11.30.2012

Year of Faith - To Do List


Here are a few simple things we can do during this Year of Faith:

Pray the Rosary. The Holy Father asked us to pray each day the Nicene Creed. Why stop there? We  an do the entire Rosary; it will take us twelve minutes, and we will be all the better for it.

Do something good for your marriage. If you are not married, do something good for someone else's
marriage. Live true to your state in life and find God's presence there.

Read Saint Ephrem: Get to know better your Maronite liturgy, history and tradition and the valuable
contribution our Church continues to make in the Middle East and throughout the world.

Go to Confession. Attend daily Liturgy once a week. Forgive someone who hurt you. Reach out to someone who is estranged from you. Volunteer for something at Church.

Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church or YouCat or the Compodium. Know better your faith. Read our eparchial website (www.stmaron.org). Talk to those around you about the importance and
meaning of faith.

(Taken from a letter of His Excellency, Bishop Gregory J. Mansour)

 

11.21.2012

The Maronite Music Website




www.maronitemusic.org
by Fr. Geoffrey Abdallah, Director
This new website is provided by the Inter-Eparchial Music Commission as an official resource for the Maronite Catholic Church. The Commission was established in March 2008 by the four Maronite Bishops of the English speaking eparchies (dioceses) - Bishops Gregory Mansour and Robert Shaheen (USA), Bishop Ad Abikaram (Australia) and Bishop Joseph Khoury (Canada) - in response to the decision at the annual Maronite Bishops' Synod at Bkerke (Lebanon) to establish an inter-eparchial committee to work on one English translation of the Maronite Liturgical texts.
 
The demanding task of accurately translating and adapting over 250 Maronite Chants of the Qorbono (Mass) into singable English, while remaining faithful to the original Syriac melody, is now omplete. The Entrance Hymns, Qoleh, and Mazmooreh for the whole Liturgical year are available on this website. The hymns for the Proper of the Mass, such as Glory to God, Pre-Anaphora Hymns, Peace Hymns, Fraction Hymns, Communion Hymns, etc., have also been placed on this website. This will allow parish choirs time to begin learning the new texts/hymns prior to the arrival of the new Mass Books.
 
The new English translation of the Book of Offering (Mass Book) has been approved by the Maronite Bishops of the English speaking eparchies and has been promulgated by the Maronite Patriarch, His Beatitude Bechara Peter Rai. It is in the process of publication. Since the work of any Music  commission is always a "work in progress," this website will be constantly updated. It will provide Maronite Hymns in English, articles about Maronite Music, recordings and other resources to make the richness of our authentic Antiochian Syriac Maronite tradition available to future generations in the English speaking world.

 

11.15.2012

Nurturing faith in MYO - Rhode Island


If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there; and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”(Mt 17:20)
We presented on Growing our Faith to the MYO on Sunday November 11 at St. George Maronite Catholic Church, Rhode Island. We shared with them what faith is (utilizing the YouCat), and how we can practically grow it, especially in this Year of Faith. We gave each of the teens a copy of the Creed and encouraged them to pray this often, as our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI recommends that this be our daily prayer during this year.

The main ideas that we shared are:

-We need to know our faith and understand what believe, to better live it and appreciate it.

- The Creed helps us to learn our Christian beliefs and the Youth Catechism or YouCat is an excellent tool in aiding our understanding of the faith.

- Faith is a precious gift from God given to us at Baptism and increased when we ask for it in prayer.

- Faith is having knowledge and a trusting love in God’s promise of salvation.

- Faith grows more when we listen and read the Word of God, and live out the Gospel values of love, forgiveness and service.

- Faith is absolutely certain, because Jesus guarantees it!

OLOP Bazaar- New Bedford

On Saturday November 10, we attended the Our Lady of Purgatory annual bazaar in New Bedford, M.A. The children of the parish are pictured singing Christmas carols and entertaining the crowd with Abouna Jack Morrison, pastor of Our Lady of Purgatory Church and Matt Thomas, music director. It was an enjoyable and successful family event, thanks to the goodness and efforts of many volunteers coming together in the parish.

11.10.2012

Patriarch is appointed Cardinal

On October 24, 2012, during his weekly General Audience, Pope Benedict XVI announced a consistory for the creation of six new Cardinals of the Catholic Church. “It is with great joy that I announce my intention to hold a consistory on November 24th in which I will appoint six new members of the College of Cardinals. Pope Benedict XVI proceeded to read out the names of the new cardinals. They are:

Archbishop James Michael Harvey, Prefect of the Pontifical Household who, Pope Benedict XVI said, “I intend to appoint as Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside-the-Walls”

His Beatitude Bechara Boutros [Peter] Rai, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon



11.07.2012

2012 MYA Workshop- Washington D.C.


We attended the MYA Workshop Nov. 2-4th held in Washington DC where 170 young adults from across the U.S. present.  The main presenter speaking on Maronite history and spirituality, in particular the Maronite Liturgy was Chorbishop Seely Beggiani, Rector of the Maronite Seminary. At the workshop we assisted by leading Maronite morning and evening prayer. Sr. Therese Maria also shared her journey of faith to the group and below is a copy of her life testimony.
The MYA also had the opportunity in their program to go to confession, receive the mysteries of the Eucharist celebrated by His Excellency Bishop Gregory Mansour and other priests from our eparchies. The highlight of the program was the visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. On Sunday at 11:00AM the MYA group attended Divine Liturgy at Our Lady of Lebanon Church, and a farewell brunch.

