a true witness to Jesus seeing everything through Jesus' eyes and always being ready to repent and forgive others. He was always ready to listen to, and be guided by, the will of God and to interact with this will.
Through the life of St. Charbel, we can see that from infancy his life could be compared to a tiny seed that grew little by little, until it became an immense tree of the Kingdom, alive with the chatter of birds. (Mark 4:30-32). May we be inspired by the life of St. Charbel to keep on the path to holiness and not allow the temptations and materialism of this world to take us off the path to God. By the example of his life and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, may we be guided back on the right road, which leads to the eternal life which God our creator, desires for all of us.
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Prayer
May we, through the intercession of St. Charbel,
be granted the grace, strength and courage
to lead our lives as true followers of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
bringing His love to all those with whom we come in contact.
Amen
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Saints of the Week:
Saint Marina Nun of Qannoubine (8th C)
Maronite Feast Day: July 17.
Saint Marina of Qannoubine is also known as Saint Marina the Monk, sometimes known as Pelagia, Mary of Alexandria, Marinus, Marinos, or Marina the Syrian. She died in the sixth century and is considered a female Desert Father. Legend has it that her father, Eugene (Eugenius) wanted to become a monk so he took himself and his daughter disguised as a boy to the Monastery of Qannoubine in the Holy Valley in Lebanon. For seventeen years, she lived as a male monk named Marinus.
After this time, Marina was on a journey and stopped at an inn. The inn-keeper’s daughter desired her, thinking she was a man. When Marina refused her approaches, the inn-keeper’s daughter accused her of seduction. After she was accused of being the child’s father. Marina was dismissed from the monastery. She still did not reveal her identity and became a beggar at the monastery’s gates. Marina was forced to take custody of the child and was finally readmitted to the monastery with her "son." There, Marina performed the lowliest tasks and was forced also to perform severe penances. Her gender was finally revealed at her death. There her fellow monks lamented her, repented their own sin against her and revealed to everyone the false accusation which had destroyed the Monk Marinos' reputation. The mother of the child and her father, the main accusers, wept in repentance and asked forgiveness.
Elias (Elijah), Prophet (880 B.C.)
Maronite Feast Day: July 20
Elijah or Elias meaning "Yahweh is my God," was a prophet in Israel in the 9th century BC. He appears in the Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Mishnah, Christian Bible, and the Qur'an. According to the Books of Kings, Elijah raised the dead, brought fire down from the sky, and ascended into heaven in a chariot. In the Book of Malachi, Elijah's return is prophesied "before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord," making him a harbinger of the Messiah.
The New Testament describes how both Jesus and John the Baptist are compared with Elijah, and on some occasions, thought by some to be manifesta-tions of Elijah, and Elijah appears with Moses during the Transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Hermon.
Elijah is also a figure in various folk-loric traditions. In Bulgaria, he is known as "Elijah the Thunderer" and in folklore is held responsible for summer storms, hail, rain, thunder and dew.
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The Maronites and Lebanon (19)
The Years of Difficulties
During the thirteenth century, Lebanon knew some decades of relative peace. The Maronites were even able to undertake the construction of a number of Churches, an activity which Patriarch DOUAIHY recorded as follows: 'At that time, Christianity spread throughout the East and was openly proclaimed. Bronze bells were rung to summon the faithful to prayer and to the sacred services.
Those who received the out-pourings of God's grace founded convents and built Churches, for the people yearned to serve the Almighty and to perform good deeds’. Father Basil of Besharri had three daughters: Mariam, Thecla, and Salomeh. Mariam constructed the shrine of St Saba in Besharri in Mount Lebanon; Salomeh, that of St Daniel in Hadath; and Thecla, that of St George in Bkerkasha as well as two churches in Koura..' (The Annals, 104)
What happened after the defeat of the Crusaders?
By 1291 the Crusaders were all but defeated, but the relationship that they had made with the Maronites was to endure. These Christians of Lebanon were most responsive to western influence and in the Latin states they were accorded the rights and privileges pertaining to Latin bourgeoisie including the right to own land. Some Maronites followed the Crusaders to Cyprus where their descendants make up a healthy Maronite community.
It is estimated that during the Crusades 50,000 Maronites fell in battle under the standard of the Cross.
After the departure of the Crusaders, the Maronites came under attack from the Mamlouks. They suffered every humiliation, while their Churches were set on fire, their villages plundered, and their vineyards destroyed.
”On Monday, the second day of Muharram, Akush Pasha, governor of Damascus, marched at the head of a military force into the mountains of Kesrouan. The soldiers invested these mountains and, having dismounted scaled the slopes from all sides.
”The governor invaded the hills, and his soldiers trampled underfoot a land whose inhabitants had believed it impregnable. The enemy occupied the heights, destroyed the villages, and wreaked havoc in the vineyards. They massacred the people and made prisoners of them. The mountains were left deserted.” (The Annals, 288)
The Patriarchs themselves had their share of the general misfortune, suffering as much as any. One was tortured, another harassed, another compelled to flee, another put on trial, and yet another burnt alive.
”In 1283 Patriarch Daniel of Hadshit in person led his men in their defence against the Mamlouk soldiery, after the latter had assaulted the Jubbeh of Bsharri. He succeeded in checking their advance before Ehden for forty days, and the Mamlouks captured Ehden only after they had seized the Patriarch by a ruse. ”In 1367, patriarch Gabriel was conveyed from Hjoula, his home district where he had taken refuge during the persecutions, down to Tripoli, where he was burnt alive at the stake. His tomb still stands in Bab el Ramel, at the gates of Tripoli.” ”In 1402, there was great hardship. Many of the dead remained without burial, many of which died of hunger. It was a tragedy without parallel.” (DOUAIHY, The Annals, 338).
References
http://phoenicia.org. & http://www.opuslibani.org.lb/
Next Sunday: The Years of Difficulties (2)
The peaceful message
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