The Joy of Living in the Lord

In his Epistle to the Colossians, St. Paul exhorts Christians to put off their old way of life..."Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." (Colossians 3: 5). Instead "there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scyth'ian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all." (Colossians 3: 11), Furthermore "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3: 12-17). The above was in the Epistle's reading today Sunday December 16, 2018 at Jesus the King Melkite Catholic parish celebrated in the Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Toronto.  The Gospel reading was from the Gospel according to St. Luke in which our Lord gives the parable of a master who invites his friends to a great banquet but they decline. Here it is "A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, `Come; for all is now ready.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, `I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.'
and another said, `I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.' And another said, `I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, `Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.' And the servant said, `Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.' And the master said to the servant, `Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.'"  It is followed by Christ's words "Many are called but few are chosen" (Matthew 22: 14). The long history of Christianity is nothing but Christ who renews the world (see this essay written in March this year here). In fact, complex projects today show that the human mind created by God is unique among biological animals (see this post that I wrote as a response to one of the questions in my Master's studies in information systems here). In his impressive homily on the above, the pastor, Fr. Ibrahim El-Haddad; bso said that Christ does not require Christians to be highly successful in this world.  He only desires that we come to him like the poor, the blind, and the lame who pray because they need the joy of Christ which he brought when he was incarnate from the immaculate Virgin Mary, always-virgin, by the power of the Spirit of God.  St. Paul exhorts Christians to be kind and forgiving of people they know and above all put on love - This is how we attain the peace of Christ rule in our hearts and our relations. God himself is a relatedness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (On Relatedness, see this post here). It is not enough to enjoy Christmas but Christians need to show how Christ revolutionized the way of relating to everyone around them and of realizing that God loves all. Before receiving the Eucharist in the state of grace, the choir sings with the congregation the Lord's Prayer - It is important to note that "Give us this day our daily bread" is an invitation of Christ to be in us through the reception of his body and blood in the Mystery of the Eucharist (see this essay written in August 2018 here). The renowned Homsy choir has always sung beautiful hymns in the Masses celebrated. A recording of the hymns in the first Greek Melkite Catholic Mass at the Cathedral on Sunday November 27, 2016 can be found here.  In the end of the Divine Liturgy according to St. John Chrysostom, the priest, on behalf of himself and the congregation, asks the Triune God to grant peace to the world, the Churches, priests, rulers, and "all thy people; for every good grace and every perfect gift come down from you Father of lights".  His mother is the woman persecuted by the Devil in the Book of Revelation (see this reflection on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by the Biblical scholar Thomas Cardinal Collins here). Joy to the World -  Christ the Saviour is here!