tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59576224037054821202024-03-14T04:05:12.274-04:00Radiate His LightMaronite Servants of Christ the LightSister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comBlogger786125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-70357965233043106402021-03-13T15:46:00.003-05:002021-03-13T15:46:57.543-05:00Maronite Servants YouTube Channel<p><span style="font-family: georgia;">S<span style="font-size: medium;">ubscribe to our YouTube Channel at: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZRqO9gjB3mpYOkP4w43GdQ" target="_blank">MaroniteServants</a>. Our channel includes videos of previous virtual workshops and information on a vocation as a Maronite Servant of Christ the Light. Here is one of the post from our channel: <span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; caret-color: rgb(3, 3, 3); color: #030303; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fr. Rudy Wakim shares on three spiritual practices of Great Lent: Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; caret-color: rgb(3, 3, 3); color: #030303; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="338" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3qoKz-CAMHs" width="620" youtube-src-id="3qoKz-CAMHs"></iframe></span></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; caret-color: rgb(3, 3, 3); color: #030303; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-42974641685114208342021-02-15T20:50:00.005-05:002021-02-23T10:34:29.244-05:00Great Lent <p>By Theresa Simon, used with permission from <a href="https://livingmaronite.com/resources-by-liturgical-year/lent/cana-sunday/" target="_blank">Living Maronite </a></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="fr-abdo_badwi20" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-895" data-attachment-id="895" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="fr-abdo_badwi20" data-large-file="https://i2.wp.com/livingmaronite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fr-abdo_badwi201.jpg?fit=389%2C537&ssl=1" data-medium-file="https://i2.wp.com/livingmaronite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fr-abdo_badwi201.jpg?fit=217%2C300&ssl=1" data-orig-file="https://i2.wp.com/livingmaronite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fr-abdo_badwi201.jpg?fit=389%2C537&ssl=1" data-orig-size="389,537" data-permalink="https://livingmaronite.com/resources-by-liturgical-year/lent/cana-sunday/fr-abdo_badwi20-2/" data-recalc-dims="1" height="495" loading="lazy" src="https://i2.wp.com/livingmaronite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/fr-abdo_badwi201.jpg?resize=389%2C537&ssl=1" width="358" /><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit;">Lent in the Maronite Church begins with Cana Sunday, (not Ash Monday). Cana Sunday is a wedding invitation. We are all invited to a wedding feast with Christ.</span></p><div id="contentArea" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="stream_pagelet" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_5pcb" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_4-u2 mbm _5jmm _5pat _5v3q _5uun _4-u8" id="u_0_t" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="text-align: left;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Cana is the New Eden</span></strong></div><div id="contentArea" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="stream_pagelet" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_5pcb" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_4-u2 mbm _5jmm _5pat _5v3q _5uun _4-u8" id="u_0_t" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_3ccb" id="u_0_u" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_1dwg _1w_m _2ph_" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_5pbx userContent" id="js_5" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div><div class="_5pbx userContent" id="js_5" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In his hymn by Virginity St Ephrem proclaims:</span></div><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Blessed are you, Cana, </span><span style="font-style: italic;">for it was the Bridegroom from on high </span><span style="font-style: italic;">whom your bridegroom invited, whose wine ran out; </span><span style="font-style: italic;">he invited the Guest who himself invited the Nations </span><span style="font-style: italic;">to a wedding feast of joy and life in Eden.</span></span></p></div><div class="userContentWrapper _5pcr" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_1dwg _1w_m _2ph_" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a parallel between Eden and Cana. The Gospel of John intends this to be the story of a new creation. <span style="font-style: inherit;">John’s Gospel on Cana (John 2:1-11) begins with the words “On the third day.” This is a reference to earlier recounts of days in John’s Gospel. The Gospel unfolds like the story in Genesis with reference back to the days. </span><span style="font-style: inherit;">Christ is the new Adam in Cana. The reason we hear this Gospel at the opening of Lent is because it is a reminder that the new Adam, Christ, is coming to undo the damage done by the first Adam. </span><span style="font-style: inherit;">Similarly, in the Cana Gospel Mary is the new Eve. In the creation story in Genesis 2 only God is named. Adam and Eve are only identified as “the man” and “the woman.”</span></span></div><div class="_1dwg _1w_m _2ph_" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-style: inherit;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At Cana Jesus (who is God) is referred to by name. We know Mary is Jesus mother, but like Eve she is only referred to as ‘woman. J<span style="font-style: inherit;">esus responds to Mary when she informs him about the shortage of wine:</span></span></div></div></div><div id="contentArea" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="stream_pagelet" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_5pcb" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_4-u2 mbm _5jmm _5pat _5v3q _5uun _4-u8" id="u_0_t" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_3ccb" id="u_0_u" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="userContentWrapper _5pcr" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_1dwg _1w_m _2ph_" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (Jn 2:4).</span></div><div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">John’s use of the term woman is not intended to disrespect Mary, rather here the use of the word is intended to show that Mary is the new Eve. It has symbolic value to alert the reader and show them that Christ has come as the new Adam and for salvation of all. We continue in John’s Gospel when at the foot of the cross, Jesus entrusts Mary to John, he saids “Woman, behold your son.” (Jn19:26).</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In Genesis, Eve cooperates with Adam to fall into sin. At Cana, the new Eve, Mary, co-operates with the Christ, the new Adam to perform his first glorious work. Eve encouraged Adam to defy God and eat the fruit. Conversely, Mary is drawing to her son’s attention the needs of the people. She also tells the people (the Church) “Do whatever he tells you.” (Jn 2:5). <span style="font-style: inherit;">Eve was the “mother of all living.” (Gen 3:20). The New Eve becomes the mother of the Church. </span><span style="font-style: inherit;">We hear this Gospel at the opening of Lent as a reminder that we are about to witness what Christ was always sent to do for us. Save humanity from the sin of Adam and save us from our own sins.</span></span></p><div id="contentArea" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="stream_pagelet" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_5pcb" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_4-u2 mbm _5jmm _5pat _5v3q _5uun _4-u8" id="u_0_t" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="contentArea" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="stream_pagelet" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_5pcb" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_4-u2 mbm _5jmm _5pat _5v3q _5uun _4-u8" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Transformation</span></strong></div></div></div></div><div class="_3ccb" id="u_0_u" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="userContentWrapper _5pcr" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_1dwg _1w_m _2ph_" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_5pbx userContent" id="js_5" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Another theme that arises from this Gospel and the liturgy is the theme of transformation. <span style="font-style: inherit;">Great Lent is a journey and like the water being transformed into wine we are called to transformation and repentance this Great Lent.</span></span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Wine in is a symbol of Jewish Torah. At the Wedding of Cana we see that the Jewish law is not going to be sufficient for the guests. Jesus came to transform the law and eventually he will pour out his own blood to transform us.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“In place of the old Law, you have given us your new Gospel, and instead of the fruit of the vine, you have quenched our thirst with the chalice of your redeeming blood.” (Prayer of Forgiveness)</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a sacramental image in this Gospel. Jesus asks the servants to get water in the jars kept for the purification rite. The water is then turned to wine and nobody knows how it happens. Jesus asks the servants to serve the wine to the guests. In the Mass the bread turns into the body of Christ and the wine turns into the blood of Christ. It is part of the mystery of the Eucharist. This is a foreshadowing of what we will witness at the end of Great Lent, the pouring out of the cleansing wine on the cross and the glorious resurrection.</span></p><h3 style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; font-style: inherit; margin: 0.85em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">The Harbour of Salvation</span></h3></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="contentArea" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div id="stream_pagelet" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(68, 68, 68); color: #444444; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_5pcb" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_4-u2 mbm _5jmm _5pat _5v3q _5uun _4-u8" id="u_0_t" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_3ccb" id="u_0_u" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="userContentWrapper _5pcr" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="_1dwg _1w_m _2ph_" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Finally, tying all these images together is the reference in the Liturgy to the “Harbour of Salvation’. Knowing that the new Adam is here to save us from our sins and transform us, we as a Church are travelling through Lent to the harbour of salvation.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">“O Lord, bless our families and our Lenten journey, that we may reach the harbour of salvation, which is the glorious feast of your Resurrection.” (Forgiveness Prayer)</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">In other parts of the Liturgy we are reminded that Christ is the Promise of true life, the heavenly Physician, and the harbour of rest and salvation. The theme of the Harbour and the nautical journey are an important part of the Syriac tradition and can be seen in Ephrem’s Hymn on Virginity:</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">O Master Mariner,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Who has conquered the raging sea<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Your glorious wood is a sign<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It has become the oar of salvation<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The wind of mercy blew,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The ship set out on its course<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Away from the raging sea to the haven of peace<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Blessed is he who has become the mariner of his own soul<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And has preserved and unloaded his treasure</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">At the end of Great Lent we see the distinct Maronite rite of Arrival at Harbour. It is celebrated on the evening of Hosanna Sunday and marks the beginning of Passion Week. We are reminded on that night that our journey which started at Cana Sunday ends with the “ark” which is the Church, arriving safely at the Harbour of Salvation, Christ himself.</span></p><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The rite begins with the faithful gathering in front of the closed door of the Church with candles as the Wise Virgins (Mt.25 1-13) awaiting the Bridegroom. The Priest then knocks on the Church door three times before it is open to let in the faithful of Christ, who will live the sufferings of Passion Week culminating in the great plan of salvation with Christ’s resurrection.</span></p></div><div class="_1dwg _1w_m _2ph_" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.7em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Now is the time, to recognise God’s love for us, he has come to save us. Are we willing to accept his mercy and transform ourselves this Lent?</span></p></div></div></div><p></p></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-32984569134557605832021-01-25T10:36:00.002-05:002021-01-25T10:38:25.243-05:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYTXtuqBJiSISfp2FqTD4zETuFP0hadZiUuX3RdbMLiW7EIA/viewform" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1069" data-original-width="828" height="625" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrLhuS3gnUqFX8jOf9hgKkA9IbGatl5OCN8w4WESglk8EGNrzMXgwgDrHm2yNehT4taJslCrnIiy1a63NGuIlzsGY4RoqUzDb_8y8arax0eTCetKZfOVMBHbbHcKcqGBEPV9LjkH_4FNs/w485-h625/IMG_1999.jpg" width="485" /></a></div><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYTXtuqBJiSISfp2FqTD4zETuFP0hadZiUuX3RdbMLiW7EIA/viewform" target="_blank"> </a><br /><p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-11900905504466031762021-01-23T21:13:00.001-05:002021-01-23T21:14:26.355-05:00The Sunday of Deceased Priests<p><span class="meta-author" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #777777; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 0.875rem;">by <span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #b0a58f; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></span></p><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Three Weeks of Commemoration</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">On this Sunday we commemorate our Deceased Priests. We celebrate this liturgy, and continue our remembrance during the following week. After that, we remember the Righteous and the Just, and then all the Faithful Departed. These three weeks comprise a sort of transition from the Season of the Epiphany, to Lent. They are indeed a preparation for the great season of mortification. There are no obligations of fast and abstinence during these three weeks, other than to abstain from flesh meat on Fridays.<img alt="" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="410" src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Icon-Decd-Priests-568x410.png" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;" width="568" /></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The best way to think of these three weeks is to compare them with 1 and 2 November (All Saints and All Souls Days) in the Latin Catholic Church. They have two days, we have three weeks – an echo of the Maronite emphasis on remembering the deceased. The second week of the Maronite commemorations corresponds to the first of the two Latin feasts, All Saints Day. Then, our third week is the equivalent number of the second feast, All Souls. So, why do we have a first week? We do so because this is the theology of the Maronite Church: that the entire calendar begins with the Consecration and the Renewal of the Church. In its wisdom, the Maronite Church paints the background to the liturgical year and to the period of commemoration.