The Tears of God

In the past week leading to the memory of the passions of Christ, many people suffered and died. In countries of the Middle East there have been ongoing wars between Sunni and Shiite armies that claimed the lives of many victims that continued to fall at the hands of radical Islamist forces including the recently martyred 21 Egyptian Christians and many more Christian martyrs in Syria and Iraq who could not flee the threat of ISIS but insisted to keep the Christian faith. Last week I was informed by SK Rami Kaai (in charge of Food for Syria at Jesus the King Knights of Columbus Council) that there was a memorial Mass celebrated in Homs Syria for the Jesuit martyr Fr. Frans van der Logt who, in spite of his long services to Muslims and Christians, was killed brutally by ISIS. In the same past week, a Germanwings plane crashed over France killing all 150 passengers in what investigators found the cause to be a deliberate act of suicide by a desperate co-pilot. Over all these victims much tears flowed from families, relatives, and friends who felt the loss of lives dear to them. How important it is to remember each departed person by name. Every human person derives his dignity from God who creates all and loves all.

One particular departure that we felt this week was that of Tony Tinawi who was hospitalized in Toronto, suffered complications to his health, and before his death last Tuesday received the sacrament of the sick administered by Fr. Michel Chalhoub. Fr. Youhanna Hanna too had remembered him in his prayers before the Crucified. My wife and I knew Tony here and dined with him, his wife Amira and a number of friends a few months ago. Amira and Tony, together with their two sons, have been attending Mass regularly at Jesus the King Melkite Catholic Church in Toronto. I knew Amira, a doctor from Egypt, and her two brothers Sherif and Nagui Wassef, partners and owners of the Wassef Design Group. since the 1970s in Cairo. My mother and their mother of blessed memory were friends. This past Friday we saw Amira, her twin sons, her brother Nagui and his wife at Highland funeral home. A crowd of relatives and friends gathered to pay respect to Tony and pray for him and the family. Many friends sent their condolences, and the family in Egypt offered a Mass for Tony on Saturday as the one here on the same dayat Jesus the King Church. On Friday too, members of the Homsy choir chanted as Fr. Michel said the prayers with emotions ascending to God. I talked to Amira and remembered together her mom and mine who sacrificed a lot for their children. My memory shifted also to the day when my dad of blessed memory passed away in Heliopolis, Egypt on the 14th of this same month in 1971. He was probably of the same age as Tony was when he passed away. My dad suffered peritonitis and my mother chocked in tears as she was besides his bed in hospital. My twin and I were almost of the same age as Tony's twin children are today. It is my opinion that as

God allows the departure of fathers and/or mothers, his blessings and presence are felt more intensely in those of the remaining family. God never forsakes anyone.

And where was God when tears flowed over all the victims lost on this earth? Following the Gregorian calendar in the Western hemisphere, this Saturday March 28 is the day the Melkite Catholic Church an other Churches in Canada celebrate the "Raising of Lazarus" by Jesus Christ.  It is written [When Jesus saw (Mary) weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; and he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" ] (John 11: 33-36). The full event of raising Lazarus from the dead can be read here. Here we find the answer to the question: where was God when tears flowed over all the victims lost here? Our God Jesus Christ wept with those who wept and today too God suffers and weeps with all those who suffer and weep. The tears of God bring the resurrection of Man! If we believe that Christ is God then the tears of Christ are the tears of God!
 
[Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.] (Revelation 22: 1-5).