Our Cross

On Saturday September 14, 2019, I attended with my wife the Divine Liturgy in which the Greek Melkite Catholic community in Toronto celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Assisted by Fr. Michel Chalhoub, Fr Ibrahim El-Haddad, BSO was the main celebrant. In his homily he spoke of the history of the Feast. He explained the story of the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine to Christianity. Fr. William Saunders wrote an article published in Catholic Education Resource Center (CERC) here where he explaiued how St. Helen, mother of Constantine found the true cross on which Christ was crucified. The reader may wish to read my post of the same feast on September 14, 2018 here.  The Gospel's reading reminded me by a lecture given in September 2008 by Fr. Georges Farah on the dialogue of Pilate with Jesus before his crucifixion. The comment by Fr. Farah applies to us today. The reader may wish to read the lecture here. The illumination of fire is a tradition which to-date is followed by the faithful in Lebanon. The reason of illuminating mountains with fire on this day is precisely that fire used to be the fastest way of communication between different locations and mountains in the empire. Horses, which were then the fastest method of communication, would take weeks or months to transport messages. Christian leaders understood the message since they had agreed on it generation after generation. 
On Sunday September 15, 2019, the 10 a.m. Mass at Holy Rosary Roman Catholic parish was celebrated by the community with Fr. Daniel Callam, CSB. Commenting on the Biblical reading in Exodus (here), Fr. Callam observed how God seemed to change his mind and stop his punishment of the Israelites at the request of his servant Moses. In a metaphoric language, God shows his love of weak humans. In the same way the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin uttered by Jesus express God's search for the lost ones (here).
On the Parable of the Prodigal Son (here), the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad gave a daring homily in French  (here titled Je suis unique et irremplaçable ...). According to Fr. Boulad, what Christ is, by nature, the Son of God, I am also son of God by his grace in the faith that he helps me become his adopted child and so is everyone. God runs after everyone and embraces him/her while the person is coming back home but is still in mud...
In May 2018, I wrote a post on the Parable of the Prodigal Son based on the interpretation of Fr. Georges Farah (here).
The above interpretations are great to learn and apply Christian teachings in our lives. However, in life, there is more to work with. There is so much misery that we need to observe technological and scientific advances in order to apply remedies where possible. One such resource is found here on Magis Center founded by Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D.  Among the technological innovations that could help terminally-ill cancer patients is the one by Mary Lou Jepsen. To quote the Senior Writer on Magis Center,  "former MIT professor, Mary Lou Jepsen, is set to transform imaging technologies, making them both safer and less expensive. How? By using infrared light and components cheap enough that they are used in science fair projects. In her Ted talk presentation, Jepsen demonstrates the use of red light to see through a piece of chicken with a fake tumor embedded in it. The tumor is clearly visible. Demonstrating that a second piece of chicken blocks the view of the tumor, she explains that the scattering of light is an obstacle that needs to be overcome for the technique to work well."

More online resources are available. You may wish to sign up (and/or get your children and friends to sign up) for free on-line courses at https://www.coursera.org
When you access the website, a box is displayed for input: What do you want to learn? 

To choose free courses, select:
Full Course, No Certificate. 

Each course is given by a professor in one of the major universities (mainly American) or institutions of the world.

Courses are available in many fields of technology, medicine, engineering, mathematics, economics, modern physics, cosmology, quantum physics, political sciences, humanities, genetics, cognitive sciences, psychology, game theory, philosophy...  

Such courses help students and teachers in the fields of their interests.

Additionally, you may wish to: 

1. Donate what you can (on-line) for persecuted Christians in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia...

2. Listen on the Internet (YouTube) to some great stories of saints and theological insights by Bishop Robert Barron and others. You can also check out many saints in the "Catholic Encyclopedia" and on http://catholicsaints.info

3. There is much online information in Biblical scholarship that you can find here:

- Fr. Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D. Biblical Studies here: http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/index.html

- St. Paul Center: https://stpaulcenter.com

4. Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D. and his associates on many topics of concern to Christians today:

https://www.magiscenter.com/

5. Pope Benedict XVI (one of the most profound contemporary Christian scholars) here: http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/

6. St. Thomas Aquinas: http://www.aquinasonline.com/Topics/

7. Ignatius Insight: http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/index.asp

8. Zenit: https://zenit.org/

9. Evangile Au Quotidien (Today's Gospel and Saints in many languages including English, French, and Arabic...) https://evangelizo.org/evangelizo.php

10. Television catholique (KTO) - France: http://www.ktotv.com/

11. P. Henri Boulad, S.J. (French): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvZ0TcjA7jCdRe5VS6dWjdQ

12. Today's Questions (English): http://todayquestions.blogspot.com/

13. Jean Vanier - L'Arche (English/French): https://www.larche.org/welcome

14. Vatican (The Apostolic See - in many languages): http://w2.vatican.va/content/vatican/it.html

15. Catechism of the Catholic Church: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

Let us pray to the Lord that he may heal humanity wounded by spiritual and physical illnesses since these are our crosses!