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">We begin our year with recalling that the Church is the medium through which the Word of God and His healing sacraments have come to us. And we begin this mini-Season by praying for the departed priests, because if they had not passed on the faith and the sacraments, we would not have the faith.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Commemoration of Deceased Priests</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">To anticipate, this feast is not only about remembering deceased priests, it is just as much a reminder that the Christian priesthood is a participation in the eternal priesthood of Our Jesus Christ, the High Priest. The work of priests is for our eternal salvation, and although we only see the body of their hieratic work in this world, its roots and its highest fruit are in the Kingdom of Heaven. Our Christian life today is for our Christian life in eternity.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Of this icon, Fr Badwi wrote: “Our fathers, the priests, who preceded us to eternity continue their celebration there and preach the Bible upon the altar of the luminous world, surrounded by worshipping angels. All this happens in an eschatological scene, presenting the All-Powerful with the two eternal suppliants, the Virgin Mary and St John the Forerunner, surrounded by a crowd of saints and angels who carry trumpets and scales.” Let us unpack this.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">First of all, we are shown in heaven, and even in that divine world there are levels. Enthroned in glory at the top, is the Lord. To His right is His blessed mother, and to His left, St John the Baptist, His cousin and forerunner. They are interceding for humanity. This is an important detail, because it links their action to the prayers of the faithful at each and every divine liturgy, and in the sacraments. Think of this icon when you next approach the sacrament of confession, and you will make the connection – just as you present your sins to the Lord through the priest, so too in the court of heaven you have powerful advocates joining their prayers to yours.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Next, in the lower level, but still in heaven, there is what Fr Badwi calls a “luminous altar,” perhaps because it is the colour of the evening sky. Standing upright at it, are two deceased priests who have been admitted into heaven (note the haloes around their heads) celebrating the divine liturgy. We know that the liturgy is celebrated in heaven because of the revelation to St John the Divine (see chapter 4 of the Apocalypse). They are concelebrating the service. One has the Gospel before him for the Liturgy of the Word, while the other – who is a bishop as his staff shows – has the chalice and paten for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The bishop may also be a monk, but since all Maronite bishops wear the monastic cowl, one cannot be sure. This bishop and priest stand for all bishops and priests.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The angels who are bending in reverence towards the altar hold the staves of messengers (the word <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">mal’ak</span> or “angel” once denoted “messenger”, being literally “the one who goes.”) They represent the fact that the Divine liturgy is celebrated as a result of and for the Word of God, and that angels are present whenever it is celebrated – even on earth. The default Maronite communion hymn reads: “The hosts of angels have come to stand with us at the holy altar …”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Fr Badwi says that the icon presents an “eschatological scene.” Eschatology is the study of the final days, the end of the world, the judgment, and the eternal life. The angels with the trumpets and scales are angels from the Book of the Apocalypse, heralding the last days with trumpets: they have scales in Revelation 6:5. These old-fashioned scales or balances are unknown today, on one side would be a placed a specific weight, e.g. two ounces, and on the other side, an object (often a precious object such as gold or silver). If the gold weighed less than two ounces, the weight would sink lower than the gold. When the two sides of the scales were balanced, then by measuring the weight, you knew how heavy the gold was. The gold in this case is our souls, and the weight is truth.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The priest is a mediator, a bridge, a channel, a conduit. But, and this is often forgotten, he is specifically a mediator, a bridge, a channel, a conduit for Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and not for some vague heavenly power. From that perspective, the priest is also a representative. This leads to my final point: the upper portion of the picture, at the throne of God, is reflected in the second half: Jesus is present on His throne, Jesus is present under the sacred oblations on His altar; Our Lady and St John intercede for us in heaven, and the bishop and priest do the same at the altar. This is one of the central truths of our faith – and a comforting and consoling one, if we could but meditate upon it.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Note</strong>: Sometimes people ask whether these three weeks belong to the Season of the Epiphany. They do not, and cannot: we do not use the Epiphany response to the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Qadishat </span>(we say “itra7am 3alayn” rather than “mshee7o det3amed men you7anon, itra7am 3alayn”), and wear different liturgical colours.</p></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-49565867439946454512021-01-16T16:15:00.008-05:002021-01-16T16:15:56.391-05:00Saint Anthony of the Desert - January 17<p><b> <a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2021/01/14/st-anthony-the-great-17-january/" target="_blank"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #777777; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 0.875rem;">by</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #777777; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 0.875rem;"> </span><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #777777; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 0.875rem;"><span style="color: #b0a58f;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Fr Yuhanna Azize</span></span></span></a></b></p><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><img alt="" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="429" sizes="(max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px" src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/St-Anthony-the-Great.jpg" srcset="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/St-Anthony-the-Great.jpg 210w, http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/St-Anthony-the-Great-209x300.jpg 209w" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;" width="299" /> </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Anthony the Great is believed to have lived for 105 years, from 251 to 356, dying on 17 January, the day when we celebrate his feast. He was born in ancient Egypt, while the pagan religion was shrinking but still alive there, although by the time of his death it, too, was about to expire. His parents were Christian, and wealthy. He was a religious and contemplative child. At the age of 18 he was orphaned, and so probably became wealthy. But at church he heard a voice saying: ““If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (Matthew 19:21) He did just that, donating all he had to the poor, and pacing his sole sister with some good women.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Although he had a teacher in the solitary life, he went to live in a graveyard outside the village (which is where all graveyards were at that time). He survived on bread and water, and often stayed inside a tomb, so that he could remain alone. He was plagued with temptations by the Evil One, who would appear to him, sometimes in human form, sometimes in bestial form, or as a monster. According to St Athanasius, whose biography, written only a few years after his death, is our best source for him, St Anthony realised that the form the devil took was related to his own interior state. That is, the devil was tempting him where he was weakest.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">It is said that in about 285, when he was almost 35 years old, he was so affected by the crowds of people who came to see him, that he went to live in an old fort or castle on the Nile River. There he remained for twenty years, living as a hermit, until he had obtained mastery of his thoughts, desires, and emotions. There is a very great truth here: a person who can force themselves to live alone can in fact build up a tremendous power inside, because they have to overcome the desire to be with others and to see the rest of the world, endless times each day. However, he did have pupils: people who were attracted by his reputation for holiness and impressed by his austerity took up residence near but not with him. Again, this is true: a person comes to a certain stage of spiritual development <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">and then they must teach others if they are to progress</span>, after all, there are things one can see in others but not, at first in oneself. But once we have seen them outside, we can see them inside.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">In 311, he learnt that the Christians were being persecuted in Alexandria, and he decided to go there himself and to encourage them to stand fast. He would have been 60 years of age. This persecution, part of the Diocletian, was so vehement that it is said 660 Christians were killed there in the eight years up to 311. The fact that the persecution in Alexandria went on for that length of time before St Anthony went to their help tells us that the sort of communication he had with others was probably entirely spiritual. He was such a commanding figure that, in Alexandria, he was not himself attacked.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">When this was over, he retired to a spot on the Red Sea, called Mount Colzim, where he had a cave, water, and some palm trees. He grew wheat, and if people brought him anything, he gave them one of the baskets he was weaving to keep himself usefully occupied. Here he obtained great fame as the organizer of spiritual life and solitary discipline: even if the solitaries lived near each other in order to render mutual support. At about the age of 85, in 335, he went to Alexandria at the request of St Athanasius to preach against the Arian heresy. However, he returned to his cell, for, he said, a monk out of his cell is like a fish out of water. As he grew older, he needed to be cared for, and two monks helped him. He ordered that his place of burial be kept secret so that there be no cult over him.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">While his place of rest has never been found, he has been the centre of devotion for his extraordinary victories in the spiritual life, and the teaching and example he gave to others. He is greatly honoured among Maronite monks for his contribution to monasticism, and hence is honoured by all Maronites.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">At the monastery of St Anthony, Qozhaya, named after him, they have this extraordinary painting . In one picture, we see the whole of the spiritual life<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"> and how to live it.</span> First, we see the saint himself. He is looking down in humility, but he is not stooped – he is upright in Christ, and unembarrassed. He is elderly, and walks with the aid of the “tau” walking stick – the “tau” or capital T was how they depicted the Cross on which Our Lord was crucified.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The picture is read from our left to the right: to our left (his right) is the cave in which he lived and from which the beast has come. This represents the sinful impulses inside us. But he leant on the power of God, represented by the tau waking stick, and so the creature is tamed and lies quietly at his feet. The bell on the staff is used to call the beast to be quiet (it is sometimes said to be a pig, but here it is clearly a monster). This is very profound: our memory of our sins never disappears, but the sinful impulse is tamed, and if it rises up, a little ring on the bell, and it takes its proper place.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Both the sun and the moon are in the sky and shining because he is no longer in earthly time when it can only be day or night. He is beyond life and death, he is in eternity. The final detail to remark on is the book. He may have been illiterate, which means that God’s universe and the laws He writes on our hearts were St Anthony’s book. He has the book but he does not need it: he reads without looking at a word, because he reads with the eyes of faith.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">May his prayers always be with us.</p></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-64543102524942160692021-01-09T16:15:00.006-05:002021-01-09T16:15:48.541-05:00The Epiphany<p><b><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;">by </span><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="448" src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Epiphany-Badwi.jpg" width="331" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;">Feast of the Epiphany falls on 6 January, and inaugurates a Season which runs until the three weeks of commemoration of the departed, the immediate prelude to Lent.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The icon gives this feast its proper Syriac name, the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">denHo</span>. This means “the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">rising</span> of the sun or stars, <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">sunrise, dayspring; brightness, light</span>.” Metaphorically, it refers to “the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">shining forth </span>or <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">manifestation </span>of the Lord in the flesh.” The <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">3eedo d.denHo</span> is the Epiphany, the Greek word for “manifestation.” Therefore, the Syriac term for this feast and its season is a more comprehensive word than the Greek. The fact of the matter is that no one really understands what the English means: there is even uncertainty is the Latin Church whether it refers to the worship of the Magi or the Miracle at the Wedding at Cana, too.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">But to see this feast as the “Rising of the Sun” is to illustrate in one simple phrase what it should emotionally mean to us. To think of it as the “Rising of the Star” is also appropriate, and should lead Christians to reflect on the prophecy that “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel …” Numbers 24:17. It also reminds us of the Star of Bethlehem, and indeed, in typology, all these stars are manifestations of the one star. In other words, in Syriac thought, the feast of the Epiphany reminds us that the Lord Jesus is the source of all light, and especially of spiritual light; He is the true sun, the true star; and when we see these in the heavens, we do well to lift our hearts to Him, too.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">To recap, this feast is called the “epiphany,” “manifestation,” and “sunrise” because it is when Our Lord, who had been living quietly in his Nazareth home appeared before all the world. To us, we also see it as the first public manifestation of the Trinity.