On Sunday morning the Knights of Columbus marched in St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic parish in Toronto and installed a Council with the blessings of Fr. Jim as the Chaplain of the new Council, the youngest yet in Toronto. It was within the Mass that started at 11:15 am - an official celebration for the parish. As I congratulated the active pastor, the Grand Knight and the Deputy Grand Knight, I was introduced to Knights on the teams of State and District Councils. My whole purpose was to bring togetherness between Jesus the King Melkite Catholic parish which I serve and the parish of St. Alphonsus which I intend to serve too. Much needs to be done, but it was a moment that I cherished when the prayer for Christian unity was uttered. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity started yesterday January 18. In unity Christians will become strong but who really remembers the directives of Vatican II? I had already sent an email to the Grand Knight about major projects that are already undertaken by the Knights at Jesus the King including Food for Syria (http://foodforsyria.org/) which provides food and medicine for the needy in Syria where the war still rages, more than a hundred thousand were killed and over a million have been displaced. God willing I will attempt to renew the efforts to bridge the concerns and aspirations of Eastern and Western Christians at the level of these two Councils.
In the evening I learned of the sudden passing away of lady in my extended family. This reminded me of the urgency to prepare ourselves for the life with God.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
Majdi Allawi: True Love
I have listened to Fr. Majdi Allawi who is now visiting Toronto. From the Greek Melkite Catholic diocese of Zahle in Lebanon, yesterday he celebrated Mass at Jesus the King Melkite Catholic Church. A friend posted on YouTube his talk recently given at St. Barsaumo Syriac Orthodox Church in Toronto. It is in Arabic.
In this talk Fr. Allawi introduced himself and his work of love with the poor and forgotten: drug-addicts, young prostitutes, and people in prison. He himself was imprisoned by the political authorities for his defence of the marginalized. He spoke passionately about curing mentally-sick people and defending the dignity of the human person who has no one to defend.
Fr. Majdi Allawi passionately called on all Christians to recall love and give love freely to the needy, poor, lonely, and sick. In doing so he was liberating us from judgmental thought. To us who receive the Eucharist, he had an advice: Go to confession to be forgiven by the Lord before you receive his body and blood. His prayers and fasting everyday must be a gift from God. I thought this is a reflection of true love. It is what Pope Francis, as he mentioned, is calling Christians to be but first listen to it here in Arabic if you can:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr-NZQ0YYtI&feature=youtu.be
In this talk Fr. Allawi introduced himself and his work of love with the poor and forgotten: drug-addicts, young prostitutes, and people in prison. He himself was imprisoned by the political authorities for his defence of the marginalized. He spoke passionately about curing mentally-sick people and defending the dignity of the human person who has no one to defend.
Fr. Majdi Allawi passionately called on all Christians to recall love and give love freely to the needy, poor, lonely, and sick. In doing so he was liberating us from judgmental thought. To us who receive the Eucharist, he had an advice: Go to confession to be forgiven by the Lord before you receive his body and blood. His prayers and fasting everyday must be a gift from God. I thought this is a reflection of true love. It is what Pope Francis, as he mentioned, is calling Christians to be but first listen to it here in Arabic if you can:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr-NZQ0YYtI&feature=youtu.be
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Do We Need to Play? The Joy of Togetherness
This 20-minutes TED Talk was given by Jane McGonigal in June 2012 and was since viewed by over 2 million viewers on the Internet:
Jane designs computer games. She promises that the effects of playing increases life by up to 10 years. This is not simply based on mathematics but on psychological insights and recent neuroscientific research. In her talk she recounted her own experience of depression following a concussion two years earlier...Watch the rest in TED Talk.
ARTICLE IS IN PROGRESS...
ARTICLE IS IN PROGRESS...
Friday, January 10, 2014
How Can I Thank You?
How can I thank you? You gave me life when in your foreknowledge you knew I did not deserve a second of it.
How can I thank you? You formed me in the womb of my mother when I was only a prayer in her heart.
How can I thank you? You made me a living miracle when top physicians thought I would die in a couple of years due to aortic aneurysm and insufficiency - How is it possible that the top cardiologist in Canada recently admitted that You proved them wrong...
