Dear parishioners and friends of St Charbel’s Parish,
On this Sunday of the Faithful Departed in the Maronite Church, we pray for all the members of our Church and all those who have reposed in the hope of resurrection to eternal life. Give them repose, O Lord, with Your saints where the light of Your face shines and have mercy on us, for You are good and the Lover of mankind.
To read this week's Kadishat in PDF with Arabic translation, please click on the link below:
Please click here to download the full Kadishat newsletter.
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Adult Faith Formation Classes
St Charbel’s Parish is launching its Adult Faith Formation Classes for 2013 on Saturday 23 February 2013 at 4pm at St Charbel’s Youth House.
This program is aimed at people from the non-Catholic faith wanting to learn about Catholicism in order to receive the Sacrament of Baptism and become members of the Catholic Church.
We are also inviting any Catholic adults who would like to learn more about the faith to attend these classes which run on Saturday afternoons.
If you are interested or if you know somebody who would like to be baptised, please contact St Charbel’s Monastery on 9740 0998.
St Charbel’s Parish is launching its Adult Faith Formation Classes for 2013 on Saturday 23 February 2013 at 4pm at St Charbel’s Youth House.
This program is aimed at people from the non-Catholic faith wanting to learn about Catholicism in order to receive the Sacrament of Baptism and become members of the Catholic Church.
We are also inviting any Catholic adults who would like to learn more about the faith to attend these classes which run on Saturday afternoons.
If you are interested or if you know somebody who would like to be baptised, please contact St Charbel’s Monastery on 9740 0998.
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St Charbel's Youth Association
On Wednesday 30 January, St Charbel's Youth Association held its Annual General Meeting and Elections for 2013.
We thank the 2012 committee for their contribution to the life of the youth on our parish and we congratulate the new committee asking the Lord to bless them with graces as they work together to serve in His Church.
I encourage all young people to become more involved with our youth groups to learn more about the faith and to grow in holiness.
As Pope Benedict XVI said addressing the thousands of youth gathered in Bkerke, Lebanon on 15 September 2012:
"You have a special place in my heart and in the whole Church, because the Church is always young! The Church trusts you. She counts on you! Be young in the Church! Be young with the Church! The Church needs your enthusiasm and your creativity!"
In God’s Love,
Fr. Dr. Antoine Tarabay
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21st Year—Number 1046 Sunday 03/02/2013
Season of the Epiphany
Faithful Departed SundaySunday’s Readings: 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 & Luke 16: 19-31
He is comforted here“‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames."
But Abraham said, "Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us." He said, "Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house for I have five brothers that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment." Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them." He said, "No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." He said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ” Luke 16: 19-31
Reflection Of The Week
My Choices
In today’s Gospel Jesus warns the self-righteous money-loving Pharisees about the consequences of trusting in the traditions of man and worldly riches rather than in the Word of God. He also made it clear that people cannot be convinced of the truth through miracles such as someone being raised from the dead, but are to be convicted of the truth through the agency of God’s Word. This Gospel warns us also as Christians and makes us take a choice... my choice as a Christian with resources is to extend my hand, and offer my voice and my advocacy for people like Lazarus in a world which doesn't see their faces or recognise their presence.
In this story, the rich man was clothed in purple and fine linen, illustrating his desire to spare no expense for his own personal desires. The rich loved to be clothed in purple; it was the colour of royalty and seen as a luxury only for the very rich. Fine linen was a woollen garment worn as a status symbol. This man feasted every day, his feasting was so common he hardly even thought of it as feasting. The rich man had a daily supply of fattened calves.
Could you be clothed in the finest clothing and feasting sumptuously every day while fifty feet away a man lay in tattered clothing, sick and starving? Could this rich man not even send a servant out to help this poor man in and bathe, feed, and tend to him?
However, Lazarus has a name; the rich man doesn't. Lazarus means "God helps," and that's what the Bible says consistently about the poor. God cares about them, helps them. In the Bible, God sides with those in need. Making the beggar a man with a name and leaving the rich man nameless turns the world's standard on its ear! In our world, the wealthy have names and the poor are anonymous and faceless. If this story tells us how Jesus looks at things, the name Lazarus may surprise us, if not disturb us.
After all his worldly glories, there he is, in hell, and there's a "chasm." Now, what's that -- a distance between heaven and hell? Or is it a chasm dug by the rich man? All his days he's distanced himself from Lazarus and his kind, and now he's got permanent distance -- not only from Lazarus, but from God.