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">When he prepared this icon, Fr Badwi had before him four ancient examples. Three of them are very close indeed to this icon. When we contemplated the icon of the Annunciation to Our Lady, we saw that the water in the well was drawn as if it was standing up all by itself. These three icons had something exactly the same with the river: it stands up from the ground like a pyramid, so that the head of the Lord is barely lower than that of St John the Baptist. Of this icon, Fr Badwi writes:</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">The Trinitarian element is represented: the Father by the chirophany (the appearance of His hand), which is a symbol not only of the Creator but also of His voice. He is seen by His incarnate Son, baptized in the Jordan by the Forerunner. The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, descends from the heights and rests on the head of the Son. The angels hasten to carry towels to dry the Ember who has been baptized, symbolized by the flame coming out of the water. This is unique to the Syro-Maronite tradition. The fire and the water are the image of the divinity united to the humanity through the person of the incarnate Son of God in the perfection of His two natures.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">This feature of the divine nature as fire is shown very clearly in the Rabboula manuscript, where along the right hand side of the picture, we see the Father’s hand pointing down, directly beneath it is the dove of the Holy Spirit, and directly beneath that is the pillar of fire which is ascending from the River Jordan where the Lord is being baptised. Here, Father Badwi has done something a little differently. He has drawn the seven fold sphere of heaven in the top middle of the icon, giving it the most important position, showing that all which unfolds beneath is being directed by God. To the right and left of the seven heavens are written the words “the Glorious DenHo.”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The Father’s hand is slightly but unmistakably titled towards the right of the viewer because the Lord Jesus is seated on His right. Beneath the hand of God are the words “This is my beloved Son.” This shows that the hand of God also represents his Word – both are ways of understanding the creative power of God (which is One in itself, as all in God shares in His Oneness). The Holy Spirit has descended, and now overs the head of the Son. The fire to which we were referring seems to float above the water, almost as if it were a flower on the surface of the river. This also ties in with the Maronite theme that when Our Lord was baptised, spiritual fire filled the water, and all the waters in the world were purified.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span lang="EN-AU" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The axe by the tree which is behind St John the Baptist is also important: he said that when Pharisees and Sadducees came to the River Jordan to be baptised, St John said to them: “Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance … every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (3:8 and 10).So when we read this icon from left to right, we begin with the need for repentance for our sins, and the warning that the tree of evil is about to chopped down. Then we come to St John the Baptist, who is wearing rough clothing to signify his own poverty and mortification of the body, and then, in the middle, Our Lord, being baptised. To the right are the angels who are there to tend to Him. The presence of the angels reminds us of the words of St Matthew, who immediately after the baptism of the Lord, as His temptation in the desert, which ends with these words: “… and behold, angels came and ministered to him” (Matthew 4:11).</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Of course, the angels also represent heaven, and therefore salvation. So reading the icon from left to right, we have this sequence: penance, the Lord and His sacraments, the angels of heaven. Not every icon can be read this way, but when the icon tells a story, it often will be that way.</p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-37480678385154223972021-01-04T20:33:00.009-05:002021-01-04T20:34:44.565-05:00 The Nativity of the Lord<p><b><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;">by </span><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></b></p><p><img alt="" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="410" src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Badwi-Nativity-640x410.jpg" width="640" /><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"> Christmas Icon was produced after the manner of the Rabboula manuscripts. Fr Badwi writes: “The Blessed Virgin is seated with her hand on her chin, thinking and meditating on this great event, the miraculous birth which initiates the history of salvation. She is modelled on the Muse of History in Greek mythology. Near her lies the wrapped child, in the form of an altar and tomb. He is born to be sacrificed and to die for us. Joseph the Just is respectfully inclining behind the manger. The grotto and the veil stand for the grotto in Bethlehem, despite their unrealistic form. Angels trans-pierce the celestial circle, singing “Glory to God in the Highest,” written her in Syriac.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">In <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Liturgical Year Iconography</span>, he reproduces some ancient illustrations he used in preparing this icon. Fr Badwi has very carefully managed to include all the important details, in so neat and orderly a form that we do not notice how much has been packed in. Compare this icon to the other Nativity Icons that come up on a web search, and you will see how uncluttered and clean it is.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">First, centre stage is held by the Christ Child in swaddling bands. Today infants are wrapped in bunny rugs, but in the old days they were “swaddled,” or kept tight and warm by using strips of material. It was known in those days that the best way to keep warm is not have thicker coverings, but to use more coverings, because these trap the air between them, and that warm air is the best protection of all. Notice how the Christ Child lies on the cradle: it is presented as if it were an altar, and he the Holy Offering upon it.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">An altar is integrally related to a tomb, because it is a place of sacrifice; where life on one level is exchanged for life on a higher. But because it is that type of tomb, the altar is a tomb which points both to resurrection and to death. The altar is a tomb where death is not just reversed into life, but is raised into a higher life.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The next figure after the Lord, is surely St Joseph, who is bending towards his foster son in a simple and dignified gesture of piety. He is both gesturing to the child and also to his own breast, as if he is saying: “This child is in my heart.” The Lord’s eyes are looking directly at us, but St Joseph’s and Our Lady’s eyes are gazing across our right hand side of the icon. The angels are looking down, diagonally, and across, but not at us. We are engaged, in this icon, by the Christ Child and by Him alone. He is absolutely the centre, and His halo is already marked with the sign of the Cross, while those of the other holy figures are plain.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Note that behind the Lord and His foster father, there are cracks coming from the top of the arch. Remember that these represent the grotto in Bethlehem. The veil, which Fr Abdo refers to, is also the veil of the Temple which will be split when the Lord dies on Good Friday (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; and Luke 23:54). Hence, I suggest, the cracks, because from the moment of the birth of the Lord, the old order is being prepared to pass away, having fulfilled its divine purpose, and being fated to be surpassed and superseded by the New.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">When Fr Badwi writes that Our Lady was modelled on Clio, the Greek Muse of History, he must mean in the calmness of her expression. I have looked at a number of illustrations of her from ancient Greek art, and in none of them is she shown in this pose. Usually, she is shown with a trumpet, or with her right hand raised, and a finger pointing upwards, for she is known as “the Proclaimer,” since history makes great events known. Yet, Clio herself is not shown as excited or emotional. The one who reads history must read carefully and attentively, not being swept away by their feelings. This does fit in with the image of Our Lady as being the one who pondered all these things in her heart (Luke 2:19 and 51, although to be fair to St Joseph, St Matthew tells us that he too pondered what he had seen: Matthew 1:20).</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><b><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119);"></span></b></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">And this brings us to the very greatest difference between this depiction of the Nativity and any known to me from the Western tradition. There are very few, practically no, representations of St Joseph tending to the child at the crib, while his mother is sitting before him. There are of course many depictions of St Joseph holding or nursing the infant, but almost never with Our Lady present, but watching rather than participating in the scene.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Yet, this feature is shown in the ancient example from the Rabboula manuscript which Fr Badwi gives as an example of the illustrations he used in preparing his icon. So, even in the Syriac tradition, there was a tradition of depicting St Joseph tending for the Infant Jesus as he lay in his swaddling bands, as Mary sits apart meditating. Why?</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">I suggest that here Our Lady is the middle, between the angels who appear from out of heaven on high and her husband. She does not know all that the angels know, but she does realise that she is present before a very great mystery, and so she seeks understanding. Our Lady’s posture is a reminder not to allow ourselves to become lost, even in the adoration of the Lord. We are not made to lose ourselves in worship, but to find ourselves in contemplation of the divine.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Finally, one another strange feature is found both in this icon and in the Rabboula original, but never in Western art: <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">the Infant Jesus is depicted at approximately two thirds the size of the adults. He is still a child, but he is more.</span> I think the reason is that he is already complete in his divinity, although as a human he still has to grow. There was a feature in ancient art where the most important figures (e.g. a king) were always depicted as larger than the others. This depiction of the child as extraordinary in size is done with the same feeling: but he is not shown as larger than the adults, only as preternaturally big for a baby.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">So there are two rather unusual aspects in this aspect which only come to light when we meditate on it: the reversed positions of St Joseph and Our Lady from what we would expect, and the disproportionately large depiction of the Lord. These things have a feeling impact on us, even if we cannot always explain why. They make an impression.</p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-33240584168269136692020-12-20T20:32:00.001-05:002020-12-20T20:33:35.499-05:00Genealogy Sunday<header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0.7em 0.2em 0px;"><span class="meta-author" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><img alt="" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="410" src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Our-Lady-Icon-569x410.png" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px;" width="569" /></span></div><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0.7em 0.2em 0px;"><span class="meta-author" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>by <span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></b></span></div></header><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Today is “Genealogy Sunday,” the day on which the response to the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Qadishat aloho</span> changes from <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">it.ra.7am 3a.lyn</span>(have mercy on us), to <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">m.shee.7o de.tee.led men bat da.weed, it.ra.7am 3a.layn</span>, “Messiah born from the daughter of David, have mercy on us.” This simple change in the acclamation achieves four goals at once: it marks the importance of this feast, and of the Nativity which is soon to follow; it demonstrates that the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Qadishat </span>is addressed to the Lord Jesus Christ, and not the Father or the Trinity, and also makes the point, important in the Syriac tradition, that the Lord shared in the House of David through His flesh (through His Mother, because His flesh was from her.) Of the icon, Fr Badwi writes:</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">This icon is a personal composition from some Melkite Antiochian icons and some Romanesque and Gothic miniatures. It represents Jesse lying down, with his name in yellow letter, written just to our right of his halo. He is holding in his left hand the inscription, “There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse.” Behind him, the stump sprouts green drawing out in a circular form around the mother of God (in the fashion of Our Lady of Elige) carrying the Saviour of the World. On the green leaves are written the names of the patriarchs from Jesse to David to Joseph the husband of Mary from whom Jesus was born. The base of the family tree is set in a dark rectangle, as if planted in the earth. But the branches and leaves of the Old Testament figures are against the same coloured background as Jesse, indicating that they belonged to the same age as he did. The Virgin Mary and her Holy Child are set against a bright background, representing the New Testament which brings all the mysteries of the Old Testament to light.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The reference to the rod of Jesse is a quote from Isaiah 11:1, where the “rod” here is a shoot or a branch. The Lord’s family tree comes from the side of Jesse, while he looks as if he is enraptured, holding his right hand to his eyes as if he is looking into the distance. He is in fact gazing into the future, foreseeing the fulfilment of God’s promise to him.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">It is an extraordinary icon: the simple device of writing the names on individual leaves both shows the individual value of each of these names, but does so without having to produce a lengthy list of names which would intrude on the pictorial content. Rather, text and illustration are perfectly melded together. It shows us the ancient past and the eternal reality of the Incarnation in one simple image, using filled-in rectangles of different colours to comment on and interpret the relation between the Old and New Testaments.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #993366;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Genealogy</strong></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </strong>In today’s Gospel, St Matthew reveals the genealogy of the Lord. It often presents a puzzle to people: why do the genealogies in St Matthew and in St Luke have so little in common? The short answer is that the genealogy in St Matthew is almost certainly the royal line, while in St Luke, we have the family line of the Lord. That is, St Luke tells us about the Lord’s family line. He clearly indicates that the Lord was only thought to be the son of Joseph, and that Joseph was the son of Heli, all the way back to “Adam, the son of God.” This answer, was expounded in some detail in Lord Arthur Hervey’s brilliant <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">The Genealogies of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ </span>… (Macmillan and Co., Cambridge, 1853). In that book, Hervey (himself the Anglican rector of Ickworth) also showed that the difference between the two genealogies was not, as Protestants often said, that St Luke traced Our Lord’s line through Our Lady.