Can we achieve full joy in this world?
"The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades. This is a very real danger for believers too. Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ." (Cf. Pope Francis; Evangelii Gaudium, 2013; The Joy of the Gospel.)
Friday, January 2, 2015
Friday, December 26, 2014
The Desire for Christ
Christmas in 2014 was a prayer for peace to the Incarnate Word of God Jesus Christ: peace in my soul and the souls of many friends; peace and health for fellow friends struck by disease; peace in the Church where Satan her enemy is actively seeking to diminish her mission; peace eternal for those who passed away recently, including the dad of a fellow Knight of Columbus in Toronto and the many victims killed recently in the Middle East like the children of Bethlehem whom Herod in his rage against the new king of the Jews had killed (Matthew 2: 16); and a prayer too for peace in a world divided by power-hungry politicians and aggressive materialists whose selfishness has already caused a large gap between the few rich and the many poor as well as many lost jobs for the young generation.
We watched the Holy Father Francis deliver a rare rebuke to the powerful prelates and officials of the Roman Curia in the Vatican where he listed 15 illnesses of power-seeking and coldness towards others. We also noticed a somber pope with a rising tone in his voice giving the Christmas Urbi et Orbi when he urged the listening world to be open to God, prayed for the victims of atrocities in so many countries especially for children and other victims of the radical Islamist war on everyone else in the Middle East.
With the above unresolved, The Economist published a report titled "Islamism is no longer the answer" which, at last, recognizes what Christians in the Middle East have been suffering since the beginning of the failed "Arab Spring" supported by Western powers. The same materialist publication published an extensive report too titled "Why is everyone so busy?" lamenting the fact that contemporary workers have no time for the family in an age of excessive individualism and selfish capitalism.
And yet in spite of the sad news, I enjoyed Christmas in more than one way: First we participated in the Christmas Eve Mass at St. Basil's Roman Catholic Church with my family; contacted some of our extended family in the Middle East, Europe, and North America...Second, I listened to the inspiring words by Most Reverend Bishop Ibrahim on the Incarnation (in Sawt el Rab last Friday here in Arabic); and the recent homily by the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad on the desire for Christ (here in French).
Bishop Ibrahim said: The Son of God chose our human weakness to experience us and save us through his humanity united to his divinity. In his incarnation, the Son of God assumed our humanity in everything except sin in order to restore our state to the original one willed by God... We need to grow every year in faith and in understanding of the mystery of the incarnation where we increasingly deepen our faith and touch the presence of God in our lives... Jesus is the "Prince of peace" in spite of suffering. The real Christian carries the peace of Christ in his heart even if he, like Christ, is crucified on the cross. As for Christians suffering violence in the East today, they can live Christmas as did Jesus. As a human person, Jesus had no power over history and was probably the first immigrant when Mary and Joseph took him to Egypt to escape from the threat of Herod. As God, Christ respects the freedom of humanity and offers himself in a mysterious dialogue with her to become aware of his closeness and return to him who said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). I respect human freedom to immigrate away from the dangers in the East but we also encourage Christians in the Middle East to remain and be active in their lands. However, if they want to immigrate and are accepted by the civil authorities, no one should stop them...
Bishop Ibrahim continues: We cannot see the birth of Christ except through the eyes of the Virgin Mary who was chosen by God to be the mother of his Son in the flesh. She carried him in her womb, delivered him, cared for him, and was with him to the end and yet remained ever-virgin,..She is our mother... Question: How can we understand so much suffering in the world? Is God only watching people suffer and die? He answers: This is a big question. But for people who have faith and want to build bridges to perceive the presence of God, they understand that suffering and joy are two sides of the same coin. Suffering is only the outer shell of the essence of life and deeper joy which we often go through to realize love. Suffering is not required but if we encounter it, we have the choice of accepting it and working to relieve ourselves and others of pain. A Christian who carries Christ in his heart cannot really be Christian unless he loves and gives of himself to the other like Christ our God who is love gave himself and his life for all.
To answer a question on social services by the Melkite Catholic Church in Canada, Bishop Ibrahim said that the Church has founded a center "Bonheur du Ciel" with the active Fr. Majdi Allawi to care for the lost, forgotten, and needy in Montreal. How can we live joy? Unless we give of ourselves and our needs, we cannot have joy. The goal of Jesus is for us to live in joy in union with God who is the eternal love and joy. How about children in Church? When the angels sang in the birth of Christ, their center of joy was the infant Jesus. In the same way we must not forbid children from singing in the church which is the house of Christ. To a Muslim brother who wanted to know why Christians believe that God became human, the answer is simply that "God is love" (1 John 4:8)! When we fell in sin, God, out of profound love, still gives us the free choice to be reunited with him through Christ.
