Saint Maron, What it Means to be Maronite, and the Mission of Lebanon

We feature excerpts from:  The 25^th letter of His Eminence and Beatitude Nasrallah Peter Cardial Sfeir.  On the Occasion of the 1600^th Jubilee of the passing of Saint Maron.  Full text of this letter can be found at the Eparchy website: stmaron.org 

Introduction

As the year 2010 coincides with the passing of one thousand six hundred years since the death of Saint Maron the hermit, priest, and father of our Maronite Church described as “the gilding in the choir of the divine saints,” we decided, with the synod of our bishops, to declare this year as a Jubilee Year starting on the 9^th of February, 2010 the feast day of our father Saint Maron and ending on the 2^nd of March, 2011, the feast day of Saint John Maron the first Patriarch, under the title of “Saint Maron – a testimony of faith and a spiritual journey of a people.”

This Jubilee Year aims to pray, think, repent, go back into history, meditate on it, learn lessons, revive and relive our Maronite faith that will allow us to draw a new strategy for our Church in the third millennium. 

By celebrating the Jubilee, our Maronite Church responds to three themes:  Time as the dimension for God, Jubilee as a year consecrated to the Lord and his Saints, and the recent Maronite Patriarchal Assembly and Synod as one stage among others within the history of our Church, “because the Church lives only as a Synod.”

Time in Christianity is the work of God in the act of incarnation.  It came about by the entrance of God, via incarnation, into the history of men.  Eternity penetrated time:  “Is there an achievement greater than that?”  This confirms “that time in Christianity occupies a primary place.”  It also confirms that Christianity is a religion rooted in history, as Teilhard de Chardin put it “God met the world through the Person of Jesus Christ.”  From the relation of God with time the notion of sanctifying time was generated; hence all time is consecrated to God: days, weeks, and years, because Jesus Christ is the Mater of time, and “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

The Year of Saint Maron

(This letter of Bishop Robert Shaheen is reprinted from January 2010 Maronite Voice)

The year 2010 is very special to all of us who are in any way connected to our Maronite Church. His Beatitude Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Cardinal Sfeir has declared 2010 the year of Saint Maron.

How are we going to observe the special occasion? The examinations of our roots are both spiritual and cultural. Maron had no idea that almost 2000 years after his death, he is being remembered far from the land of his birth. He was a hermit, who wanted to remain hidden in a life of prayers and meditation. He was a light shining in darkness and we know a light cannot remain hidden.

The Church that grew from his followers and his monastery became known throughout the area. He was a priest as well as a hermit. His holiness and miracles attracted many followers. For Saint Maron, everything was connected to God our Father, and God is connected to all things. Maron did not separate the physical and the spiritual world and he used the physical world to deepen his faith and spiritual experience with God. He lived his life in the open air exposed to the forces of nature such as: the sun, rain, hail and snow. He wanted to know God’s presence in all things. By transcending such elements, he felt intimate with the Heavenly Father. He freed himself from the physical world and entered a mystical relationship of love with God.

Our recent Maronite Synod reminded us that the Maronite Church is not an ethnic group nor is it a political party; rather, it is a church with all the same responsibilities to evangelize the world like any Catholic Church. From the beginning, the Maronites were a missionary group and this should not change with us. We must be the modern day apostles of Maron and spread the Faith wherever we are. It is laity as well as religious who must carry the message of Christ with all whom they come in contact. In our own lifetime, we realize that the hermitage of Annaya and the Holy Valley of Saints still give us witnesses to the Maronite virtues that exist today.
Let us plan now to celebrate the Year of Saint Maron with a fresh spirit and vitality that was shown by the early followers of this great Saint.

+ Bishop Robert Shaheen, D.D.
Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon

Saint Maron Feast Day Best Wishes - February 9

2010 is the Year of Saint Maron.  More to come in future posts.

ENTRANCE DAY OF BLESSING - February 2, 2010

On the Feast day of the Presentation of Our Lord, Therese Touma and Tresa Van Heusen entered as the first postulants of the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light. Bishop Gregory J. Mansour offered the Divine Liturgy at the Mary, Mother of the Light Monastery in Weymouth Ma.  Concelebrating were Chorbishop Joseph Lahoud, Abouna Jack Morrison, Abouna Anthony Salim and Father William Salmon.

After the Liturgy, Bishop Gregory blessed the candidates and medals of Our Lady of Lebanon, and Sister Marla Marie presented them with the medal to be worn with their postulant uniform. 

"This is a blessed day for our new foundation and I give thanks to God for these vocations," said Sister Marla Marie who is praying that many more women will respond to the call to serve as a Maronite Servant. 

New Members for Maronite Servants

By Dawn Eden

Consecrated life in the Eparchy of Saint Maron marks a historic milestone this month as the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light, the first-ever U.S. congregation of Maronite religious women, receive their first postulants.
Tresa Van Heusen of Atlanta and Therese Touma of Sydney, Australia, entered the Maronite Servants February 2, 2010 the Feast of the Presentation, at the congregation’s home, Mother of the Light Monastery in Weymouth, Mass., following Bishop Gregory Mansour’s celebration of the Divine Liturgy.
Founded by Sister Marla Marie Lucas in June 2008 at the request of Bishop Gregory, the Maronite Servants are “a real blessing for our Church,” Bishop Gregory told the Maronite Voice, adding that he is “amazed at how quickly the congregation has begun to take shape.
“My first and deepest thought” on the occasion of the postulants’ entrance “is gratitude to God and to the Virgin Mary,” Bishop Gregory said. “I could not imagined two better candidates than Therese and Tresa.
“My second thought is gratitude to Sister Marla Marie and all those who have supported and assisted her in this effort.”  (Read more of this article on our website MaroniteServants.org)

Friends and family celebrate with a feast day dinner.  On the right is Marie Van Heusen, Tresa's mother.