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Now, there was not always a king on the throne of David, but – points out Hervey, there was a <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Davidic succession</span>. He therefore states:</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">… sixteen of the middle generations are a succession of kings who reigned over the house of Jacob, and that after a further succession of twelve private individuals who were not kings, the list closes with the name of Him who was ‘born King of the Jews.’ But as the whole period that those twelve private persons lived, the royalty of the house of Judah was violently suppressed, it is natural to conclude that they are the persons who would have been kings on the throne of Judah … had the throne of David continued to stand. (11)</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Also, despite the terms of St Matthew’s Gospel, which we shall come to later, Jeremiah 22:29-30 tells us that Jehoiachin – who is said to have begotten Shealtiel – was in fact childless. This is important, because there was no lineal descent after Jehoiachin, and it is precisely here that both the genealogies of Ss Matthew and Luke present identical names: Salathiel and Zerubbabel. As Hervey concluded: “… Jehoiachin’s line was supplied by heirs taken from another line … the line of Nathan, as we learn from St Luke.” (19) That is, St Luke gives the lineal descent (to prove the right of succession as given by St Matthew), and so St Joseph must have been the legal heir to Solomon’s throne, while not being his descendant. (22-26) This <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">double genealogy</span> of birth and right to the throne where the double line is not identical, was known in the Old Testament: Hervey provides examples (26-36). He concluded: “… it is in accordance with the customs of the Jews … that a person possessing an inheritance which he did not derive from his direct male ancestors, should have a double genealogy, one that of his real progenitors, the other that in virtue of which he inherited.” (36)</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">There are some other powerful points, but I shall omit them here. What is most interesting to me as a Maronite, is how Lord Hervey, an English peer worked out the importance of Our Lady not from theology but from history, thus writing that both genealogies are those of Mary, too:</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">For if the Matthan of St Matthew is the same individual as the Matthat of St Luke, it follows that Jacob and Heli were own brothers. And if Mary were the daughter of Jacob, and Joseph the son of Heli, Joseph and Mary would be first cousins, grandchildren of the same grandfather Matthat. And if Jacob had no son, but only daughters, and his male heir and successor, as head of the tribe of Judah, were his brother Heli’s son Joseph, we are quite sure, from the constant practice of the Jews, that Joseph would marry Mary: just as the five daughters of Zelophehad married their five cousins, Numbers 36:11, and as the daughters of Eleazar, the son of Mahli, were married to the sons of Kish, Eleazar’s brother, 1 Chronicles 23:22. Compare also Tobit 1:9; 3:15-17; 6:10-12.” (57)</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">And in footnote 1 on that page, he writes: “It is important to observe, how strong even in the captivity, when there could be no land to inherit, was this feeling, that a daughter should marry her next of kin.” Further, even the fact that Mary and Joseph both dwelt at Nazareth before their marriage (Lk 1:26, 39 and 2:4-5) is an important details: if she was of the tribe of Judah, then the best way of accounting for two families from the tribe of Judah living at Nazareth in the territory of the tribe of Zebulun, is that “they were near relations whose common ancestor had for some reason come to reside there.” (58)</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Now I had prepared a good deal of material from the Ancient Near East, such as the Assyrian King List, to show that King List of the Lord should be read as what it really is – <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">a Near Eastern document written according to the ideas and beliefs not of the Greeks and Romans but of the ancient Semitic world</span>. But that, and some other fascinating points would make this post too long. Next year, perhaps.</p></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-24960068486458103642020-12-13T15:53:00.003-05:002020-12-16T15:59:58.238-05:00 The Revelation to Joseph<header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><img alt="The Revelation to Joseph | Living Maronite" class="n3VNCb" data-iml="12501" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://i0.wp.com/livingmaronite.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/unknown.jpeg?resize=402%2C402&ssl=1" style="height: 402px; margin: 0px; width: 402px;" /><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0.7em 0.2em 0px;"><span class="meta-author" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem;"><b>by <span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></b></span></div><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #777777; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0.7em 0.2em 0px;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;">Concerning the icon for today’s feast, Fr Badwi wrote: “In a Rabbulian frame, (is an icon inspired by the (ancient Syrian icons in) British Library 7170 and Vaticanus Syrianus 559, Joseph is sleeping on his bed while the angel is (coming to earth from the) celestial circle to remove his doubts. The Syriac inscription which fills the empty space between both states: “Do not be afraid, Joseph, to take Mary as your wife for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”</span></div></header><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">When Fr Badwi writes of a “Rabbulian frame,” he means the way that the icon is bordered by two columns supporting a canopy in the Rabbula Gospels. Here the canopy is depicting the night sky, hence in the top left and right hand sides, we see two stars rather than the sun and the moon. The “celestial circle” is the region of heaven. Here it is shown as a large circle, with inner concentric circles: heaven was believed to have seven levels. The angel is appearing from behind the spheres.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">There is a direct line between the open eyes of the angel and the face of the sleeping St Joseph , whose had seems to float just a little above the pillow. His body is lying on the bed, but his mind has been lifted above the earthly level. There is an important lesson in this: in order to contemplate divine realities, we have to be grounded on the earth, but our eyes are closed to the impressions of the world to perceive the divine light, and our intellects lifted above any earthly thoughts so as to receive the mind of God.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Notice the red of the angel which is shaped like a flash of lightning or a flame of fire. Well, it is a flash of lightning, and it is a flame of fire. St James of Serug wrote of the angel who appeared to St Joseph: “The spiritual one flew and reached him swiftly to drive away all doubtful thoughts from him. In the vision of the night he approached towards him … so that in fright and with caution he might accept his words. A perturbing appearance, glorious and amazing, did he reveal and made manifest to him so that he might fearfully hear the truth from him. He blew like wind and flew on high like lightning and reached him. He was inflamed with fire, resounded like thunder and spoke with him. He became a man and brought forth lightnings from his flame.” (First Homily on the Nativity, lines 699-707). When the angel appears to St Joseph, the entire house was filled with a “cloud of fire.” We tend to think of the angel appearing like a postman with a message. But St Jacob, understanding better the nature of angels, has him assume a fearsome human form so that the splendour and power of his appearance would be its own guarantee of truth. It is a very different way to think of the angel’s appearances to Joseph.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">St Jacob also adds to the Gospel accounts, the angel saying to St Joseph: “Behold, God is united with man as was proclaimed: <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">God is with you</span>.” (733-734). We Maronites recall these words in every Mass when the priest prepares the offerings: “You have united your divinity with our mortality, and our mortality with your divinity …”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">When we think of St Joseph, we remember that he bears the name of Joseph the son of Jacob in the Book of Genesis, and like him, received dreams. Rather, according to Syriac thought, it is Joseph the son of Jacob in the Old Testament, who is named after Joseph the son of Jacob from the New Testament, the foster-father of the Lord. Consider this, in Matthew 1:16 we read: “And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.” Is that a coincidence? According to the typological way of thought, <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">the events of the life of Christ are the very centre of history, and all of history, whether it happened before His lifetime or afterwards, takes its meaning from His life.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">To our minds, which can only understand time as a line, Joseph the husband of Mary comes after Joseph the Dreamer. But in eternity, there is no arrow of time: our lives, like all of time, are only a moment in the mind of God (so to speak). That is, from the perspective of God, there is no before or after in time.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">It is often asked: did St Joseph ever know Our Lady as a man knows his wife? People often find an ambiguity in the Gospel account. But the Maronite tradition is clear: the answer is no. This is an ancient tradition. St Jacob, for example, had no doubt at all. He wrote that St Joseph said to Mary: “God forbid that I should turn to marital union with you … to your purity I am submitting myself because your Son is my Lord” (758 and 762).</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Another point which St Jacob notes is that, for the sake of Mary and her divine son, Joseph “endured ignominy” (a bad reputation) (1022). Coming from the same cultural world as that in which Our Lord was born, Jacob understood very well that St Joseph, as the husband of a woman who became pregnant while in her father’s house, would himself have had a bad name. In the Third Homily on the Nativity, St Jacob wrote: “O Joseph, come, show us the Father of the Child since you are treated wrongly because of Him and the truth calls out that your are not His father.” (300-301) This is an overpoweringly beautiful thought: that because Joseph was not the Father of his own foster-child, but accepted this, he can show us the true Father.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">It is extraordinary to think that if St Joseph had not done as he did, Our Lady might even have been put to death because it was thought she had committed adultery (Third Homily, 309). Let us close with this meditation from the poet: St Joseph says “I am guarding him as my son, the Hidden Mystery.” Then, adds St Jacob: “Words fall silent …” (<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">w shalyon mele</span>), line 314.</p><p></p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-8573245352522086022020-12-07T16:33:00.001-05:002020-12-07T16:33:41.369-05:00The Birth of John the Baptist<p><b><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial;">by </span><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></b></p><p><span style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><br /></strong></span></p><img src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/JBpt-Mrn-Icon-382x410.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; display: block; margin: auto;" /><p><span style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Luke 1:57-66<span style="color: blue;"> </span></strong></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;">Now Elizabeth’s full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbours and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. So it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. His mother answered and said, “No; he shall be called John.” But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” So they all marvelled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. Then fear came on all who dwelt around them; and all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child will this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Fr Badwi </span></span><span style="color: #404040;">writes of the icon: “This icon unites two events – Elizabeth in her home carrying her new-born son, surrounded by midwives and neighbours; and Zechariah writing the name “John” in front of two of his friends. In the miniatures of the British Library … and the </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #404040; font-style: italic;">Vaticanus Syriacus</span><span style="color: #404040;"> … the second event is only represented. We have added the lighted lamp in front of the sun, the symbol of the Baptist in front of Christ, according to the Syriac liturgical texts.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The name is written in Syriac in this icon: “Yohanon.” Of course, Christ is the sun, and the Baptist is the lamp.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Once more, a dome is present, this time over the house where St John the Baptist is born. This could be because the Temple was in Jerusalem, which is in the hill country where St John was born (after all, his father was a priest who served in the Temple). But I think there may be more: the Temple is a model of the Church of God. Every house where God is worshipped shares in the holiness of the Temple and of the Church. Hence, the dome was present over both the houses of Our Lady and her cousin in the icon for the Visitation (the Journeying of Mary). Obviously, the Temple cannot be in two places at once, but the reflections (or in theological language, the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">antetypes</span>) of the Temple can be in many places simultaneously. In this way, the Church is one in heaven, and it is reflected in many “copies” on the earth. Elizabeth’s house is shown in the same manner, even with the same colours, as Our Lady’s in the icon of the Annunciation. They seem to be the one house: and they are, in their holiness.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Finally, from the icon, the curtains of the house are pulled back, for the birth of the Baptist was the topic of conversation in that area. St John is wrapped in swaddling bands, as the Lord would be. Also, Zechariah is walking forward towards the two men (two men were needed as witnesses in the Hebrew tradition), which is shown by the lifting of his right foot: he is intervening to ensure that the child is named “Yohanan,” or “God is gracious.”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">Interpretation </strong></span><span style="color: #404040;">This is the fourth Sunday of Announcement. What is being announced today? It is partly the birth of St John the Baptist, partly confirming that the woman who had been thought barren has been found fertile (hence the sprouting from the withered tree trunk which we saw last week). But above all, the announcement is that the hand of God is operating in our world. This is shown my multiple factors: the miraculous birth itself, Elizabeth’s choice of a name which no one had expected, the confirmation of her choice by Zechariah, and the curing of his inability to speak, and that both Elizabeth and Zechariah attributed the miracle to God through their naming of the child.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Fr Badwi was quite justified in deciding to show not only the events with Zechariah, but also the birth of the Baptist. The two events go together, and give each other meaning. Perhaps the old icons only showed one event because the icons might otherwise have been too full, with too many details. When we considers it from that perspective, we see how capable and judicious Fr Badwi’s icon is. It manages to show the two events with great clarity.