Discovering the Love of My Life!
by– Sister Therese Maria Touma, MSCL
It is a great joy to share with you my journey of faith and how I came to develop a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ, the love of my life! I would like to begin by sharing a little about my family history. I was born in 1984 and raised in Sydney, Australia. My dad was born in North Lebanon and my mother was born in Sydney. I have two siblings younger than I, a sister and brother. Growing up, we went every Sunday to the Maronite Church.  We were blessed to be raised in our Maronite faith and traditions. My mother taught us by example to pray and value our faith by the way we lived out our Christian values.
In high school, I started to ask questions, seeking answers to what the point of my existence was? We get up, eat, go to school, work, eat, sleep, and the cycle goes on? Deep down I was yearning to understand my purpose in life, and to find a deeper fulfillment in who I was. So I started to attend weekly bible discussion at our parish hoping to find some answers. At home, I began reading the Gospels to discover more about the attractive person of Jesus and his teachings. I found Christ’s Words to be nourishing and also challenging at the same time, as I discovered I had to change (let go of my pride and selfishness) to be more like Jesus who in contrast is humble, compassionate, and forgiving. I also started to put my faith into action and get more involved in serving at our parish, as a lector, in the choir, and in various spiritual and social activities.  
In college my thirst to learn more about the Catholic faith grew so in my free time I read the lives of many interesting saints, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. One saint that very much captivated me was St. Therese the Little Flower. Her book the “Story of the Soul” totally inspired me and I believe helped form my spirituality of simplicity, trust and child-like confidence in God’s infinite love and mercy. It is worth reading. I highly recommend it!
In my younger youth, I enjoyed life, family, friends and frozen yogurt! As a Sister, my enjoyment in life has expanded in community with the humorous Mother Marla Marie. Some of my hobbies were playing basketball, swimming, skiing, calligraphy, and going out dancing with friends.
At the age of 20, a significant event that led me to realize my desire to be “all for Jesus” was the 2005 ADORE Eucharistic Conference I attended in Sydney. I recall coming home from the conference crying tears of joy…as I had experienced more intimately God’s awesome love for me, his beloved daughter. I also felt a deeper sorrow for my attachments to sin. I desired to be healed and freed to love Jesus even more. I was overwhelmed with gratitude to God for his unconditional love and goodness in my life. My mum thought something was wrong with me. She could not fully understand how those beautiful days of Eucharistic Adoration, praise and worship, going to the Mysteries/Sacraments of the Eucharist and penance had moved me, filled my heart with an inexpressible peace and joy. This was also the first time I told her of my desire of becoming a Religious Sister and loving Jesus totally by giving him back the gift of my life. At this point, my mum was not happy with this desire of mine as she wanted me to pursue my accounting career, get married and provide the many grand children.
After completing my Business degree in 2005, I was offered an excellent position in commercial accounting. Six months into my job I handed in my resignation as I was dissatisfied in such a competitive , empty and materialistic career. I decided to go and discern my vocation in Lebanon with the missionary sisters of St. Therese. I stayed and lived with them, observing and joining in their way of life for 5 months. My experience with the Sisters gave me a greater love and appreciation for the Maronite Liturgy/Spirituality and teaching the faith. However, I did not see that this was where God was calling me to serve him, so I returned back to Australia in 2006 with an openness to still serving God as a Religious Sister.
In Sydney, I continued to discern my vocation through prayer, ongoing faith formation and spiritual direction. I studied part-time a diploma in Education while working at the Religious Education Office. In 2008, a friend wrote to me about the new community of the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light and encouraged me to visit their website. I did visit the website and found myself drawn to the charism as I saw it to be a much needed and vital mission in our universal Church. The mission of the Maronite Servants is a beautiful call to service as spiritual mothers working alongside our priests. As consecrated women, we are to pray for, sacrifice, and lead our people to the Christ the Light, the true joy and treasure of our lives!
God’s ways and timing are amazing. I contacted Mother Marla Marie and asked if I could do a Come and see visit. In that same year, I visited Mother Marla Marie in Boston for 6 weeks. After my enjoyable and fruitful visit, I applied to join the community and entered as a postulant in 2010. Now I am a novice preparing to take my first vows of obedience, chastity and poverty. God willing, December 8th Feast of the Immaculate Conception I will make my first profession of vows at St. Anthony of the Desert Church in Fall River, M.A. I am very excited to be taking this step as I publically give my life to Jesus in service to his people, and to share the gifts of His love and life in community. We are praying that many young women will join us in this beautiful life and mission. Maybe some young ladies reading this article or that you know in your parish who might be open to serving God as a Maronite Servant? Please spread the word about us.
If you would like for more information about our community please visit our website www.maroniteservants.org and blog RadiateHisLight.blogspot.com and watch our video. I promise you my prayers and I ask for yours. I invite you in this Year of Faith to deepen your love for Jesus by: making prayer a priority in your day, praying the Rosary, reading the Scriptures, spending quiet time with Jesus, and growing in the understanding of your Catholic faith by buying the Youth Catechism or YouCat and studying it!
I personally am joyful because Jesus, who is truth, goodness and beauty, is the center and love of my life! I challenge you to make him the center of your life. You won’t regret it! He is our way to eternal bliss, Heaven! God bless you.