The Cross

Last night,  Friday September 14, 2018, the Melkite Catholic parish in Toronto celebrated "The Exaltation of the Cross." The elaborate Mass was presided over by the Pastor Fr. Ibrahim El-Haddad and his Assistant Pastors, Fr. Michel Chalhoub, and Fr. Youhanna Hanna and served by the renowned Homsy choir. The Gospel's reading reminded me by a lecture given in September 2008 by Fr. Georges Farah, Ph.D. 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: https://todayquestions.blogspot.com/2008/09/georges-farah-on-exaltation-of-cross_14.html
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.
In his book "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind", a Professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holder of a doctorate from the University of Oxford, Yuval Noah Harari shows how the first homo sapiens evolved and challenged by their intelligence other forms of animals, building primitive cultures in Africa and eventually moving to Eurasia. The "imagination" of homo sapiens distinguished them with respect to other animals, but above all allowed them to develop social connections to live together and conquer the known world. Primitive religions unified people to worship deities.
Now we continue with history: Kings made themselves gods to control the rest of their tribes, which created a class of priests that assist them. This is found in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Babylon. In Rome the emperor claimed to be a god, The Greeks worshiped many gods; one for each star...
However, the Hebrews believed in one God who revealed himself to Abraham and ordered him to leave Ur in Babylon. When Abraham had to go to Egypt due to a famine in Palestine, the Hebrews mixed with the Egyptians until Moses, resisted by his Israelite people, led them out across the Red Sea according to the Old Testament.
In his homilies, the Jesuit scholar, Fr. Henri Boulad says that Christ who started a revolution of love in Judea is the axis of history. Jesus Christ was a man who equated himself to God the Father and was crucified by the chief priests because of  "blasphemy". Christians believe that Christ rose from the dead and ascended to heaven (or rather brought heaven to earth). Following his commands to the Apostles they went preaching in his name to the known world.
Today we seem to have forgotten the cross of Christ. Atheism is rampant while most Christians hardly go to Church and receive Christ in the Eucharistic meal. Pilate seems to still ask sarcastically "What is Truth?"

Read me

In his homily today,  the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad commented on the second reading in today's Mass according to the Roman Catholic Church (James 2: 1-5): (Découvrir la valeur de l'être ...in French, subtitled in English here). Fr. Boulad gives some real-life examples of a lady whose husband was a minister of the state - their son was in the Jesuit College in Cairo so she thought that Fr. Boulad would seat her in the front row but she was upset when he invited her to sit anywhere in the hall with other less classy parents. Although God created everyone in his image (Genesis 1: 27), Fr. Boulad wonders how we seem to deny this reality and are still prisoners of how things and people appear. We seem to respect rich persons driving expensive Mercedes cars but do we respect the woman carrying bags of food and tired of going upstairs in the same way we respect the rich? This reminds me by the Parable of the rich to whom God said "You fool, this very night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong" (Luke 12: 20).
However, if we read the Gospel's reading in the same Mass, we find this text about how Jesus healed the deaf man with speech impediment:

He put his finger into the man’s ears

and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!”— that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly. 
He ordered them not to tell anyone. 
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it. 
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well. 

He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Jesus heals the sick and takes care of the despairing and lonely ones...He calls us to become His Father's children. I wrote on May 14, 2018 about Our Generous Father based on the Parable of the Prodigal Son as interpreted by Fr. Georges Farah (Luke 15: 11-32). I also remember the Lord's Prayer which the congregation recite before receiving the Eucharist in the Mass. The Lord's Prayer starts with putting ourselves in God's will. We need to trust Him who is the purpose of our existence. We start the petitions with "Give us this day our daily bread". This has a very special meaning that links it to receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharistic meal...See this research that I wrote on August 23, 2018 here. Christ heals us physically, psychologically, and spiritually in the time accorded by God and according to His providential plan for each one.

On April 21, 2018, I wrote how since my conception in my mother's womb I have been particularly blessed by heaven through the intercession of St. George (here). I have also shared my illnesses and thanked God that in His merciful love He gave me more life to live (see this post written on April 3, 2018 here and an earlier one written in 2008 here).

As I was recovering from the partial nephrectomy surgery that Professor Dr. Michael Jewett performed in early 2005 at Toronto General Hospital (TGH), the chief in residence physician warned me that I may bleed due to gradually increasing counadin (an anticuagulant agent). When this happened in the same night that I was released I had to go back to TGH and be re-admitted in emergency. There I stayed 20 days as Dr. Jewett visited me several times. The physician in charge noticed that I was continuously losing blood. After many attempts to restore my hemoglobin level to 100, I was vomiting, and starting to lose consciousness as my hemoglobin went down to 80. He started to warn me that he may have to stop the process in which case I would likely die...But somehow, my  hemoglobin started to go up to 90 at which point I started to feel better and eat. As I remember this today - 13 years later - it seems that a little miracle took place! I recall that in my long recovery I received requests from friends to pray with visiting priests for the recovery of one of their relatives who had cancer. Earlier this year 2018 two dear persons passed away because of cancer. I remember them as do others in our prayers...I also pray for eternal peace that God would grant in His merciful love to all those of our families, relatives, and friends that passed away.

It is particularly in my requests to the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, that I ask her to pray for the sick, the lonely, the elderly, and those who departed.