First Vows

On Saturday, December 8 2012, Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Sister Therese Maria Touma professed First Vows as a Maronite Servant of Christ the Light during the Qurbono at Saint Anthony of the Desert parish in Fall River, MA.  His Excellency, Bishop Gregory Mansour, several concelebrating clergy and over 200 people attended the celebration.  Mother Marla Marie received Sister Therese Maria's vows after the homily (as you can see from the photos).
It was a beautiful and blessed day in the journey of the foundation of the Maronite Servants.  Sister Therese Maria addressed the congregation at the close of the Qurbono:

“My soul rejoices in the Lord my Savior…The Mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” (Luke 1: 47, 49)

Yes, truly he has filled me with the fullness of his awesome love. Thank you to all for your encouraging presence and prayers, and for sharing with me such a joyous occasion. In gratitude to our Good God, I thank him for the gift of my calling as a Maronite Servant of Christ the Light, and for the grace to respond to this life-giving invitation to be all for Jesus, and to love and serve our Church.

I thank my parents Youssef and Jackie for all their sacrifices and love in raising me and my siblings Alison and Roumanos. I am honored to have my mum here with me all the way from Australia, representing my loved ones, family and friends back home in Sydney.

There are many who have touched my life and made a positive difference. They know who they are and I thank God for each of them.

In particular, I thank His Excellency Sayedna Gregory Mansour for his inspiring words, caring presence and faithful witness of fatherly and brotherly love.

I am deeply grateful to the generous abounas (priests) who have supported me in my journey of discernment and formation, and especially for those here today.

In a special way, I thank you Mother Marla Marie for your self-giving dedication and uplifting presence in my life as a guide, formator, and dear friend. In the last three years of formation, I have seen myself grow in the acceptance of my humanity, and in compassion for my neighbor. Thank you for your goodness, for all the joys, challenges, and the sharing of your life experiences with me, in community. This all has helped me to grow in my understanding and living of true communion and love.

Parish Visit - Utica NY

We visited St. Louis Gonzaga parish in Utica, N.Y. last weekend December 1-2 and spoke to the religious education class on vocations.

Chorbishop John Faris, pastor of the parish graciously welcomed us and gave Mother Marla Marie the opportunity to speak at the Liturgies sharing on our Maronite Servant mission and the importance of praying for and encouraging vocations in the family and parish community, to religious life and the priesthood.

We also met with some of the ladies from the St. Mary’s Ladies guild, the MYO and the Catechists. We were blessed with a fruitful visit and were part of the family spirit of the parish. God willing, we hope to come back to Utica in 2013 to facilitate a ladies retreat for the St. Mary’s Guild and offer practical workshops for the catechists.

Year of Faith - To Do List

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

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

• Do something good for your marriage. If you are not married, do something good for someone else's

marriage. Live true to your state in life and find God's presence there.

• Read Saint Ephrem: Get to know better your Maronite liturgy, history and tradition and the valuable

contribution our Church continues to make in the Middle East and throughout the world.

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

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

meaning of faith.

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

 

The Maronite Music Website

www.maronitemusic.org

by Fr. Geoffrey Abdallah, Director

This new website is provided by the Inter-Eparchial Music Commission as an official resource for the Maronite Catholic Church. The Commission was established in March 2008 by the four Maronite Bishops of the English speaking eparchies (dioceses) - Bishops Gregory Mansour and Robert Shaheen (USA), Bishop Ad Abikaram (Australia) and Bishop Joseph Khoury (Canada) - in response to the decision at the annual Maronite Bishops' Synod at Bkerke (Lebanon) to establish an inter-eparchial committee to work on one English translation of the Maronite Liturgical texts.

 

The demanding task of accurately translating and adapting over 250 Maronite Chants of the Qorbono (Mass) into singable English, while remaining faithful to the original Syriac melody, is now omplete. The Entrance Hymns, Qoleh, and Mazmooreh for the whole Liturgical year are available on this website. The hymns for the Proper of the Mass, such as Glory to God, Pre-Anaphora Hymns, Peace Hymns, Fraction Hymns, Communion Hymns, etc., have also been placed on this website. This will allow parish choirs time to begin learning the new texts/hymns prior to the arrival of the new Mass Books.
 

The new English translation of the Book of Offering (Mass Book) has been approved by the Maronite Bishops of the English speaking eparchies and has been promulgated by the Maronite Patriarch, His Beatitude Bechara Peter Rai. It is in the process of publication. Since the work of any Music  commission is always a "work in progress," this website will be constantly updated. It will provide Maronite Hymns in English, articles about Maronite Music, recordings and other resources to make the richness of our authentic Antiochian Syriac Maronite tradition available to future generations in the English speaking world.