The rich man’s sin is not that he caused Lazarus' hunger, or that he kicked him as he walked through the gate every day, or that he mistreated him in any way. His sin is not that he did bad things to Lazarus but that he did nothing. He goes to hell, not because of crimes against the poor, hungry man but because he just didn't care.
In God’s eyes, to be rich is not always a bad thing as we can use the riches we have to help others. It is essential that if we are blessed with success, talents and fortune, we should not take all of these for granted but ac-knowledge that God has given us an opportunity to better ourselves spiritually while physically helping others.
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9th February
Feast day of St. Maroun
Father and Patron Saint of
the Maronite Church
Feast day of St. Maroun
Father and Patron Saint of
the Maronite Church
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Thought of the Week
Do you use an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning? A lot of alarm clocks have a button on them called a snooze alarm. When your alarm goes off, you can hit that button and go back to sleep. In about ten minutes, the alarm will go off again. You can just keep on doing this and go right on sleeping.
Maybe it is nice to get that extra sleep, but there are two problems with snooze alarms. The first is that if you keep on hitting the snooze alarm, you may be late or miss out on something completely. The second problem is that if you keep hitting the snooze alarm, you may get so used to the sound of the alarm that you don’t even hear it at all and you will sleep right through the alarm.
Did you know that God sometimes sounds a "wake up" alarm in our lives? He speaks to our heart and says, "It is time to wake up and follow me." Some people hit the snooze button and say, "Not now Lord, call me again -- a little bit later." Some people hit that "snooze button" so many times that they get to where they don’t even hear God’s voice. When they finally wake up, they find out that it is too late.
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Saint of the Week
Saint Maroun,
"Historia Religiosa", written by Theodoret of Cyrrhus around 440 A.D. is our only source on St. Maroun's biography. The author describes the life of hermits in Cyrrhus and vicin-ity. In chapter 16 the author men-tions that St. Maroun was one of those hermits. He had a tremendous influence on his disciples.
The diocese of Cyrrhus is in northern Syria. In those days, the Romans had divided Syria into three administrative regions: Syria Prima (Ca.le-Syria), Syria Secunda (Salutaris) and Syria Tersa (Euphratia) with Antioch, Apamea, and Hierapolis (or Membej) as their capitals respectively. The regions between south of Apamea and the southern Lebanese borders were divided into two parts: Lebanese Phoenicia with Homs - and then Damascus - as the metropolis, and Maritime or coastal Phoenicia with Tyre as the metropolis. The Diocese of Cyrrhus, with Theodoret as its bishop, was west of Euphratia. Cyrrhus was at a distance of two days north east of Antioch and about 70 kms north west of Aleppo. This diocese seat was Antioch founded by St. Peter prior to his departure to Rome. Theodoret mentions that when St. Maroun decided to lead a life of isolation, he went to a rugged mountain halfway be-tween Cyrrhus and Aleppo. There was a huge pagan temple for god Nabo of which was derived the name of the mountain and the neighboring village Kfarnabo.
St. Maroun consecrated the temple for divine christian worship. The pattern of his life had a great influence on his disciples who followed suit and were "as plants of wisdom in the region of Cyrrhus"
St. Maroun's sainthood became known throughout the Empire. St. John Chrysostom sent him a letter around 405 A.D. expressing his great love and respect and asked St. Maroun to pray for him.
St. Maroun died around 410 A.D. and willed to be buried in St. Zabina's tomb in Kita in the region of Cyrrhus. However, his will was not executed because people from different villages wanted to have him buried in their towns.
Theodoret's description of St. Maroun's burial place points to the populous town of Barad in the proximity of Kfarnabo. A huge church was built in that town around the beginning of the fifth century A.D. (25).
Inside this church there was a sarcophagus, which possibly contained St. Maroun's body. According to a Maronite tradition, the followers of St. Maroun carried the relics of the Saint, especially the skull, to St. Maroun's Monastery or "Beit Maroun" built in 452 A.D. between Hama and Aleppo in Syria.
The skull was carried to St. Maroun's Monastery in Kfarhai, Batroun - Lebanon around the turn of the eighth century. Patriarch Douaihy mentions: "When Youhanna (John) Maroun settled in Kfarhai, he built an altar and a monastery after St. Maroun's name and put St. Maroun's skull inside the altar to heal the faithful. That's why the monastery is called "Rish Mro" (Syriac) meaning "Maroun's head".