How can I thank you? You proved that love is stronger than life itself when my parents sacrificed much for me and my brothers. How is it that my mother sold jewels to only satisfy my request to be with me before my heart surgery? How is it that they listened to my little voice saying a 7-years old child "Mass" at home imitating your priests? How is it that my dad asked me to read him from the Bible while he was suffering before his death? How is it that you made them trust in the prayer of a great sinner?
How can I thank you? You wedded me to a woman who, in spite of my demanding character, supported me in my illnesses and dark nights - a woman who never quit but, blessed by You, she gave me three precious children...- a woman who silently worked and still works hard at home and in school in love of this family...
How can I thank you? When I was bleeding and near death after my kidney cancer surgery, the physician in charge at the hospital informed me that they had already used 4 litres of blood transfusion and could not give me more. Yet, you stretched your hand - I do not know how - and brought back my blood count so as to extend my life.
How can I thank you? When my mother of blessed memory and my dear wife were nearly heart-broken in the longer-than-expected 6-hours heart surgery that I underwent, you brought us back together that my mother-in-law of blessed memory bowed and kissed the ground when she saw me back home.
How can I thank you? You allowed us to immigrate to this land of freedom through the generosity of my aunt and her husband who dearly loved my devout dad. Do I ever forget their sacrifices as they, without children, considered us their children?
How can I thank you? In the past years since my illness, You sent me brothers and sisters, everyone in the extended family, friends; close and far from Toronto, Cairo, Paris, Alexandria, Montreal, Jerusalem, Belgium, and Beirut - All asking and praying for me.
How can I thank you? I, the son of earth: this is my name - can receive You the Son of the Most High in the Eucharist.
After my recovery from stroke in 2007, my wife said to me "How is it that you are still worried? If I were you I would dance of joy."
In my daily prayer I only say one "Hail Mary..." and the rest I leave it to You since, after all what You did with me O Love Eternal, You cannot reject me, nor anyone for whom the beloved Mother of God prays.
How can I thank you? You formed me in the womb of my mother when I was only a prayer in her heart.
How can I thank you? You made me a living miracle when top physicians thought I would die in a couple of years due to aortic aneurysm and insufficiency - How is it possible that the top cardiologist in Canada recently admitted that You proved them wrong...
How can I thank you? You proved that love is stronger than life itself when my parents sacrificed much for me and my brothers. How is it that my mother sold jewels to only satisfy my request to be with me before my heart surgery? How is it that they listened to my little voice saying a 7-years old child "Mass" at home imitating your priests? How is it that my dad asked me to read him from the Bible while he was suffering before his death? How is it that you made them trust in the prayer of a great sinner?
How can I thank you? You wedded me to a woman who, in spite of my demanding character, supported me in my illnesses and dark nights - a woman who never quit but, blessed by You, she gave me three precious children...- a woman who silently worked and still works hard at home and in school in love of this family...
How can I thank you? When I was bleeding and near death after my kidney cancer surgery, the physician in charge at the hospital informed me that they had already used 4 litres of blood transfusion and could not give me more. Yet, you stretched your hand - I do not know how - and brought back my blood count so as to extend my life.
How can I thank you? When my mother of blessed memory and my dear wife were nearly heart-broken in the longer-than-expected 6-hours heart surgery that I underwent, you brought us back together that my mother-in-law of blessed memory bowed and kissed the ground when she saw me back home.
How can I thank you? You allowed us to immigrate to this land of freedom through the generosity of my aunt and her husband who dearly loved my devout dad. Do I ever forget their sacrifices as they, without children, considered us their children?
How can I thank you? In the past years since my illness, You sent me brothers and sisters, everyone in the extended family, friends; close and far from Toronto, Cairo, Paris, Alexandria, Montreal, Jerusalem, Belgium, and Beirut - All asking and praying for me.
How can I thank you? I, the son of earth: this is my name - can receive You the Son of the Most High in the Eucharist.
After my recovery from stroke in 2007, my wife said to me "How is it that you are still worried? If I were you I would dance of joy."
In my daily prayer I only say one "Hail Mary..." and the rest I leave it to You since, after all what You did with me O Love Eternal, You cannot reject me, nor anyone for whom the beloved Mother of God prays.
