In "Why The Beloved is Beautiful" (here) I attempted four years ago to reflect on beauty today and true beauty found in the lives and writings of a few mystics and saints including St. Rita of Cascia, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, St. Mariam Bouardy, and the reformer St. Bernard of Clairvaux. I experienced true love in the silent suffering yet the smiling and peaceful face of an old lady who departed to God last Sunday and who for years we knew here in Toronto at Jesus the King Melkite Catholic parish. In the funeral home, this past Thursday, two of her nephews - who are leaders of the renowned Homsy choir - reminded me of another saintly man, the late Patriarchal Vicar over the See of Alexandria Archbishop Paul Antaki the Great (see here, and here). Our family has been blessed in knowing her and her family as well as in knowing Archbishop Paul Antaki.
The utterly beautiful face is that of the Word of God who by the power of the Holy Spirit was incarnate from the Blessed Virgin Mary (The Theotokos). According to early tradition, Jesus' face sweating with blood was miraculously impressed on a veil given to him on his way to the Golgotha by St. Veronica (i.e. bearer of victory). In the 20th century, Jesus appeared in a vision to St. Faustina Kowalska canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2000. The picture of Divine Marcy shows our Lord Jesus Christ with rays coming out of his hands in calling people to repent. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is also printed here in which Jesus calls us to his heart. The vision is attributed to St. Marguerite- Marie Alacoque of the 17th century canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920. Related to Jesus' suffering and death on the cross for our salvation, we recall the celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross (see here a homily by Fr. Georges Farah in September 2008). But who was the closest to Christ in the joys and sorrows except his mother? Who rejoiced in Christ's Resurrection and Ascension more than his mother? (see here a talk by Fr. Georges Farah in 2008 on the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and here a talk by Fr. Ibrahim El-Haddad in 2018 on the same occasion). Probably the most beautiful talk on the Blessed Virgin Mary is this one given by Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen in 1979 which can be found on YouTube here. I also registered a homily by the Thomas Cardinal Collins Archbishop of Toronto given when Fr. Mounir El-Rassy was ordained on August 15, 2009. It is titled "Thomas Collins on The Assumption of Mary" and can be found here. Today, however, politicians and society, at least in the West, have moved away from Christian faith. Many married adults no longer comply with the moral fidelity to spouses. Younger generations have, in many cases, stopped marrying or postponed marriage. I lectured about it here and here.
In addition, politicians and society, at least in the West, have moved away from Christian faith to atheism or negligence of their Christian roots in favour of Radical Islam. It is important to recall and relive Christianity based on a good understanding of history (written here in March 2018).
In 2005, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) warned the West about self-destruction and immorality that can lead to wars and terrorism (here). The reader may wish to also listen to this homily given in French by the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad in October 2017 in France where he calls upon Christians in Europe to rediscover their Christian roots and reject Islam as a political solution. In November this year, we received published work in French that shows how provinces in Canada are embracing Islam and Arabic (here in French). In addition, a conference on atheism and Islamic invasion of Canada and the West has been published in Arabic as well as scholarly work in several European languages here. The most likely causes of these invasions are Salafism and the Muslim Brotherhood funded in colleges and universities as well as Islamic Centers by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. Others of the Islamic Shiite sect are funded by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Today Hizbullah has a say in political changes in both Syria and Lebanon. In 2010, I lectured in a Shiite Islamic Center in Toronto (see here). The recent massacre of Jamal Khashoggi in the Turkish capital is a sign of the thrust of competition between Sunni Islamic regional countries to impose their own interests on other countries in the world. This is only a part of the larger scheme of evil which tempts us everywhere.
May the Lord, the Beautiful One, help all to rediscover Him.