Later St. Maroun's skull was taken to Italy. In 1130 A.D. one of the Benedictine monks came to the region. This monk was the rector of the Cross Afonastery near Foligno-Italy. During his visit he heard about St. Maroun's skull, and upon returning home he publicized St. Maroun's virtues. As a matter of fact, a church was built after St. Maroun's name in Foligno. The Bishop of Foligno carried the skull to the city in 1194 A.D. and put it in the church of the diocese. The faithful in the city made a statue of silver for St. Maroun and put the skull in it. During his stay in Italy in 1887, Bishop Youssef el-Debs was given some relics of St. Maroun's skull by the Bishop of Foligno.
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COMMUNION AND WITNESS
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION for the MIDDLE EAST (16)
APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION for the MIDDLE EAST (16)
PART TWO (6)
The family
58. The family, a divine institution founded on marriage as willed by the Creator himself (cf. Gen 2:18-24; Mt 19:5), is nowadays exposed to a number of threats. The Christian family in particular is faced more than ever before with the issue of its deepest identity. The essential properties of sacramental marriage – unity and indissolu-bility (cf. Mt 19:6) – and the Christian model of family, sexuality and love, are in our day, if not called into question, at least misunderstood by some of the faithful.
There is a temptation to adopt models contrary to the Gospel, under the influence of a certain contemporary culture that has spread throughout the world. Conjugal love is part of the definitive covenant between God and his people, fully sealed in the sacrifice of the cross. Its character as mutual self-giving, even to the point of martyrdom, is clearly expressed in some of the Eastern Churches, where each spouse receives the other as a “crown” during the marriage ceremony, which is rightly called a “liturgy of coronation”. Conjugal love is not a fleeting event, but the patient project of a lifetime. Called to live a Christ-like love each day, the Christian family is a privileged expression of the Church’s presence and mission in the world. As such, it needs to be accompanied pastorally[58] and supported in its problems and difficulties, espe-cially in places where social, familial and religious bearings tend to grow weak or to be lost.[59]
59. Christian families of the Middle East, I invite each of you to be constantly reborn through the power of God’s word and the sacra-ments, so as to become more fully a domestic Church which is a place of formation in faith and prayer, a seedbed of vocations, the natural school of virtues and ethical values, and the primary living cell of society. Always look to the Holy Family of Nazareth,[60] which had the joy of receiving life and demonstrating its piety by the observance of the Law and the religious practices of the time (cf. Lk 2:22-24, 41). Look to this family which knew anxiety when the child Jesus was lost, as well as the pain of persecution, emigration and hard daily labour (cf. Mt 2:13ff.; Lk 2:41ff.). Help your children to grow in wisdom, in stature and in grace under the watchful eye of God and of men (cf. Lk 2:52); teach them to trust the Father, to imitate Christ, and to let themselves be guided by the Holy Spirit.
60. After these brief reflections on the shared dignity and vocation of man and woman in marriage, my thoughts turn in a particular way towards women in the Middle East. The first creation account shows the essential equality of men and women (cf. Gen 1:27-29). This equality was damaged by the effects of sin (cf. Gen 3:16; Mt 19:4). Overcoming this legacy, the fruit of sin, is the duty of every human person, whether man or woman.[61] I want to assure all women that the Catholic Church, in fidelity to God’s plan, works to advance women’s personal dignity and equality with men in response to the wide variety of forms of discrimination which they experience simply because they are women.[62] Such practices seriously harm the life of communion and witness. They gravely offend not only women but, above all, God the Creator. In recognition of their innate inclination to love and protect human life, and paying tribute to their spe-cific contribution to education, healthcare, humanitarian work and the apostolic life, I believe that women should play, and be allowed to play, a greater part in public and ecclesial life.[63] In this way they will be able to make their specific contribution to building a more fraternal society and a Church whose beauty is ever more evident in the genuine communion existing among the baptized.
61. In those unfortunate instances where litigation takes place between men and women, especially regarding marital questions, the woman’s voice must also be heard and taken into account with a respect equal to that shown towards the man, in order to put an end to certain injustices. Here there needs to be a more sound and fair implementation of Church law. The Church’s justice must be exem-plary at every level and in every field in which it is exercised. It is absolutely vital to ensure that litigation on marital questions does not lead to apostasy. Christians in the region must also have the opportunity to apply their proper law in the area of marriage and in other areas without restriction.
Next Sunday: Young people and children
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