Finally, Bishop Ibrahim advises the faithful: We need to reflect on God, so close to us who assumed our nature in Christ and who gives us the truths of faith, and love - abundant love!
Now with Fr. Henri Boulad, S.J. a profound question is addressed. The question of joy versus pleasure was the topic addressed in his homily on the last Sunday before Christmas. In his charismatic and intriguing style, Henri Boulad takes his listeners from the natural to the supernatural. "Which period is more beautiful in love: The time of engagement or the time after marriage? In engagement each one there awaits and desires the other, while marriage is the consummation of this desire. The dialectic of desire and pleasure is developed in my book 'Chastity and Consecration' but the question frequently asked is about the meaning. Desire is a tendency towards another, a waiting and a nostalgia for the other. Pleasure comes to complete desire and suppresses it. It is a paradox and a contradiction of terms! Let us reflect... In the heart of this question, consider the state of consecrated celibacy. This is the state of men and women who renounced marriage...We can consider them monsters, illuminated, psychopath, or rather a path for escape or some old-fashioned detraction... Desire goes up...up...and when completed it drops to nothingness. Realizing this desire kills it! Is there a way for a solution to this opposition between desire and pleasure? I have always looked for a justification of my vow for chastity. It is not at all natural. Probably someone would think it is anti-natural, but I would say it is supernatural. It is not understood except in faith and is not lived except in grace! What does this mean? It means that there is a certain taste, profundity, and beauty in the waiting period that does not exist in the act of completion of desire."
Henri Boulad, S.J. is a profound thinker who is never satisfied with simple explanations. Like the late Jacques Dupuis. S.J., another Jesuit theologian, he attempts to find common elements with other religious experiences as encouraged by Dominus Iesus which was approved by St. Pope John Paul II. In this context he read a text by Salah Mukhaimer on Islamic Sufism that he had translated from Arabic. In his search he read the ancient Tantric Buddhism and Hindu esoteric mysticism too, in spite of its deficient character in adherence to monism, an experience that is probably older and different from Judaism and Christianity. Scholars date this non-revelation cult to as early as 1500 BC.
A translation of the text authored by Salah Mukhaimer thus reads "Delay of attaining pleasure in the total completion of the sexual act opens a path of waiting that would imply a blessedness in torment that supposes a continuity of desire in tension with a tendency towards...Thus joy is a continuing desire and tendency towards..." Henri Boulad sees here a valid point: The joy of a child is wholly a tendency.The adult person looks to put his hand or possess the object which is the attainment of pleasure. Once the adult person attains pleasure, the object of his desire becomes like a fleeting wind. "What is Sufism (mystical experience) if it is not this? Mystical experience is a hope and tendency to in a state of suffering pleasure without allowing the surpassing of the state of waiting." Mukhaimer wrote.
In Mukhaimer's text, Fr. Boulad finds a torture, yet joy is defined in this context as a tendency of desire towards the beloved. In Tantric Buddhism, Fr. Boulad found a "profound text" on sexuality by accepting desire without looking for completing it (called accepting "emptiness" without attempting to fulfill the emptiness)! This is called consecrated chastity!
For Fr. Boulad, the most beautiful moments of love are those of waiting because "waiting enlarges the heart." It was the last Sunday before Christmas. "The manger was without Jesus.The emptiness in life... spiritual life...The emptiness of the desert (The desert Fathers?). My sentiments are here: It is a reminder that humanity was awaiting the coming of the Divine...God let humanity grow her desire for him until in Mary's womb the desire was accomplished... Come Divine Messiah...Come, come, come...In Mary's heart and womb, the desire of Mary (alone) grew so intense that she attracted the God of heaven (or "forced" heaven) as a lover. In Mary humanity attained her fulfillment. She is the consecrated virgin and remained a virgin all her life. Consecrated celibacy means that nothing human fills my heart. You may ask 'Should we stop getting married?' No. Get married. It is fine. But know that human love does not fulfill the human heart. Nothing human fulfills your hearts. It is clear that in love there is an essential poverty which means not to possess the other and not to possess pleasure. 'Eat this fruit and you shall be like God' is Satan's lie to die. Yes, we need to live in a state of emptiness and a state of waiting. Marriage is good but care not to turn it into selfish pleasure. In his first letter to the Corinthians Chapter 7, St. Paul advised those who are married to live as if they are not and those who possess as if they possess nothing. This is the foundation of my spirituality: Total attachment in total detachment; neither attachment which makes us slaves nor detachment which is indifference."