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">How do we interpret all this? When we consider all the miraculous events together, we see that God is truly the Lord of History. He uses unexpected people, and unexpected events, to bring His Divine Will to come to pass. Like the people in today’s Gospel, we think we have a pretty shrewd idea of what is happening and what it likely to occur. But are we justified in this? These people thought they understood Elizabeth and her condition: they thought that her barrenness was because she did not enjoy the favour of God. Their beliefs were completely overturned: it was <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">precisely because she was a good woman and was to receive the favour of God that she was kept barren until such time as her giving birth would show forth the glory and power of God</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">So too, we should be humble when we look at the world around us, or contemplate the direction our lives are heading. We might think that God has forgotten us, that He is not listening to our prayers. But if we did think that, we would be wrong. First of all, if one prays to Him, God will always grant us the grace to deal with whatever the issues before us may be. But secondly, and shown very clearly by this Gospel: history and our lives are not in our hands, they are in the hands of God. He knows better than us what we need and when we need it. He knows better than us His own Divine Plan for the Salvation of His People. Rest assured that He will bring His salvation to come to pass – and the way He does it will surpass the workings of our small minds.</p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-58965811367660115032020-12-02T15:53:00.005-05:002020-12-16T15:56:30.562-05:00The Visitation to Elizabeth (Mary’s Journeying)<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #777777; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 0.875rem;">by</span><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #777777; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 0.875rem;"> </span><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #777777; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 0.875rem;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #b0a58f; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></p><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; text-align: left;"><img alt="" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="453" src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/fr-abdo_badwi8-381x410.jpg" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black;" width="421" /> </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; text-align: left;">Journeying, or in Western Christianity, the Visitation of Our Lady to her Cousin Elizabeth is the third week of the Maronite Season of the Nativity or the Announcement. It is a little surprising to realise that in the Syriac interpretation, this Sunday is an integral part of the Season of Announcement, not only because it follows the announcements but more deeply because it is itself the announcement of the Incarnation to Elizabeth and to John the Baptist. The emphasis in the Syriac tradition is not on <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">visiting</span>, it is on <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">travelling to proclaim the conception of the Lord</span>.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">In other words, the Syriac presents Our Lady as <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">the first apostle, the first to be sent forth to declare the mystery of salvation. </span>Just as “apostle” means “the one sent forth,” so in this week we honour Mary as “the one who went forth.” This is the very meaning of the Maronite icon: it is called <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">mi.zal.tō d.mar.yam</span>, meaning “Mary’s Journeying.” The word <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">mi.zal.tō</span> means “journey, departure, pilgrimage.” It can even be used of the final voyage, into eternity. It actually does not mean “to visit:” that is another word altogether in Syriac, <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">s.3ar</span> “to visit, inspect,” which is used, for eample, when visiting the sick. When a chorepiscopus visits his area, that is a <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">sō.3ou.rou.tō</span>, or “visitation.” The noun <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">mi.zal.tō</span> however, comes from an entirely different verb, <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">e.zal</span>, which means “to go, walk, journey.”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Now, of course, a person who makes a visit does also go on a journey. But not at all who go travelling are visiting. Further, the emphasis is different: in the case of visiting it is on one person dropping in on another – at least two people are directly concerned in a visit. However. when we speak of a journey, only one needs to be involved. That is, the emphasis is quite different: in one instance we emphasise that the traveller has gone forth, and we draw attention to her journey. In the other, we emphasise the meeting.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Why, when the Syriac mind contemplated this episode from the Gospel of St Luke, would it think of Mary’s making a journey as the more revealing title than the fact of her visiting her cousin? One reason might be that the Syriac New Testament reads like this: <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">qō.mat deyn Mar.yam b.houn b.yaw.mō.tō hō.noun: we. zalt b.Tee.lō.yeet l.Tou.rō lam.deen.tō dee.houd</span> (Luke 1:39). “She arose, Mariam, in those days, and she journeyed instantly to the mountain, to a town of Judah”, the verb “to journey” being <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">e.zal</span>. So, in calling this episode “Mary’s Journeying,” the Syriac tradition follows the text of St Luke very carefully indeed. In neither the original Greek nor the Syriac, do we find either the words “visit” or “visitation.”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">But I think there are two further reasons: the first is found in the Maronite <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Beit Gazo</span>, a treasury of medieval Maronite hymns and religious literature. Fr Badwi quotes this part of it:</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The young girl whispered gently in the ears of the aged woman.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">The voice crept in, entered, and impelled the Forerunner of the Truth (John the Baptist).</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">The child leaps for joy before the Son of David (Jesus),</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">(David) who danced in front of the Ark.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">He kicks his mother to go out, and to adore,</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding-left: 30px;">so that his Lord who has come to visit him is not kept at the door.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">This passage is taken directly from St Jacob of Sarug’s first <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Homily on the Nativity</span>, 497-502. I have consulted both that text and the Syriac in <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Beth-Gazo Maronite Add. 14.701</span>. The passage is not an easy one in the Syriac, but the overall meaning is clear, and is fundamental to Syriac interpretations of the Journeying (Visitation): <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Mary is the Ark of the Covenant</span>, and her journeying to Elizabeth is the type of the journey of the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">In 2 Samuel 6:9-14, we read: “David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. … Then David danced before the Lord with all his might …”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Here the Ark of the Covenant (the box containing certain holy items, and being a sign of the presence of God) is taken for three months because of David’s fear before returning, and brings with it blessings. In St Luke, the Ark of Covenant, Mary, bearing the presence of God, goes to her cousin’s house for three months, fearlessly making the arduous journey, and brings with her blessings. St Luke is showing us the true meaning of the Old Testament stories, and how all of sacred history, read typologically, shows us the Lord.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Icon</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Fr Badwi’s icon was based on an ancient Syriac picture available in the Vatican Library. The Virgin and her cousin stand in front of two houses: the Virgin’s house with a closed veil, symbol of her virginity, and nearby, Elizabeth’s house. In front of Elizabeth’s house is a fry tree, which would appear to be dry and withered but for the green branch sprouting from it. This is, Fr Badwi explains, a symbol of the barren woman who will give birth.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">I would add that, although Fr Badwi has placed in front of Elizabeth’s house, the dry tree with the green branch unexpectedly sprouting, it could quite rightly have been placed in front of both houses, for St Ephrem writes in his first <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Nativity Hymn</span>: “The staff of Aaron sprouted, and the dry wood brought forth – his symbol has been explained today – it is the virgin womb that gave birth” (line 17). Ephrem is referring to the story in Number 17 where, during the Israelite wandering in Sinai, twelve staves of twelve leaders were deposited in the Tent of Meeting. The next morning, Aaron’s staff had produced blossoms and ripe almonds, showing that the Lord had chosen Aaron and his sons to be responsible for the priesthood (Numbers 18:1).</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Now, St Luke tells us that Elizabeth was of the house of Aaron (Luke 1:5). So the dry tree which miraculously blossoms is a fit sign of her. But, the ancient system of thought which we call typology can handle this: the tree which gives forth life when it did not seem possible is both aged Elizabeth the daughter of Aaron who had been barren, and the young Mary the daughter of David who was ever-virgin. And so the houses of Aaron and David, the kingship of the one and the priesthood of the other, the old and the young, the hills (Elizabeth) and the plains (Mary) are brought together in one mystery. Words cannot explain this uniting of opposites and differences: but the symbolism of the artist can present it to the eyes so that it can be read by the faithful soul, interpreting by the light of the Spirit.</p></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-65431044596480113792020-11-25T15:27:00.010-05:002020-11-25T16:04:09.444-05:00Shopping on Amazon? Please use this link.<p> <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/ch/80-0158844" target="_blank"><img alt="Cyber Monday is November 27 - Support First Priority when you shop! - First Priority of Alabama" class="n3VNCb" data-iml="60547.00000000001" height="266" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://mlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/8f0e9a0a001/4639f36f-a4f5-46cc-9653-44e26e06f524.png" style="height: 236.85245901639345px; margin: 0px; width: 602px;" title="https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirstpriorityal.com%2Fcyber-monday-is-november-27-support-first-priority-when-you-shop%2F&psig=AOvVaw3j1cBXtQRG0x0l7qt8Rbp7&ust=1606422044478000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKCWgt7Cnu0CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ" width="676" /></a></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">We are thankful for you! </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span>During your holiday on-line shopping with Amazon, you can help the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light by using the above link or <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/ch/80-0158844">click here</a> and we will receive a donation from them with no cost to you. Please share the above link with family and friends. </span><span>We give thanks for you. May God bless you and your loved ones!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4Q3RayjRMw2VmVecqcS1zBoGRLkeSfGMKFRubeqA5A0HgD0nE7as30IOPC0rNhtENKog-bA9NRwdb6wiUEUGiVeqjFWGkSyVtso4BFRPiNbUyTqlngkZThyZ8fdi3UbxLn6501WINPcO/s1080/Untitled+Design.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_4Q3RayjRMw2VmVecqcS1zBoGRLkeSfGMKFRubeqA5A0HgD0nE7as30IOPC0rNhtENKog-bA9NRwdb6wiUEUGiVeqjFWGkSyVtso4BFRPiNbUyTqlngkZThyZ8fdi3UbxLn6501WINPcO/s320/Untitled+Design.jpeg" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></span></span><p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-59821864505207200392020-11-24T21:55:00.003-05:002020-11-24T21:55:43.829-05:00The Announcement to Mary <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2020/11/19/the-announcement-to-mary-the-annunciation/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;">by </span><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Fr Yuhanna Azize</span></span></span></a></span><br /><img alt="Our Lady Of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church - Home" class="n3VNCb" data-iml="10248" height="487" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://www.olol-sf.org/uploads/8/3/0/5/8305043/announcement-to-mary_orig.jpg" style="height: 382px; margin: 0px; text-align: start; width: 308px;" width="393" /></div><br /> <span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;">The Announcement to Mary is the second week of the Maronite Season of the Nativity or the Announcement. When we discussed the Announcement to Zechariah we said something about the calendar and its seasons. Let us go deeper into the annual seasons: the cycle of feasts, fasts, and celebrations presents to us a complete course of the life of the Lord, of salvation history, and of our situation between time and eternity.</span><p></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">If we prayerfully follow the calendar, our minds and hearts are gently turned, week by week, to witness another aspect of God’s action in history; we deepen our knowledge of the Lord, His blessed mother, and His saints; we ponder the mystery of death on the Sundays of the Deceased, and we join in the sadness of the Passion and the joy of the Resurrection.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">If we prayerfully follow the calendar, we will always have food to nourish us: food which is familiar but also varied. We have our regular devotions, but not those and nothing else. Just as physically we need a balanced diet, so too, in the spiritual life, we need a balanced diet of prayer. Sorrow in its right time, joy in its right time, teaching of virtue and warning against evil; expectation and fulfilment. The feasts of the calendar deliver all these to us. They present the whole of the faith in a sane and accurate way: the emphasis on God the Holy Trinity, but not forgetting the angels and saints; and we remember saints of many different descriptions: martyrs, scholars, men and women of action, clergy and laity.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The liturgical calendar gives us a direction through the year, and it provides us with balanced spiritual nourishment.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Announcement to Mary</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Once more, let us begin by contemplating the icon painted by Fr Abdo Badwi. It is closely based on five ancient icons. They are all strikingly similar, and yet they are all distinctive.