Friday, January 3, 2014
Cherchez la femme
In early January 2014 a young man told me that women from as far as France and China contacted him for the sole purpose of getting them pregnant. Each of the women wanted to have the baby and bring him up on her own. None of them wanted any role of a father or a husband. They were ready to sign any legal documents that would free the man from any liability towards the woman and the baby.
There is a real need for reproduction/procreation; for a woman typically wishes to be a mother even if at the cost of paying someone or some agency the price of getting the man's sperms in her womb. In the ancient patriarchal societies, a woman who was not fertile thought it was a curse by God (or the gods) for at least the reason that her man would leave her and marry another woman in order to beget him a child who would carry his legacy. This same story is found too in Henry VIII, King of England in the 16th century. But there is more to it. The utter independence of the self sought by some young women reflects their mistrust of others in their lives probably because of the way they were treated by their fathers or husbands, or because of the culture that surrounded them which regards woman as a mere property to be used or shelved. Such cultures still exist in many parts of the world.
As fear is ultimately associated with death, lack of fear or openness to trust is associated with the power to deliver life. This is the power the God chooses women for. A woman is not only a daughter or a wife, but a mother too. If she is not physically a mother, she is spiritually a mother. Many examples can be given. Above all, Mary delivered the Son of God in his humanity from her womb. She also delivers many daughters and sons of God metaphorically by her intercession and prayers. The most cherished prayer in history is the one that says "Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death" which is precisely what every human person really wants to have - eternal joy. Twenty centuries later Mother Teresa delivered so many daughters and sons of of God metaphorically by her prayers. And more so it is that the mother is the centre of the family.
In an impressive brief talk, Matt Ridley spoke of ideas having sex with each other, only to illustrate the evolutionary perspective of building the human civilizations in the role of the mother:
http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_
Yet, Christianity built the most impressive civilization when a woman dared to have God born from her.
There is a real need for reproduction/procreation; for a woman typically wishes to be a mother even if at the cost of paying someone or some agency the price of getting the man's sperms in her womb. In the ancient patriarchal societies, a woman who was not fertile thought it was a curse by God (or the gods) for at least the reason that her man would leave her and marry another woman in order to beget him a child who would carry his legacy. This same story is found too in Henry VIII, King of England in the 16th century. But there is more to it. The utter independence of the self sought by some young women reflects their mistrust of others in their lives probably because of the way they were treated by their fathers or husbands, or because of the culture that surrounded them which regards woman as a mere property to be used or shelved. Such cultures still exist in many parts of the world.
But this real story shows that she wants full control over her life. The phenomenon of controlling everything one can get has been shown recently in professor Brené Brown's incredible talk of her life-changing experiment on the power of vulnerability that attracted 12 million persons to listen to her:
The will to control everything in life is reflected in the Biblical temptation of the Devil to Adam and Eve in order to control their lives and become their own gods! (Genesis 3). It is why we want a guarantee of happy life that never ends.
Regardless of what religion or atheistic philosophy I believe in, my fear of death will lead me to cling to some power that can bring me and my beloved to an eternal happy life after death. Philosopher Stephen Cave gave a talk in July 2013 in which he referred to an experiment
http://www.ted.com/talks/As fear is ultimately associated with death, lack of fear or openness to trust is associated with the power to deliver life. This is the power the God chooses women for. A woman is not only a daughter or a wife, but a mother too. If she is not physically a mother, she is spiritually a mother. Many examples can be given. Above all, Mary delivered the Son of God in his humanity from her womb. She also delivers many daughters and sons of God metaphorically by her intercession and prayers. The most cherished prayer in history is the one that says "Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death" which is precisely what every human person really wants to have - eternal joy. Twenty centuries later Mother Teresa delivered so many daughters and sons of of God metaphorically by her prayers. And more so it is that the mother is the centre of the family.
In an impressive brief talk, Matt Ridley spoke of ideas having sex with each other, only to illustrate the evolutionary perspective of building the human civilizations in the role of the mother:
http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_
Yet, Christianity built the most impressive civilization when a woman dared to have God born from her.
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