Welcome to this week’s edition of Kadishat, St Charbel’s Parish weekly newsletter!
This week, we read from Matthew 24:1-14 where Jesus warns His followers that they will be confronted with persecution, wickedness, false teaching, and temptation. The real enemy is Satan who uses fear and hatred to provoke hostility in others towards those who follow Christ. And how does Jesus respond to this hostility and opposition? He responds with love and truth. As such, Jesus tells us that only love can vanquish all vices.
Together, we pray "Lord, by your cross you have redeemed the world. Fill us with happiness and confidence and make us bold witnesses of Your saving truth that others may know the happiness and freedom of the Gospel."
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St Charbel's Annual Dinner
I would like to invite you all to St Charbel's Annual Dinner which will be held on 13 October 2012 at St Charbel's Multi-Purpose Hall. All funds raised on the night will go towards the launch of our new project, St Charbel's Nursing Home. This is a much-needed project for our community so we count on your support to see it through.
Tickets are $75 per person. To get your tickets or sponsor the event, please contact the Monastery on 9740 0998.
We are also holding a raffle on a 2012 Ford Fiesta. Tickets are $5 each and are available at the parish office.
I entrust you all to the care of Our Lady and wish you a blessed week!
In God’s Love,
Fr. Dr. Antoine Tarabay
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20th Year—Number 1027 Sunday 23/09/2012
Season of the Cross
1st Sunday
Sunday’s Readings: 1 Corinthians 15: 19-34 & Matthew 24: 1-14
With the increase of lawlessness,
love in most people will grow cold
Reflection of the Week
In today’s Gospel, there are five signs that Jesus wants us to understand, and in each case he's saying that this will happen, but it's not the end. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived or thrown off track, to give up our faith or our focus, to quit our responsibilities.Deceptive voices
Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Many in today's world are harder to identify. Many voices today offer us the promise of financial security. They point to a way of obtaining spiritual authority or personal power. They claim to know the place of power, to have the secret to success. Having turned away from the truth, people will follow anyone who speaks with authority and promises to help solve their problems and give meaning to daily life. Jesus issues the warning: "Don't be deceived."
Wars and rumours of wars
Wars will always happen. But this doesn't mean that God has lost control. Jesus is saying that this is not indicative of the end of everything.
Natural disasters
Famines, earthquakes, and outbreaks of disease have been with us since the beginning of time. They are with us today and will be with us tomorrow. These things, bad as they are, do not in themselves point to the Last Days. They are like “birth pangs” or labour pains. There are people who view such things and give up their faith.
Persecution
There are many numbers of ways and reasons that real faith is persecuted. But Jesus is saying persecution doesn't mean that the world has spun out of control, that God has lost his love for us or his ability to protect and care for his own. It doesn't mean that the end is about to happen and we should throw off all other responsibilities.
Love grown cold
It is the ones who deliberately violate and challenge God's truths, who harden themselves in their lawlessness, who worship only themselves, who lose all humility - those are the people whose love grows cold. But even that is not a sign that the world has spun out of God's control.
Is our love growing cold?
Do you have the same passion and love for Jesus which we had when we believed? What is the condition of our hearts now? Jesus says that love of most will grow cold. Also the reason given is increase in wickedness. How true is that? It's very much true. Many times we turn to every side and what we see is wickedness. Constant exposure to wickedness will slowly take us away from fellowship we enjoy with God.
Let's not allow the wickedness around us to make us cold but rather stand firm till the end so that we will be saved.
The choice is ours
The choice we have when faced with an earthquake or warfare or betrayal, when the light grows dim, when the world is confusing, when hearts get hard, when there is opposition, is to move toward the gospel or away from it. We can let the circumstances dominate our thinking and remove ourselves from active faith in God, or we can say under the most difficult circumstances, "I need God more than ever."
We are saved by faith in Christ
In a world where the love of many grows cold toward God, it is the Christian who endures in the faithfulness of Christ to the end that is saved. This means that we are not saved by our own righteousness or good works, but that by faith in Christ we daily and consistently rest in Him and work in his strength his righteousness until He returns.
If Jesus comes today, will you be ready? If He comes tomorrow, will you be ready? If He comes in your lifetime, will you be ready?
