Season of the Resurrection - 4th Sunday

Dear parishioners and friends of St Charbel’s Parish,

Welcome to this week’s edition of Kadishat. This week in the Maronite liturgical calendar, we read the from the Gospel of John about Jesus’ appearance to His disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. The disciples were at the Sea of Tiberius to fish and had not caught anything. Yet, when Jesus told them to cast their nets, they obeyed and could not haul it back due to the quantity of fish they caught. There are many valuable lessons to be learnt from this Gospel especially about trusting in Jesus. As Christians, we need to be open to follow where God is leading us even if we do not always understand it.

Please click on this link for the PDF version of this weeks Kadishat with Arabic translation.

Abbot Tannous Nehme returns to Lebanon

Most Rev Abbot Tannous Nehme, Superior General of the LMO, returned to Lebanon last Wednesday accompanied by Fr Claude Nadra, Secretary General of the LMO. Abbot Nehme thanks all the community for their warm welcome and sends his prayers and blessings to all the parishioners. Abbot Nehme was impressed with the faith and zeal of the community here and their love for their Lebanese and Maronite heritage.

 Relics of St Faustina at St Charbel’s

We were very pleased to host the relics of St Faustina, the Apostle of Divine Mercy, at St Charbel’s Church on Friday 27 April. Many people came to pray for the intercession of St Faustina and to venerate her relics. We pray, that through her intercession, many souls will come to see the great mercy of God and repent.

 Month of May

The Church dedicates the month of May to Mary, our Mother. We know that when Jesus, dying in agony on the Cross, said to St John, "This is your mother", he was not merely entrusting Mary to John's care, but also making Mary the spiritual mother of all followers of Christ. May we always go to Mary to confide our thoughts and fears as she is the perfect mediator between mankind and God. During the month of May, the Divine Office will be prayed every night at 6pm in Arabic and on Fridays at 8pm in English.

I wish you all a great week!

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20th Year—Number 1006 Sunday 29/04/2012
Season of the Resurrection
4th Sunday
Sunday’s Readings: Hebrews 13: 18-25 & John 21: 1-13

They caught nothing that night

“...Later on, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, 'I'm going fishing.' They replied, 'We'll come with you.' They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night. When it was already light, there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, 'Haven't you caught anything, friends?' And when they answered, 'No,' he said, 'Throw the net out to starboard and you'll find something.' So they threw the net out and could not haul it in because of the quantity of fish. The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord.' At these words, 'It is the Lord,' Simon Peter tied his outer garment round him (for he had nothing on) and jumped into the water. The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net with the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land. As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, 'Bring some of the fish you have just caught.' Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, 'Who are you?'. They knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. ” John 21: 1-13

Reflection of the Week

Any success we have is because of Him

After the Lord’s Resurrection, He asked His followers to meet Him again in Galilee. He came to show them He had risen, He came because He knew they were struggling, He came to show them that successful fishing was not dependent simply on human efforts---but on His blessings. If they would only be faithful to His word, He would bless their efforts.

This Gospel reminds us that any success we have is because of Him, that He is the source of "...every good and perfect gift." (James 1:17). If we are not careful we tend to be proud of our accomplishments and we praise ourselves for our successes.

Trust in Him

Jesus was acting as a guide to His disciples. They needed to trust their guide despite being unable to see where the fish were.

Once again therefore, it is not the success of the fishing that we need to pay attention to but the character and identity of the person who was telling them what to do, and the confidence that His instruction would lead to success.

As Christians we need to recognise when God is leading us to do something which we otherwise would not have thought of doing.

Recognise Him

The disciples had not demanded a successful catch; they were aware that fishing was an uncertain profession but Jesus gave them the successful catch as a gift of love.

Jesus wants us to get out of our secure boat, doing whatever we consider our normal daily profession or activity. He wants us to recognise Him, come close to Him and receive not a hot breakfast of fish and bread but a salvation meal that will last for eternity. And He wants us in His name to share that meal by carrying out miracles of love to people around us.

Learn to Fish in a New Place

The Risen One calls the disciples to fish on the other side of the boat. He also calls every one of us today to do the same. The lake is deep and it has far richer resources than we can imagine. It is never completely fished out, not for any of us. We only need to learn to let our nets down in a new area to rediscover the riches.

And when we do, we pull up our nets full of fish again and sud-denly we realize the presence of the divine in our lives. That is the way a renewed call to ministry works. It is not something we generate inside ourselves. It occurs whenever our nets, that have been empty, begin to come up full again.

Discipleship….

Is a life-long and life-giving commitment to discovering the divine in the daily. Whoever is chosen to fish with Christ must learn to look long and patiently, for the hidden and lost…both within our-selves, and in others. New life, new vision, new gifts, new glory begins with that moment of meeting the divine. Are we ready for these moments?

Resurrection

Gives us hope that makes us different. It is a hope that shapes our lives and gives us direction and purpose. It is a hope that brings great com-fort and peace. It is a promise that makes all the difference in the world

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Saints Of The Week

Saint Catherine of Sienna (1380)

Maronite Feast Day: April 29.