"Amin Maalouf wrote 'Love is thirsty. Rain is there but I will retain my thirst rather than get a sip of water in my mouth. Love is a flower and not a fruit. Love is a promise before it can be an accomplishment'! Think of love versus pleasure. Reflect and pray..."
"The virginity of Mary is this response: Love attains its culmination in the Incarnation of the Word for it was the hope of humanity for thousands of generations"!
O Come All Ye Faithful Joyful and Triumphant...O Come Let us Adore Him Christ the Lord. Listen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1wHyMR_SCA
We watched the Holy Father Francis deliver a rare rebuke to the powerful prelates and officials of the Roman Curia in the Vatican where he listed 15 illnesses of power-seeking and coldness towards others. We also noticed a somber pope with a rising tone in his voice giving the Christmas Urbi et Orbi when he urged the listening world to be open to God, prayed for the victims of atrocities in so many countries especially for children and other victims of the radical Islamist war on everyone else in the Middle East.
With the above unresolved, The Economist published a report titled "Islamism is no longer the answer" which, at last, recognizes what Christians in the Middle East have been suffering since the beginning of the failed "Arab Spring" supported by Western powers. The same materialist publication published an extensive report too titled "Why is everyone so busy?" lamenting the fact that contemporary workers have no time for the family in an age of excessive individualism and selfish capitalism.
And yet in spite of the sad news, I enjoyed Christmas in more than one way: First we participated in the Christmas Eve Mass at St. Basil's Roman Catholic Church with my family; contacted some of our extended family in the Middle East, Europe, and North America...Second, I listened to the inspiring words by Most Reverend Bishop Ibrahim on the Incarnation (in Sawt el Rab last Friday here in Arabic); and the recent homily by the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad on the desire for Christ (here in French).
Bishop Ibrahim said: The Son of God chose our human weakness to experience us and save us through his humanity united to his divinity. In his incarnation, the Son of God assumed our humanity in everything except sin in order to restore our state to the original one willed by God... We need to grow every year in faith and in understanding of the mystery of the incarnation where we increasingly deepen our faith and touch the presence of God in our lives... Jesus is the "Prince of peace" in spite of suffering. The real Christian carries the peace of Christ in his heart even if he, like Christ, is crucified on the cross. As for Christians suffering violence in the East today, they can live Christmas as did Jesus. As a human person, Jesus had no power over history and was probably the first immigrant when Mary and Joseph took him to Egypt to escape from the threat of Herod. As God, Christ respects the freedom of humanity and offers himself in a mysterious dialogue with her to become aware of his closeness and return to him who said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). I respect human freedom to immigrate away from the dangers in the East but we also encourage Christians in the Middle East to remain and be active in their lands. However, if they want to immigrate and are accepted by the civil authorities, no one should stop them...
Bishop Ibrahim continues: We cannot see the birth of Christ except through the eyes of the Virgin Mary who was chosen by God to be the mother of his Son in the flesh. She carried him in her womb, delivered him, cared for him, and was with him to the end and yet remained ever-virgin,..She is our mother... Question: How can we understand so much suffering in the world? Is God only watching people suffer and die? He answers: This is a big question. But for people who have faith and want to build bridges to perceive the presence of God, they understand that suffering and joy are two sides of the same coin. Suffering is only the outer shell of the essence of life and deeper joy which we often go through to realize love. Suffering is not required but if we encounter it, we have the choice of accepting it and working to relieve ourselves and others of pain. A Christian who carries Christ in his heart cannot really be Christian unless he loves and gives of himself to the other like Christ our God who is love gave himself and his life for all.