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Saints of the Week
Saint Thecla, Martyr (+110)
Maronite Feast Day: September 24
Saint Thecla is the first virgin martyr in the Church. She was born a pagan to a wealthy family around the time of Paul’s preaching. She converted to Christianity at the age of eighteen after hearing Paul preach about the virtue of virginity and following Jesus. At the time she was engaged to be married, but gave up all desire to marry and decided to follow Paul. She renounced marriage and devoted her life as a virgin for Christ.
When Thecla’s family and fiancé knew that she had converted to Christianity and had dedicated her life as a virgin for Christ, refusing to many, they reported her to the governor who ordered that she be burned at the stake. When the fire was lit, Thecla walked courageously toward it, making the Sign of the Cross. Suddenly a strong wind blew and heavy rain poured down that extinguished the fire. People were frightened and went home, and Thecla was not harmed. She was then thrown to the lions but the animals did not harm her. Thecla died in Seleucia at the age of 80. She was buried there and a church was built over her tomb and dedicated to her.
Saint John the Evangelist, Apostle (+100)Maronite Feast Day: September 26Saint John was one of Jesus’ apostles and was called “The Beloved.” His name translates from the Hebrew to mean, “The Lord is merciful.” It is a long held tradition that he is the author of author of the second and third epistles of John and the author of the Book of Revelation. He was the only one of the twelve apostles to live into old age and not be martyred for the faith. He is associated with Ephesus where it is believed he lived and died.
John was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the brother of James the Greater. In the Gospels the two brothers are often called after their father "the sons of Zebedee" and received from Christ the honourable title of “Boanerges,” i.e. "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17). Originally they were fishermen and fished with their father in the Lake of Genesareth. It is probable that the two may have been disciples of John the Baptist before being called by Christ to follow him. At his death on Calvary, Jesus so cared for this apostle that he entrusted to him his mother, Mary.
Saint Vincent De Paul (+1660)
Maronite Feast Day: September 27Saint Vincent De Paul was born in France to a peasant family. He studied humanities and graduated in theology in Toulouse. He was ordained a priest in 1600 and remained in Toulouse.
Later he went to Marseille for an inheritance. On his way back from Marseille, he was taken captive by Turkish pirates to Tunis, and sold into slavery. After converting his owner to Christianity, Vincent de Paul was freed in 1607.
He founded many charitable organizations such as Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, with Louise de Marillac, and the Congregation of Priests of the Mission (Lazarists).
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The Maronites and Lebanon (28)
The Maronite spirituality (1)
A Journey in the In-Seeing
A Journey in the In-Seeing
Now, as we have finished the Journey of the Maronites thought history and outlined briefly their authentic and fundamental relation with the existence of Lebanon, we will be referencing The Word magazine again for putting some light on the Maronites spirituality which is in essence a school of worship and meditation.
Syriac Maronite spirituality offers a vision of life. For a Maronite Christian, daily living includes awakening to God, feeling wonder and experiencing awe of the world seen. The Maronite is never too busy living to notice life, for creation is more than the surface of what is seen and experienced. It is a mani-festation of divine love, a celebration of divine life and an encounter with God.
Maronite spirituality is a process of being single-minded on the Lord. Saint Ephrem uses the expression “luminous eye.” that is, viewing life from the perspective of its origin, identity and destiny. The incompleteness of daily living and the hunger for more call the searcher to see beyond his daily living and to take notice of his life becoming Christ like.
The Maronite hallmark of a spiritually awakened person is luminous vision.
For a Maronite Christian, it is not enough to provide a living; one must live in communion with God who is the center of all that is. Such a life heightens awareness of the sacredness of life, and deepens appreciation for the dignity of every living thing as a reflection of God.
Humanity is made in the image of God and grows daily in the likeness of Christ. As Saint Irenaeus noted: “The glory of God is man fully alive.” In a Maronite sense, when we do what we do with luminous vision we see beyond the ordinariness of life and thereby encounter God; (John 10:10). At the same time, the Maronite voice prophetically advocates and contributes to the ultimate fulfillment of the universe which is Christ centered.
The Maronite spirituality (2)
The Origin
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