Saint Catherine of Sienna was born 24th into a family of 25 children on March 25, 1347 and died April 29, 1380 in Italy. From her earliest childhood she began to see visions and practice severe mortification. She consecrated her virginity to Christ at the age of seven. When she was sixteen, she took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries. After three years of heavenly visitations, she underwent the mystical experience known as, ‘spiritual espousal’. She rejoined her family and began to treat the sick and the poor and laboured for the conversion of sinners. She suffered with extreme pain for most of her life and sometimes went with no food except for the Eucharist. She was nearly always happy and full of practical wisdom. She remained cheerful despite the persecutions she received from those of her order.

Saint James, Son of Zebedee (44)

Maronite feats day: April 30.

Saint James, son of Zebedee was one of the disciples of Jesus. He was the brother of John the Evangelist and is known as ‘Saint James the Greater’, to distinguish him from the other Apostle named James, son of Alphaeus, who was also known as ‘James the Lesser’. The Synoptic Gospels show both James and John by the seashore when Jesus called them. According to Mark, the two were known as the ‘Sons of Thunder’.

The Acts of the Apostles record that James was executed by king Herod by the sword. It is believed that his remains are buried in the Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela. The pilgrimage to the grave of the saint is one of the most popular pilgrimages in the Catholic Church and is known as ‘The Way of Saint James’.

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The Maronites and Lebanon (8)

The foundation of the Maronite Church (1)

The Maronites were born from the controversies surrounding the nature of Christ that threatened eastern Christianity between the Council of Ephesus 431 and the 3rd Council of Constantinople 680. Out of the 4 ecumenical councils held between 431 and 680, the one of Chalcedon in 451 is known to be the most important for Maronites, because of its tragic consequences.

What do we understand by the Chalcedonian dogma?

In the year 451, a 4th Ecumenical Council was convened at Chalcedon (Turkey) and declared the dual nature of Jesus Christ - being a full man and God at the same time while being one divine person on earth. This Council professed the dogma of the divinity and humanity of Our Lord. This declaration led to a division in the Church. On one hand there was the Pope in Rome and the Western Church in general, the Patriarch of Constantinople and Byzantine Romans, and the Melkites, and the Maronites following the Diocese of Antioch, all of these Churches confirmed that dogma. On the other hand, there were the Jacobites, Abbyssinians, Copts, Syriac Orthodox and Armenian Gregorians, who had objected and denied this dogma - confirming only the divinity of Jesus Christ. They are called Monophysites.

This schism was not only ideological but also political. A struggle over power manifested especially between Constantinople (the new capital of the aspiring Roman Empire, and Alexandria which was considered as the 2nd seat of Christianity after Rome).

What happened after this council?

In 452 AD, Emperor Marcianus decreed upon the request of Bishop Theodoret and Pope Leon, for a great monastery to be built near the Orontes River north of Hamma (Syria) in order to spread the Chalcedonian dogma. This monastery was the largest and was named after St Maroun (Beit Maroun) which was the cradle of the Maronite Church and was also important among the rest of the Chalcedonian monasteries. The followers of Beit Maroun i.e. the Maronites were strong defenders of the Chalcedonian dogma. This commitment led to conflicts between the Maronites and the Monophysites who solicited the aid of the Byzantine Court. Supported by the Byzantine Emperor Anastase, Bishop Severe became Patriarch of Antioch in 512. He persecuted the followers of the Chalcedonian dogma, namely the monks of Beit Maroun.

While the monks were on a pilgrimage to Jabal Sir-m’an, 350 of them from Beit Maroun were massacred. Their martyrdom is celebrated annually on July 31 by the Maronite and Latin Churches world-wide. This bloody incident in 517 provides the first documents mentioning the Maronites as an organised Maronite group. One may realise the importance of the Maronites and the persecutions they were sustaining because of their Chalcedonian faith as well as their attachment to the See of Rome.

Next Sunday:

The foundation of the Maronite Church (2)

How can we explain the formation of the Maronite Hierarchical Church?

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Links:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Charbels-Maronite-Catholic-Church-Sydney/365277440154672

http://www.stcharbel.org.au/

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Marriage is for Losers

Check out this interesting article on Marriage.
Even if you yourself aren't married, it's a great look at living a life of humility & charity.

"...if marriage is going to work, 

it needs to become a contest 

to see which spouse is going to 

lose the most…"

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Marriage Is For Losers

March 2, 2012 By drkellyflanagan

You can be right, or you can be married; take your pick. I can’t remember who told me that, but I do remember that they were only half-joking. The other half, the serious half, is exceedingly important. This is why.


Many therapists aren’t crazy about doing marital therapy. It’s complicated and messy, and it often feels out of control. In the worst case scenario, the therapist has front row seats to a regularly-scheduled prize fight. But I love to do marital therapy. Why? Maybe I enjoy the work because I keep one simple principle in mind: if marriage is going to work, it needs to become a contest to see which spouse is going to lose the most, and it needs to be a race that goes down to the wire.