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Fr Badwi wrote of this icon: “The Announcement to Mary is one of the oldest themes in Christian iconography. This icon is from the same inspiration as the previous one (the Announcement to Zechariah). The Virgin is standing in front of the veil of the Temple, symbol of her virginity because she is the Temple in which the Lord was pleased to dwell, whilst maintaining her virginity. She is pulling out a string (thread) from the basket (at her feet). According to the tradition, she is weaving the veil of the Temple with the chosen virgins. Her hand gesture is a sign of reception and submission. There is a spring and a water jar near her. She preserves the water of life and gives it to us. Another Syriac tradition places the Announcement near a well. The Archangel carries a pilgrims’ rod in his left hand, and greets her with his right hand. The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, is a later tradition in iconography.”</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">At the top of the icon is written <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">sbartō d.yōl</span>.<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">dat a.lō.hō</span>, meaning “The Tidings of the Mother of God.” As with Zechariah, <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">s.bar.tō</span> or “good tidings” links this feast to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The Holy Spirit enters from the top left hand, just as the angel is shown on every single one of the five ancient icons, and this one, entering from the left. The divine therefore encounters us from other dimensions. The Holy Spirit enters from the upper left, while St Gabriel the Archangel, enters from the middle level. Note, his right foot is raised, and his left foot, which goes before him, is flat. So he has arrived from the left, but he is standing higher than the level of the jar which is catching water from the well. So, although Gabriel is addressing Our Lady from eye level, he is in fact walking on the air, and she is standing on a platform. That is, although the divine messenger comes to us, and speaks to us on our level, yet he in himself belongs to the higher world.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Our Lady stands beneath the cupola of the Temple, and behind her is the veil of the Temple. As Fr Badwi said, she is weaving that veil. There is a very ancient Christian legend, known as <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">The Protevangelium of James</span>, although its true name may have been <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">The Genesis of Mary</span>. It is the oldest surviving sustained Christian study of Our Lady. By telling her story, it provides more reverent and uplifting teaching about her than three volumes of theology ever could. It is the oldest source to tell us that her parents’ names were Joachim (Yuwakim) and Anna (Hanna).</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">It also tells us that Our Lady was living in the temple complex, and worked at the weaving of the veil of the Temple – the veil which separated the holiest part of the Temple, protecting it from the entry of the impure and unholy. That was the very veil which was rent in half at the death of the Lord on Good Friday. This gives evidence of the very deep thought and spiritual understanding which went into this story, because it connects her action of knitting with her conception of the Lord and His formation in the womb; and it connects the end of her handiwork (the veil) to the death of the Lord. It also connects the Lord to the Temple. In other words, possibly as early as the second century A.D., Christians had been given the grace to understand that Mary’s work was at the end of the Old Covenant and the birth of the New, that by her acceptance, the Temple (the world) was brought to its greatest perfection, and it was embodied in the Lord who died, but by dying, made life eternal. They understood that where the divine and the earthly meet, there is a curtain: the curtain hides, and it reveals: one cannot see past it, but seeing it, one knows that something is hidden. And so the search is over when we reach the final veil, because behind that veil is God.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">In terms of Syriac typology, what the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Genesis of Mary</span> is teaching, although as a tale rather than as a catechism, is that <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Our Lord is the true Temple, and because the Temple is the Universe, He is the essence of all the Creation</span>. This also means that when we read the Bible, we can read Our Lord as the Temple, and as all the creation. There is a wide Creation and Temple-theology related to this, but I wish to pass on to just one more feature: the well and the replete jar.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Why, in five out of our six icons, does the iconographer draw the well as if it were a sort of tunnel of blue emerging from a box? That is not how wells look: they are openings in the earth, and in the ancient Near East, they were often circular brick structures with a rope going over the side so that buckets can be lowered in. So why this strange way of drawing the water?</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">I think that the answer is found in ancient Egyptian art. Although the Egyptians usually depicted water by drawing wavy lines, when they drew pools and wells, they were often depicted similar to what we see in this icon. They usually painted objects by showing them not as we see them when looking at them, but as we do when thinking about them: e.g. showing the entire eye, and not just the little part we see. So here we see the surface of the water, even though it is shown unrealistically above the level of the jar, as if it dripping water into the jar, when in fact the jar would have to be lowered into it. In <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">Reading Egyptian Art</span>, Richard H. Wilkinson explains that water was, for them, “the primeval matter from … all things arose; and the pool could thus signify the primeval waters of the First Time” (137). I think this gives us another clue to the reason water is shown here: according to typology, the waters of the earth <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">are</span> the waters of the creation – and the Lord is about to be incarnated, created in human form. In the presence of Mary, the jug is being filled: the creation is flowing from the source into this world in a special form.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Just as the wool took form as the veil of the Temple, so the water takes form when it flows into the jar. So too, the Lord takes form in the womb of the believing maiden. This icon, then, is an icon of the mystery of creation: through the Holy Spirit, through water, and by the faith of the Virgin.</p><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-15325993187607008472020-11-13T10:44:00.002-05:002020-11-13T10:46:47.931-05:00Joyful Anticipation - the Season of Announcements<div class="separator"><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img alt="" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="427" src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Zechariah.jpg" width="306" /></p><header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0.7em 0.2em 0px;"><span class="meta-author" style="box-sizing: inherit;">by <span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></span></div></header><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The Maronite Season of the Nativity or the Announcement, meaning the Announcement of the Birth of the Messiah, is a season of the miraculous. It is full of miracles, and we insist that the miracles of the season are to be understood literally, and not only as symbols. In the events we remember at this time, we see heaven putting forth its power and working wonders on the earth.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">I would go so far as to say that if we do not acknowledge and celebrate the supernatural origin of Christianity, we cannot understand Christianity – rather, we remake it as a sort of human philosophy and ideology with some fetching stories attached. The feasts we celebrate on each Sunday in the Season are also observed on each day of the week which follows them. They are the spine of the season, the destinations of the Christmas journey. There are nine such feasts, two of which, Christmas and the Circumcision can fall on any day of the week, not necessarily Sunday.</p><ol style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1.25em;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Announcement to Zechariah (Luke 1:5-21 and 57-79)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Announcement to Mary (Luke 1:26-38)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Visitation of the Virgin to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:57-66)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Revelation to St Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Genealogy Sunday (the Sunday before Christmas) (Matthew 1:1-17)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Christmas, or the Birth of the Lord (Luke 2:1-20)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Sunday of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple (the first Sunday after Christmas) (Luke 2:22-38)</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Circumcision of Our Lord, New Year’s Day (for some years now, World Peace Day) (Luke 2:21)</li></ol><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The proper attitude for this Season is one of joyful anticipation, and then delight and gladness at the birth of the Lord. It is a time to recover within ourselves the purity and innocence of the infant we were once were. We cannot live that innocence all the rest of our lives, after all, we are no longer children and must put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13:11). But that is not all – we can still have the influence of that cleanness, and indeed we should, for Our Lord Himself told us that we must become like little children (Matthew 18:13, where Our Lord said in a literally translation: “Amen, I say to you, if you do not change and become like little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of the Heavens.”)</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">My conclusion from this is that the Season of the Nativity is the ideal time to take this teaching of the Lord seriously, by joining with all our mind and spirit into the birth of the Lord, and His purity, goodness, simplicity, and innocence. It is a time to put away sins and the sinning heart, and to change our mind from one which approves of, or contemplates with equanimity those ways of the world which are corrupt and contrary to His will and commandments.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2020/11/13/the-announcement-to-zechariah/" target="_blank">Read more here.</a></p></div></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-89197963136323487092020-11-06T14:46:00.002-05:002020-11-06T14:50:26.428-05:00 The Consecration and Renewal of the Church<div class="separator"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="400" src="http://www.fryuhanna.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Icon-consecrtion.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="284" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p class="MsoNormal" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0in;"><i>I was amazed at the feat that Christ prepared for the blessed Church, his bride. As I entered I saw prophets, martyrs, and the just; the apostles with the priests, then Baptism and the Cross. On the altar there was placed Christ’s own Body and His Blood for the pardon of all sins,” from the qolo hymn, Maronite liturgy for the Feast of the Consecration and Renewal of the Church</i><o:p></o:p></p></div><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="color: #073763;"><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;"></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">By Fr. Yuhanna Azize</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">“I was amazed at the feat that Christ prepared for the blessed Church, his bride. As I entered I saw prophets, martyrs, and the just; the apostles with the priests, then Baptism and the Cross. On the altar there was placed Christ’s own Body and His Blood for the pardon of all sins,” from the qolo hymn, Maronite liturgy for the Feast of the Consecration and Renewal of the Church<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">The Maronite liturgical year is inaugurated by the Feast of the Consecration and the Renewal of<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">the Church. If there are two Sundays available before Zechariah Sunday, then it is observed as<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">two feasts. On one Sunday, the Consecration, and on the next, the Renewal of the Church. By<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">opening the liturgical year, this feast is in effect the New Years Day of the Church. It shows us,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">also, that church is our spiritual home. The liturgical year ends with the Season of the Holy Cross, when we solemnly remember the four last things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. In that period, the Gospel readings remind us of the Lord’s prophecies of the final days, and of the tribulations and persecutions which will come. These readings always strike us with an impact, for they remind us that even if we are not alive when the end of human history comes, yet we each of us face our own deaths, and what will be true of all the world will also be true of us, in a small personal way. As the first Season of the Liturgical Year, before the Announcement of the Lord’s birth, baptism, teaching, life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension, these feasts show that the work of the sanctification of the Church and her children is the work of all the year. This feast encapsulates what all the feasts of the year mean and point to: God’s mysterious plan of salvation through Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the diving off point, so to speak, for our engaging once more in the unfolding history of the redemption.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">We can also think of this feast as being like a wedding anniversary: each year we are reminded<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">of the new covenant between God and humanity, signed with the blood of the Lamb. So too, each anniversary, the bride and groom are reminded of their covenant solemnized at the altar of God.