Annual NAM Convention 2015 - Cleveland Ohio

The Maronite Servants of Christ the Light attended this year’s National Apostolate of Maronites (NAM) Convention in Cleveland, Ohio from July 1st to July 5th, 2015.

We were blessed with the opportunity to meet and mingle with over 1,000 of our Maronite parishioners who attended the Convention from all over the US, listen to  spiritual discussions, and participate in enriching events.

 There were a number of highlights on the first official day of the Convention. We were able to listen to Dr. Charles Elachi, who currently works for NASA in the Jet Propulsion Team, about the current initiatives underway with space exploration. A beautiful insight for me was the connection that Dr. Elachi made between faith and science. Often many people believe faith and science to be at odds with each other. Dr. Elachi commented that by admiring the vastness of our cosmos he recognizes the hand of our awesome creator God. 

 Also on the first day, we had the great privilege of attending the evangelical concert of Lebanon’s great Christian singer, Joumana Mdawar, who reduced many in the audience to tears by her strong faith, radiant joy and sweet angelic voice.

Throughout the several days of the Convention, we also had the opportunity to attend and participate in events with our Maronite Young Adults (MYA), including Theology on Tap (ToT), and the MYA lunch with Bishops Gregory Mansour and Elias Zaidan, and other clergy. 

Another highlight on the second day of the Convention was listening to inspirational Maronite speaker, Rachel Muha. Rachel is a native Maronite of Ohio who was sharing the emotional and heart-wrenching story of how her son was brutally murdered at the young age of 19, and how God gave her the grace to forgive her son’s two murderers. Rachel discovered in the trial of her son’s murderers that these two men both had severe substance abuse problems for quite some time and came from impoverished families which showed them no love. This spurred Rachel on to found a not-for-profit establishment now known as the “Run the Race” Club in Ohio. The “Run the Race” Club is open to all underprivileged children that come from difficult family situations and broken homes, and are given the opportunity to have some fun and, most importantly, are shown a lot of much needed love. God bless her endeavors!

At the Closing Banquet of the NAM Convention, we were able to congratulate the winner of this year’s Golden Massabki Award, Therese Abi Habib, a parishioner of Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral in Brooklyn, New York, and listen to famous Lebanese singer, Tony Kiwan.

May God bless the efforts and work of all those involved in this year’s Convention. It was a great success. We look forward to seeing you all next year in San Francisco, God willing!   

Knights of the Virgin Mary – Visit to our Convent

On Saturday, June 27, the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light hosted an afternoon of “pray and play” for the Knights of the Virgin Mary (Arabic: Fersen el Adra) from Our Lady of the Cedars Parish, Boston, at the Mother of Light Convent. Also in attendance with the Fersen children were their parents and coordinators.

Our afternoon began with lots of fun, with the children participating in games and enjoying the grounds of the convent, and enjoying pizza lunch.  The children and adults were then given a tour of the Mother of Light Convent, with an opportunity to spend some time with Jesus in our Chapel of St. Maron.

The afternoon followed with a spiritual talk from Mother Marla Marie about what we can do as Christians to become more like Jesus, focusing especially on the need to share what we have with others. They had time for a craft to remind them that must allow Christ’s light to shine before others in this world, which they, and then a visit to Our Lady’s Grotto to offer a decade of the rosary.   

Nisrine Abou Rached, a parent and coordinator of Fersen, commented that “it was a blessed day, thanks for having us. We start our visit with yummy food, then games, movies, learning, craft and much more we can't thank you enough. We had a great time.”  For those interested in also holding a similar event, please contact the Maronite Servants at 508/996-1753.

Golden Jubilee of Father Bill Salmon

We attended the Eucharistic Celebration commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Fr. William Salmon at the Roman Catholic Church of St. Helen in Norwell MA on Sunday, June 28.  Fr. Bill, a priest for the Archdiocese of Boston, greatly assisted the Maronite Servants in the early stages of our establishment by providing us with accommodation in the convent on the premises of his former parish, Immaculate Conception in Weymouth MA. We lived there for two years before moving to the Mother of Light Convent in Dartmouth. May God continue to bless his ministry.

     

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Retreat Day – “Revitalizing in the Light”

By Natalie Salameh

We hosted a “Revitalize in His Light” retreat day for 27 people on Saturday, June 13 at the Mother of Light Convent in Dartmouth, MA.  The theme was taking time out of our busy daily schedules to reflect on two of the many gifts that God gives us to draw close to Him-- the Holy Mysteries (Eucharist) and the Word of God in Sacred Scripture.  

Mother Marla Marie presented on the significance of the Holy Mysteries in our life, and also in her own life. She explained that when Jesus told us that we must “feed on Him” who is “the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6: 51), our Lord was inviting us to become his intimate companions in every aspect of our lives. Mother Marla Marie explained that the word ‘com-panion’ actually means “bread-with-us” (‘com’ in Latin means “with” and ‘panis’ is “bread”). Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that the greatest poverty in our society today is that of loneliness. Mother Marla Marie explained that Jesus gave us the ultimate remedy for our loneliness in the Eucharist, when we are with Him “bread-with-us”. Later, an hour of adoration was offered before the Holy Mysteries to spend time with Him who calls us to intimacy and companionship.

We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day, so we gathered for a picnic lunch outside with lots of fellowship.

Sr. Therese Maria presented the second session of the day on inviting God to speak to us and within us through His Word, the Sacred Scriptures. She guided the retreatants in a lectio divina (sacred reading) and helped them to pray with God’s Word by meditating on Matthew 6: 25-34, which is Christ’s teaching on depending on God for everything in our lives and to stop worrying. Christ Himself tells us “do not worry about your life” (Mt 6: 25) because our Heavenly Father knows exactly what you need. Sr. Therese Maria explained that the Word of God is living and effective, it should be spurring us to change for the better in our lives. In their sharing on the meditation of St. Matthew’s Gospel passage, many retreatants mentioned that God was asking them to trust more in Him and less in themselves.

Consider a retreat event for your parish group, call the Sisters 508/996-1753.