When it comes to winning and losing, I think there are three kinds of marriages. In the first kind of marriage, both spouses are competing to win, and it’s a duel to the death. Husbands and wives are armed with a vast arsenal, ranging from fists, to words, to silence. These are the marriages that destroy. Spouses destroy each other, and, in the process, they destroy the peace of their children. In fact, the destruction is so complete that research tells us it is better for children to have divorced parents than warring parents. These marriages account for most of the fifty percent of marriages that fail, and then some. The second kind of marriage is ripe with winning and losing, but the roles are set, and the loser is always the same spouse. These are the truly abusive marriages, the ones in which one spouse dominates, the other submits, and in the process, both husband and wife are stripped of their dignity. These are the marriages of addicts and enablers, tyrants and slaves, and they may be the saddest marriages of all.

But there is a third kind of marriage. The third kind of marriage is not perfect, not even close. But a decision has been made, and two people have decided to love each other to the limit, and to sacrifice the most important thing of all—themselves. In these marriages, losing becomes a way of life, a competition to see who can listen to, care for, serve, forgive, and accept the other the most. The marriage becomes a competition to see who can change in ways that are most healing to the other, to see who can give of themselves in ways that most increase the dignity and strength of the other.  These marriages form people who can be small and humble and merciful and loving and peaceful.

And they are revolutionary, in the purest sense of the word.

Because we live in a culture in which losing is the enemy (except in Chicago, where Cubs fans have made it a way of life). We wake up to news stories about domestic disputes gone wrong. Really wrong.  We go to workplaces where everyone is battling for the boss’s favor and the next promotion, or we stay at home where the battle for the Legos is just as fierce. Nightly, we watch the talking heads on the cable news networks, trying to win the battle of ideas, although sometimes they seem quite willing to settle for winning the battle of decibels. We fight to have the best stuff, in the best name brands, and when we finally look at each other at the end of the day, we fight, because we are trained to do nothing else. And, usually, we have been trained well. In the worst of cases, we grew up fighting for our very survival, both physically and emotionally. But even in the best of situations, we found ourselves trying to win the competition for our parents’ attention and approval, for our peers’ acceptance, and for the validating stamp of a world with one message: win. And, so, cultivating a marriage in which losing is the mutual norm becomes a radically counter-cultural act. To sit in the marital therapy room is to foment a rebellion.


What do the rebellious marriages look like? Lately, when my blood is bubbling, when I just know I’ve been misunderstood and neglected, and I’m ready to do just about anything to convince and win what I deserve, I try to remember a phone call we recently received from my son’s second grade teacher. She called us one day after school to tell us there had been an incident in gym class. After a fierce athletic competition, in which the prize was the privilege to leave the gym first, my son’s team had lost. The losers were standing by, grumbling and complaining about second-grade-versions of injustice, as the victors filed past. And that’s when my son started to clap. He clapped for the winners as they passed, with a big dopey grin on his face and a smile stretched from one ear of his heart to the other.  His startled gym teacher quickly exhorted the rest of his team to follow suit. So, a bunch of second grade losers staged a rebellion, giving a rousing ovation for their victorious peers, and in doing so, embraced the fullness of what it can mean to be a loser. When I’m seething, I try to remember the heart of a boy, a heart that can lose graciously and reach out in affection to the victors.

In marriage, losing is letting go of the need to fix everything for your partner, listening to their darkest parts with a heart ache rather than a solution. It’s being even more present in the painful moments than in the good times. It’s finding ways to be humble and open, even when everything in you says that you’re right and they are wrong. It’s doing what is right and good for your spouse, even when big things need to be sacrificed, like a job, or a relationship, or an ego. It is forgiveness, quickly and voluntarily. It is eliminating anything from your life, even the things you love, if they are keeping you from attending, caring, and serving. It is seeking peace by accepting the healthy but crazy-making things about your partner because, you remember, those were the things you fell in love with in the first place. It is knowing that your spouse will never fully understand you, will never truly love you unconditionally—because they are a broken creature, too—and loving them to the end anyway.       
   
Maybe marriage, when it’s lived by two losers in a household culture of mutual surrender, is just the training we need to walk through this world—a world that wants to chew you up and spit you out—without the constant fear of getting the short end of the stick. Maybe we need to be formed in such a way that winning loses its glamour, that we can sacrifice the competition in favor of people. Maybe what we need, really, is to become a bunch of losers in a world that is being a torn apart by the competition to win. If we did that, maybe we’d be able to sleep a little easier at night, look our loved ones in the eyes, forgive and forget, and clap for the people around us.

I think that in a marriage of losers, a synergy happens and all of life can explode into a kind of rebellion that is brighter than the sun. The really good rebellions, the ones that last and make the world a better place, they are like that, aren’t they? They heal, they restore. They are big, and they shine like the sun. And, like the sun, their gravitational pull is almost irresistible.

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Source: http://drkellyflanagan.com/2012/03/02/marriage-is-for-losers/
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Kelly Flanagan is a licensed clinical psychologist practicing with Alliance Clinical Associates in Wheaton, IL. Kelly is married, has three children, and enjoys reading, writing, and learning from his children how to be a kid again. He blogs regularly at drkellyflanagan.com. His writings are his own personal opinions and do not reflect professional advice.