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2020/11/05/the-feast-of-the-consecration-and-renewal-of-the-church/" target="_blank">Read more here</a><o:p></o:p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-78332143048557456432020-10-28T15:47:00.001-04:002020-10-28T15:47:03.306-04:00NEW! Faith Formation Workshops <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://franciscanathome.com/eparchy-st-maron-brooklyn" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="752" height="737" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuFvaL82NICNfVskipbxM8o9ZzN9fzOTVAq6UApWTJ5Y7i8PVu5dMLOlSmFyQUHuKz3S9ppqaayYiGQ4cF3T9LvBwkb3xiqRYNyloJaBCrM6AG4bUvIFF6GKh9LDsiq1O9ToT3gDH4fCeL/w590-h737/Untitled+2.png" width="590" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-31286398561486701432020-10-23T11:49:00.005-04:002020-10-23T11:49:36.182-04:00 The “Our Father” in Syriac, with Notes<p> <span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #b0a58f; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 1.75rem;">The “Our Father” in Syriac, with Notes</span></p><header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #777777; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0.7em 0.2em 0px;"><span class="meta-author" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> by <span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #b0a58f; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a> </span></span><strong style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #404040; font-size: 16px;">Syriac transliteration and literal English translation</strong></div></header><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Maronite History – Our Lady of Victory" class="n3VNCb" data-iml="39522" height="204" jsaction="load:XAeZkd;" jsname="HiaYvf" src="https://www.olovpgh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/mar_maron.png" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; height: 255.10835913312692px; margin: 0px; width: 400px;" width="320" /></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </strong><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><strong style="box-sizing: inherit;"><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /></strong><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" /><br /></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Aboun d.baš.ma.yo</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: normal;" /><span style="font-style: normal;">Our Father, who (is) in heaven</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">net.qa.daš šmokh</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Let it be hallowed, Thy name</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">tee.te mal.kou.tokh</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Let it come, Thy Kingdom</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">neh.we Seb.yo.nokh</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Let it be done, Thy will</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">ay.ka.no d.baš.ma.yo off bar.3o</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />As in heaven, so on earth</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">hab.lan laH.mo d.soun.qo.nan yow.mo.no</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Give us (that) bread which is necessary, today</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">waš.buq lan Haw.bayn waH.to.Hayn</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />And forgive us our debts and our trespasses</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">ay.ka.no doff H.nan šba.qan l.Ha.yo.bayn</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />As we have forgiven our debtors</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">w.lo ta3.lan l.ness.you.no</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />Lead us not into temptation</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">e.lo fa.So men bee.šo</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />But deliver (us) from (the) evil (one)</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">me.Toul d.dee.lokh mal.kou.to</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />For Thine is the Kingdom</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">w.Hay.lo w.teš.bouH.to</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />and the power and the glory</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">l.3o.lam 3ol.meen, Ameen</span><br style="box-sizing: inherit;" />For ever and ever, Amen (Let it be made firm)</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2020/10/19/the-our-father-in-syriac-with-notes/" target="_blank">READ MORE HERE</a></p></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-40971991135322875852020-10-03T12:36:00.009-04:002020-10-05T10:55:29.132-04:00Our Fall News<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoBh0RIsjfVbzeJDoNbvbRyST0_Fe2tKr6QgHtFtmWBfEdItH1qaZfZbM4Aeoambi0lh777EVkr6nmR7JJJ1bEk6qkkh1g4IIeKIuVjjP43OG4n_hyphenhyphenMtiBpjDm3Ik7-GWtEFQ3O22TE5N/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="525" data-original-width="774" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnoBh0RIsjfVbzeJDoNbvbRyST0_Fe2tKr6QgHtFtmWBfEdItH1qaZfZbM4Aeoambi0lh777EVkr6nmR7JJJ1bEk6qkkh1g4IIeKIuVjjP43OG4n_hyphenhyphenMtiBpjDm3Ik7-GWtEFQ3O22TE5N/w661-h448/IMG_4500.jpeg" width="661" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><a href="https://www.maroniteservants.org/wp-content/uploads/Fall-Newsletter-NEW-AND-IMPROVED-Combined.pdf" target="_blank">READ THE FULL NEWSLETTER HERE </a><br /> <p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-39369040706587145882020-09-16T14:31:00.006-04:002020-09-17T12:00:22.284-04:00Maronite Spirituality Webinars<p> <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIWjXPejma23rn1Evakvaw6Ee05tr6BIW1ZS0NPzev_-jddg/viewform" target="_blank">Click here to Register</a><a href="https://forms.gle/yfrs1bEZSoaxAKjt8" style="border: 0px; 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border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; max-width: 100%; transition-duration: 0.3s; vertical-align: middle;"><br /></span></span></div><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIWjXPejma23rn1Evakvaw6Ee05tr6BIW1ZS0NPzev_-jddg/viewform" target="_blank"><br /></a><a href="https://forms.gle/yfrs1bEZSoaxAKjt8" target="_blank"><br /></a><p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-76895827913255614572020-09-12T14:56:00.007-04:002020-09-12T14:58:05.858-04:00The Feast and Season of Holy Cross<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #999999;"><span style="caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;">by </span><span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">The liturgy is absolutely fundamental to Christianity: the New Testament shows the Church as a worshipping community, gathering for the adoration of God, the climax of which is the Eucharist. The liturgy is not a man-made add-on to the faith: it is of its essence, and its feasts are major signposts for the Christian and for the Church. This feast, celebrated on 14 September, was established to commemorate how, in 628, Emperor Heraclius recaptured the Cross which the Persians had stolen in 614. On this day we also commemorate the finding of the Cross by St Helena in 326, and the subsequent dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is therefore an occasion to remember in prayer four matters: the Holy Cross itself and all that occurred in relation to it, namely, the ... Read More click on photo </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2020/09/09/the-feast-and-season-of-holy-cross/" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="756" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiUZiZNrmIuSVERk7EJhOwzH3akWE4nn7cLH97GlRSNzL-vBGt7-UeCYQnsr5IAcm2FtmdvFUjCjmjZK_o1LOJpBo6zbkdj6-aTLrvWMOGgdWW1LkB-fv8Ha1V9XgmsalAXvfhzIEO0Gr/s320/holy+cross.jpeg" /></a></span></div><br /><p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-83046484719676175052020-09-08T14:40:00.016-04:002020-09-08T16:28:38.622-04:00Turning To Mary <div class="separator"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0in;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2010" data-original-width="2048" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvtHgMgdCGdpGHQ8UhfnHdm6mpUzcrsp0VviXKAQzMSFddlKIv-5OfizEnKdI0knKbbttbMBx2bUPRD3uxGIn1Lj0h3E5AxAqQ3dhjrQwV1ZmhCVmnYiYAk28XW5kTOvhXTDtrYVLxG4Z4/w400-h393/Turn+Mary.jpeg" title="Emily with her siblings." width="400" /><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></p></div><div class="separator"><p style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">By Emily Lattouf, MSCL Postulant (pictured with her siblings) </p><p style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">Turning to Mary in times of trouble is a lesson I learned from my earliest youth. One of the lullabies my mother would sing is the hymn, “We Run for Protection." This Marian hymn was a source of great comfort to he</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">r during the civil war in Lebanon.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">My mother told us that whenever ther</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">e w</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">as a bombing near the school, the Sisters would gather the children into the chapel and they would sing this hymn asking the Blessed Mother’s intercession. When my father fled the civil war and came to America as a youn</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;">g boy of ten, he brought with him a picture of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> </span></p></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Jesus teaches us that we can depend on Mary to be with us when we are experiencing crosses in our life. Christ looking down from the cross saw His mother standing beneath and I am sure this brought Him great comfort. Our Blessed Mother is with us and for us, she brings us comfort and consolation. My par</span>ents held fast to this and <o:p></o:p></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">passed it on to me.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span face="" style="color: #222222;">Mary knows and understands our pain. We can turn to her and rest as</span><span face="" style="color: #222222;">sured that she will take care of us. Mary carries our needs in her heart to the foot of the Cross of Christ. Our crosses may not disappear, but our Mother is walking the road to Calvary with us and she will lead us to her Son who is the Resurrection and Life. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Mary be a mother to us now. Our Lady of Lebanon pray for us.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><i>Hymn to Mary</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><i>We run for protection to you <b> </b><span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span> <span> <span> <span> </span></span></span></span></span></i></span></p><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Mary, we come to you for aid. <br />We implore you turn not away <br />Mother who must be obeyed. </span></i><div><i style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"> </i><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><i>Perfection of the pure <br />Mother undefiled. <br />By your merit plead for us, <br />let us know your Child. <br /><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><i> </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><i>Mary Heaven's gate <br />Mother of our Lord <br />Through you source of all our hope <br />Guiding light has poured. <o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: georgia;"><i> </i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span face="" style="color: #222222;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Look down upon us all <br />serving faithfully <br />We implore your help and care <br />at our Mother's knee.</span></i><span face=""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span face="" style="color: #222222;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p></div>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-78369963880637220832020-08-14T15:39:00.002-04:002020-08-14T15:39:30.581-04:00The Assumption Of Our Lady Into Heaven<p><span class="meta-date" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;">Posted on <a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2020/08/12/the-assumption-of-our-lady-into-heaven/" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="9:44 pm"><time class="entry-date published updated" datetime="2020-08-12T21:44:44+00:00" style="box-sizing: inherit;">August 12, 2020</time></a></span><span class="meta-author" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(119, 119, 119); font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 14px;"> by <span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2020/08/12/the-assumption-of-our-lady-into-heaven/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeE8a-SRvIK8Ns8Ghe2LSWIw23X245APMMLjcWxEvsyv0ySyEx2ukGmkGtMbfUZUkU99xGYR-D6lEJFiqtsAn5G81Jo89foXKU1Tr7SexKrLXsyaBz9Qucdjin2aHjeHsaRDELuwQoD8j/s263/assumption.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="263" data-original-width="191" height="411" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeE8a-SRvIK8Ns8Ghe2LSWIw23X245APMMLjcWxEvsyv0ySyEx2ukGmkGtMbfUZUkU99xGYR-D6lEJFiqtsAn5G81Jo89foXKU1Tr7SexKrLXsyaBz9Qucdjin2aHjeHsaRDELuwQoD8j/w299-h411/assumption.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;">Why do we celebrate each year, on 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven? And why is it the greatest of the feasts of Our Lady? Why not her birth, or the Annunciation, or the Immaculate Conception?</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The truths of the faith form a coherent unity, like how the woollen threads of a cardigan are knitted together: they make one garment with one function. The cardigan is to keep us warm, and the faith is to teach us the commandments of God our Creator so that we may be reunited to Him: imperfectly in this world, but God willing, more perfectly in the next.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Like the threads of a cardigan, the truths of the faith can only be separated one from the other by destroying the whole. Remove one thread, and with time, the whole cardigan will fall to pieces. So too, one begins with rejecting just one part of the faith, but, bit by bit, it will all be lost to us. Some threads of the cardigan are more central than others, and pulling them out will cause it to lose its shape more quickly.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The Assumption is a central thread in the garment of the faith. It is intimately connected to the doctrine of Our Lady as the Mother of God. This is the reason for the Assumption: the Lord could not leave His own mother on the earth to suffer corruption of the body which had borne Him, the King of Creation.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">We cannot understand the magnitude of Our Lady’s obedience to God: this is the only reason we are not lost in wonder at it. When the Archangel Gabriel appeared to her, and gave her the message from the Most High, she knew only that a miracle would be worked so that she would bear a son in circumstances which no one on earth could possibly understand; that a virgin would become pregnant and give birth. We rarely stop to think about it, but it means that her own life was over in that it would take a course which no life on earth had ever taken before. She willingly became completely subservient to God’s plan in a way she could not comprehend. After all, what it would mean to tell a young woman that she would conceive when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her?</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">In every single Mass we confess this great mystery of how a mortal woman became the Mother of God. As stated, this is why she was assumed body and soul into heaven. This shows how the Assumption is closely tied to Mary’s being the Mother of God, and how to lose one teaching is to lose the other.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">The Assumption is the earthly conclusion of the cosmic drama which began with the Annunciation to Mary the daughter of Saints Joachim and Anna. No other ending of her earthly life could possibly have done justice to the epic news announced by the angel.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Therefore, if we let go of these doctrines, then we also lose the Incarnation of the Lord. It is because she, a lady of flesh and blood was His Mother that we can say Our Lord was truly human as well as truly divine. If Mary was not the Mother of God, then she was the mother of a man. This is exactly what has happened in many non-Catholic and non-Orthodox groups. They have rejected any devotion to Our Lady at all, therefore have no conception of her being the Mother of God, and so came to see Jesus Himself as being only a man, and not God. After all, no one denies that Mary was His mother. But if they reject the Virgin Birth, then they reject the foundation of the full divinity of the Lord. It gives me no joy to criticise others, but I must point out the logical and historical consequences of rejecting any part of the one truth.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Even if the first ones to deny that Mary was the Mother of God still thought of Our Lord as being divine, it was only because they did not think through the consequences of their own fundamental premises. Well, even if they did not think it through, their children and grandchildren have, and so belief in Jesus as true God and true man has been in steady decline in the Christian world since the Protestant Reformation, so that now He is often seen as being no more than a good man and wise teacher. It does not matter if someone says that He was the best of men and the wisest of teachers: it still leaves Him as only a man and a teacher. And so they feel free to change the faith to accord with their own ideas: they have made their assessment of the Lord, why not assess his teachings for themselves?