To answer a question on social services by the Melkite Catholic Church in Canada, Bishop Ibrahim said that the Church has founded a center "Bonheur du Ciel" with the active Fr. Majdi Allawi to care for the lost, forgotten, and needy in Montreal. How can we live joy? Unless we give of ourselves and our needs, we cannot have joy. The goal of Jesus is for us to live in joy in union with God who is the eternal love and joy. How about children in Church? When the angels sang in the birth of Christ, their center of joy was the infant Jesus. In the same way we must not forbid children from singing in the church which is the house of Christ. To a Muslim brother who wanted to know why Christians believe that God became human, the answer is simply that "God is love" (1 John 4:8)! When we fell in sin, God, out of profound love, still gives us the free choice to be reunited with him through Christ.
Finally, Bishop Ibrahim advises the faithful: We need to reflect on God, so close to us who assumed our nature in Christ and who gives us the truths of faith, and love - abundant love!
Now with Fr. Henri Boulad, S.J. a profound question is addressed. The question of joy versus pleasure was the topic addressed in his homily on the last Sunday before Christmas. In his charismatic and intriguing style, Henri Boulad takes his listeners from the natural to the supernatural. "Which period is more beautiful in love: The time of engagement or the time after marriage? In engagement each one there awaits and desires the other, while marriage is the consummation of this desire. The dialectic of desire and pleasure is developed in my book 'Chastity and Consecration' but the question frequently asked is about the meaning. Desire is a tendency towards another, a waiting and a nostalgia for the other. Pleasure comes to complete desire and suppresses it. It is a paradox and a contradiction of terms! Let us reflect... In the heart of this question, consider the state of consecrated celibacy. This is the state of men and women who renounced marriage...We can consider them monsters, illuminated, psychopath, or rather a path for escape or some old-fashioned detraction... Desire goes up...up...and when completed it drops to nothingness. Realizing this desire kills it! Is there a way for a solution to this opposition between desire and pleasure? I have always looked for a justification of my vow for chastity. It is not at all natural. Probably someone would think it is anti-natural, but I would say it is supernatural. It is not understood except in faith and is not lived except in grace! What does this mean? It means that there is a certain taste, profundity, and beauty in the waiting period that does not exist in the act of completion of desire."
Henri Boulad, S.J. is a profound thinker who is never satisfied with simple explanations. Like the late Jacques Dupuis. S.J., another Jesuit theologian, he attempts to find common elements with other religious experiences as encouraged by Dominus Iesus which was approved by St. Pope John Paul II. In this context he read a text by Salah Mukhaimer on Islamic Sufism that he had translated from Arabic. In his search he read the ancient Tantric Buddhism and Hindu esoteric mysticism too, in spite of its deficient character in adherence to monism, an experience that is probably older and different from Judaism and Christianity. Scholars date this non-revelation cult to as early as 1500 BC.
A translation of the text authored by Salah Mukhaimer thus reads "Delay of attaining pleasure in the total completion of the sexual act opens a path of waiting that would imply a blessedness in torment that supposes a continuity of desire in tension with a tendency towards...Thus joy is a continuing desire and tendency towards..." Henri Boulad sees here a valid point: The joy of a child is wholly a tendency.The adult person looks to put his hand or possess the object which is the attainment of pleasure. Once the adult person attains pleasure, the object of his desire becomes like a fleeting wind. "What is Sufism (mystical experience) if it is not this? Mystical experience is a hope and tendency to in a state of suffering pleasure without allowing the surpassing of the state of waiting." Mukhaimer wrote.
In Mukhaimer's text, Fr. Boulad finds a torture, yet joy is defined in this context as a tendency of desire towards the beloved. In Tantric Buddhism, Fr. Boulad found a "profound text" on sexuality by accepting desire without looking for completing it (called accepting "emptiness" without attempting to fulfill the emptiness)! This is called consecrated chastity!
For Fr. Boulad, the most beautiful moments of love are those of waiting because "waiting enlarges the heart." It was the last Sunday before Christmas. "The manger was without Jesus.The emptiness in life... spiritual life...The emptiness of the desert (The desert Fathers?). My sentiments are here: It is a reminder that humanity was awaiting the coming of the Divine...God let humanity grow her desire for him until in Mary's womb the desire was accomplished... Come Divine Messiah...Come, come, come...In Mary's heart and womb, the desire of Mary (alone) grew so intense that she attracted the God of heaven (or "forced" heaven) as a lover. In Mary humanity attained her fulfillment. She is the consecrated virgin and remained a virgin all her life. Consecrated celibacy means that nothing human fills my heart. You may ask 'Should we stop getting married?' No. Get married. It is fine. But know that human love does not fulfill the human heart. Nothing human fulfills your hearts. It is clear that in love there is an essential poverty which means not to possess the other and not to possess pleasure. 'Eat this fruit and you shall be like God' is Satan's lie to die. Yes, we need to live in a state of emptiness and a state of waiting. Marriage is good but care not to turn it into selfish pleasure. In his first letter to the Corinthians Chapter 7, St. Paul advised those who are married to live as if they are not and those who possess as if they possess nothing. This is the foundation of my spirituality: Total attachment in total detachment; neither attachment which makes us slaves nor detachment which is indifference."