</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Let us move on. If we look at the Assumption, it is not possible to draw any conclusion other than that Our Lady lived a life of the greatest virtue and holiness, and for this was worthy to be taken into heaven. Had she sinned, this would not have been possible, for she would not have been an example of her own Son’s teaching. And in this the Assumption is a <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">type</span> or <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">pattern</span> for all humanity. If we too live as virtuously as possible and in the greatest holiness we can, we may be able to hope that we too will be saved. We cannot match Our Lady for purity and love, so we cannot expect to be assumed into heaven. But the <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">type of thing </span>which Our Lord did for her, He may, in His infinite mercy, do for us, as well. So, if we lose the teaching of the Assumption, we lose the reward of virtue and the punishment of evil. Again, those groups which have lost the Assumption have started to lose their faith in eternal reward and eternal punishment, which means in <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">eternal justice. </span>And if there is no eternal justice, then God is not God. He is well-intentioned, but weak (or else a tyrant). And so the whole of the faith disintegrates.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">In both Eastern and Western Churches, many more connections between Our Lady and the faith are made by <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">typology</span>. We all see Our Lady as the second Eve. As St Jacob of Serugh states: “The second Eve gave birth to Life, among mortals; she wiped clean the bill of debt incurred by Eve her mother. The child (Mary) gave her hand to help her aged mother (Eve) who lay prostrate; she raised her up from the Fall that the serpent had effected. It was the daughter (Mary) who wove the robe of glory and gave it to her father (Adam) …” (trans. S. Brock).</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">Yes, if we celebrate the Assumption with devotion and understanding, I do not think we can lose our faith in her as Mother of God, in the Incarnation, in the true divinity and humanity of the Lord, and in His teachings, the necessity to follow His commandments, and the justice and goodness of God Almighty. I have not had space to draw other more directly spiritual lessons from this Feast, but God willing, I shall do so in the future; for as stated, the faith is one garment, an organic, coherent, and splendid unity: like the light of an infinite sun which illumines all that has been, is, and ever shall be.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-64189906202462651402020-08-01T08:43:00.001-04:002020-08-01T08:43:42.367-04:00The 350 Martyrs: Part I<header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: inherit; caret-color: rgb(64, 64, 64); color: #404040; font-family: Roboto, Tahoma, Arial; font-size: 16px;"><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #777777; font-size: 0.875rem; margin: 0.7em 0.2em 0px;">
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<b style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">The 350 Martyrs: Part 1 (</span></span></b><b style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">The Holy Martyrs)</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">On 31 July each year, the Maronite Church remembers the 350 Maronite monks who were martyred in the year 517, slain by other Christians for no other reason than being orthodox Christians.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgih1Zt9waj76C2Vs7SHR97MuTsZzDCqxsY6ybK0usrbsNtU2w9G1YsLs6sq9fxuCRjy646ZKAGnEYYl4MEH3Yut-IligDIDPYHe3wEp5beVRqYMlxKLrplQLOl7EnQDogGTOGGk5ypRMmG/s1600/icon_Badwi_350_Martyrs_disciples_of_St_Maron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="543" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgih1Zt9waj76C2Vs7SHR97MuTsZzDCqxsY6ybK0usrbsNtU2w9G1YsLs6sq9fxuCRjy646ZKAGnEYYl4MEH3Yut-IligDIDPYHe3wEp5beVRqYMlxKLrplQLOl7EnQDogGTOGGk5ypRMmG/s640/icon_Badwi_350_Martyrs_disciples_of_St_Maron.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">In </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">The Maronites: The Origins of an Antiochene Church</span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">, Abbot Paul Naaman takes their history from a letter from the archimandrites, (that is, abbots and senior abbots), and monks of Syria Secunda to Pope Hormisdas (514-523). Syria Secunda was the inland part of ancient Syria, and Apamaea (Arabic: Afamiyya) on the Orontes River was its capital. (p. 43)</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">There is a second letter from the monks of Apamaea to their own bishops, also written in 517. This, too, is signed by Archimandrite Alexander of the monastery of Maroun. It states, as the first had done, that the purpose of the monks in travelling had been peaceful. There is also a reply from Pope Hormisdas dated 10 February 518. </span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">So, the evidence for the feast of the martyrs is based on </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">three</span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;"> letters, a point which is often missed.</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">The first letter, the one to Pope Hormisdas reads, in part: </span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">“To Hormisdas, the most holy and blessed patriarch of the whole world, the holder of the See of Peter, the leader of the apostles, the earnest petition and humble prayer of the least (important) archimandrites and of other monks of your province Syria Secunda.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">“The grace of Christ, the Redeemer of us all, has instigated us to take refuge with your blessedness as if (taking refuge) from the winter storm in the stillness of a harbour. We are admonished to, and, indeed believe, that, even though disasters encompass us on all sides, we are in no way caught in. For even if we suffer, we endure it with rejoicing, knowing that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy of the future glory, which will be revealed in us.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">“(We have been opposed by) … Severus and Peter, who have never been counted among the number of Christians, who on each single day have attacked and publicly anathematized the holy synod at Chalcedon and our most holy and blessed father Leo. </span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">… when we were going to the cell of Mar Simeon for the cause of the Church, they (men instigated by Severus and Peter) were lying in wait for us on the way as it had been announced, defiling us, and when they came upon us by surprise, they killed three hundred and fifty men from among us, and certain ones they wounded; but others, who could take refuge to the venerable altars, they slew there and set the monasteries on fire, inciting throughout the night a multitude of unsettled people and mercenaries. They wasted all the poverty of the Church through destructive trouble makers of this kind. About the details, however, the writings may instruct your blessedness, which were brought over by the venerable brothers, John and Sergius, whom we had sent to Constantinople …”</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">“We pray, therefore, most blessed one, we go on our knees and ask, that you stand up with fervour and zeal and rightly have pity for the body that is torn to pieces (for you are the head of all); and that you avenge the faith that has been despised, the canons that have been trodden under foot, the fathers who have been blasphemed and such a great synod that has been attacked with anathema.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">Pope Hormisdas’ reply adds little to this. The opening reads: </span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">“Hormisdas, to the priests, deacons, and archimandrites of Syria Secunda.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">“I have read your highly esteemed letters, by which the insanity of the enemies of God has been laid open and the obstinate fury of the unbelievers, who with revived spirit hate the Lord and thereby wickedly persecute his members, has painfully been exposed. To the extent that it pertains to the recognition of your perseverance, I praise God that he preserves the faith of his soldiers in the midst of adversities.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">The third letter, from the monks of Apamaea to the bishops, was translated into German and French by Suermann in </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">Histoire des origins de l’Église Maronite</span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;"> (PUSEK 2010). This letter blames Severus for what occurred as they were travelling through an area called “Kaprokeramée”. It does not mention the number slain and captured, but gives more details of how the monks could not defend themselves against the attacks (pp. 95-100).</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">The clash between Monophysite and other Christians arose after the Council of Chalcedon (451): to be brief, they had different ideas of the nature of Christ. Although only theologians could understand the argument (and even they may not have been clear about it), because these thinkers led their churches, they split Christianity into two bitterly divided factions, a rift which is only being slowly healed today.</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">In Part 2, I shall deal with an objection to the historicity of this account, and in Part 3, with the spirituality of this feast. <a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2017/04/02/the-350-martyrs-part-1/" target="_blank">Read More Here</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">Cornelia B. Horn, writing in the </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">Journal of Maronite Studies</span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">, translated both the letter from the monks to Pope Hormisdas and his reply. </span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">Her article is still available on the internet: </span></span><a href="http://www.maronite-institute.org/MARI/JMS/october97/The_Correspondence_Between.htm" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #b0a58f; text-decoration: none;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: blue;">http://www.maronite-institute.org/MARI/JMS/october97/The_Correspondence_Between.htm</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: black;">Joseph Azize, 2 April 2017 revised 24 July 2020</span></span></div>
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Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-27723372012169748862020-07-23T07:00:00.000-04:002020-07-23T07:00:06.223-04:00Saint Sharbel<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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By Emily Lattouf, a postulant with the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a Maronite, it’s not hard to love Saint Sharbel, especially since my family is from Baakafra, the village where Saint Sharbel was born (May 8<sup>th</sup>, 1828). I have always loved Saint Sharbel. I was born on May 6<sup>th</sup> which was close enough to his birthday that my mother gave me the middle name Sharbela. During my childhood visits to Baakafra, I would participate in the week-long celebrations leading up to Saint Sharbel’s feast day. The tiny village would be packed with people from all over!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Who is this Saint celebrated and loved by so many? As I got older, I realized that I did not know Saint Sharbel as well as I should. I knew about his life and how great he was because everyone “said so” and I would hear stories of different miracles. I decided to start reading up on Saint Sharbel. My relationship with him began to grow and my prayer life too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">What I love about Saint Sharbel is that he was a sinner in need of God’s mercy. He like us had to work on himself to become a saint. One of the last prayers he recited before having a fatal stroke during Liturgy in 1898 was “Oh Father of Truth behold Your Son, a sacrifice pleasing to You… many are my sins, but greater is Your mercy.” Saint Sharbel knew who he was in his relationship to God. He knew that He was nothing on his own, and he had confidence not in himself but in God’s mercy. He persevered in his trials. Can you imagine if he had said, “Lord what’s the point of working hard to become a saint, I cannot rise to you, I am a sinner” or “I am just so perfect I was born a saint.” If St. Sharbel lived in despair of his sinfulness or in an illusion of his own goodness, he would have given up the fight for holiness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Instead of hiding his sins, he turned to God and prayed “consider the sin and consider the atonement; the atonement is greater and exceeds the sin.” St. Sharbel had such confidence in the blood of Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Through the merits of Christ, may we run to the Father of Truth, as did Saint Sharbel, with the confidence of beloved sons and daughters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> <i>“Father of Truth, behold Your Son, a sacrifice pleasing to You. Accept this offering of Him who died for me; behold His blood shed on Golgotha for my salvation. It pleads for me. For His sake, accept my offering. Many are my sins, but greater is Your mercy. When placed on a scale, Your mercy prevails over the weight of the mountains known only to You. Consider the sin and consider the atonement; the atonement is greater and exceeds the sin. Your beloved Son sustained the nails and the lance because of my sins so in His sufferings You are satisfied and I live.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5957622403705482120.post-91902217587898964462020-07-17T10:49:00.000-04:002020-07-17T10:50:15.473-04:00Saint Charbel<br />
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<span class="meta-author" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #20124d;">by <span class="author vcard" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/author/joseph/" rel="author" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration: none;" title="View all posts by Fr Yuhanna Azize">Fr Yuhanna Azize</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTUtqtrEgQujBKmaWD6HI6MQLtw8dFMfDQ277N6Hc0RrCm6FBve5GhFjiGmuiJ6tQxGXFEEIn7-BPBFJiQBuHtttvk9ROq9F3fgVgDosHA4LC0kUw_9ILCFsO4ZaTtceWTkXsP6l3dBea/s1600/IMG_2379.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguTUtqtrEgQujBKmaWD6HI6MQLtw8dFMfDQ277N6Hc0RrCm6FBve5GhFjiGmuiJ6tQxGXFEEIn7-BPBFJiQBuHtttvk9ROq9F3fgVgDosHA4LC0kUw_9ILCFsO4ZaTtceWTkXsP6l3dBea/s320/IMG_2379.jpg" width="226" /></a>Born Youssef Makhlouf in Beqa Kafra on 8 May 1828, he was the fifth child in a family of simple farmers. When he was three years old, his father was taken away by the Ottoman Army, never to return. Youssef was sent to the village school, and as a child was given to prayer. At a young age, he knew that God was calling him to become a monk. He prayed to Our Lady to make it come to pass. Two of his mother’s brothers were already monks. However, he did not leave until 1851, when a woman indicated her desire to marry him. Saying nothing, he left home the next morning to enter the monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq, which was run by the Lebanese Maronite Order (“the LMO”). However, he was pursued there by his uncle, mother and relatives. They begged him to return home, marry, work and look after them. Charbel refused, saying that God wanted him entirely. It is said that in the end his mother gave her consent, telling him to be a <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">good</span> monk, but if he was going to be <span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-style: italic;">mediocre</span>, then he should return home. <a href="http://www.fryuhanna.com/2016/07/17/st-charbel/" target="_blank">READ MORE HERE</a> </div>
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Sister Marla Marie, MSCLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02655799964501053870noreply@blogger.com