"Amin Maalouf wrote 'Love is thirsty. Rain is there but I will retain my thirst rather than get a sip of water in my mouth. Love is a flower and not a fruit. Love is a promise before it can be an accomplishment'! Think of love versus pleasure. Reflect and pray..."
"The virginity of Mary is this response: Love attains its culmination in the Incarnation of the Word for it was the hope of humanity for thousands of generations"!
O Come All Ye Faithful Joyful and Triumphant...O Come Let us Adore Him Christ the Lord. Listen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1wHyMR_SCA
Sunday, December 21, 2014
The Joy of Christmas with Georges Farah
While
we celebrate Christmas, we miss Fr. George Farah, the priest who was
pastor of Jesus the King parish for the past-twenty one years. A man
of joyful character, his last name “Farah”means joy. He joked
with me that he and I not only carried the same name “George” but
almost the same last name except that mine “Farahat” meant
multiple joys. In reality George Farah has been an outstanding
minister of joy, not only at Christmas but all the time in preaching
and action. A man for people, he celebrated with all and invited all
to enjoy their gifts together in the Church and elsewhere whether in
the Eucharist, lectures, church festivals, or outings. Joy is a fruit
of the Holy Spirit, he said quoting St. Paul. It is the sign of
Christians who, in spite of their weakness and sufferings, are called
to rejoice in meeting the other and grow in faith to Christ.
His
high learning. a doctorate in philosophy and another in theology from
the highly-esteemed Sorbonne in Paris, did not alter his joyous
character but only deepened his faith in the love of God. God, he
preached, is not only the generous father, but is an outpouring love
for all human beings; sinners and saints. As taught by St. Augustine
and St. Thomas Aquinas, God is the eternal self-sacrifice abandonment
or love of the Father to his eternal Son Jesus Christ and the Son
returning love with gratitude to his eternal Father in the unity of
the Holy Spirit who is the binding love. The Church is the minister
of love who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, witnesses to Christ in
the entire world. “The Holy Spirit reveals the Son and the Son
reveals the Father” he said.
A
philosopher himself, George Farah was interviewed about God and
freedom since his doctorate thesis in philosophy dealt with
Nietzsche's post-modern philosophy. Nietzsche had questioned the
morality of power in religion. For him, a God who presses his power
on humans through an agency or religion is not real because he strips
humanity of their freedom and creativity. In George Farah, the God of Christians offers the only real freedom that guarantees human
development, not only in eternal love, but in appreciating human
creativity and dignity too here on earth. The entire philosophical and scientific
explorations rooted in Christian civilization are only the beginning
of realizing that God is in us, encourages us and moves us to him. It
is this freedom of Man's dream in becoming God, one with God, for
which the Word of God assumed our nature. How was it possible that
God could assume our nature in the incarnation of the Word (Christ)?
George Farah responds “God could not stay away from his beloved
creation. His love made him become one of us and dwell with us
'Emmanuel'.” God does not wish anyone to be lost. He came for the
lost (Cf. Matthew 18:14; Luke 15: 4, 9, 24, 32; Luke 19: 10; John 6:
12).
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Return Christ to Christmas
Exploring how to return Christ to Christmas, I returned to the homily by Fr.Henri Boulad, S.J. on the scandal of the Incarnation of Christ in reflection on Isaiah 63: 19 "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down..." According to Henri Boulad: "You, who created heavens and earth, are enthroned in the seventh heaven. For God to be God he must be the Most High, inaccessible One. This the God of the Greeks, the God of Pagans, the God of Muslims and, to some extent, the God of the Old Testament. Except that in the Old Testament we discern a God that is close, a God that descends, is interested in Man, and speaks to Man... Is it possible that the Most High descends and becomes the Most 'debased' ? If Jesus Christ is an illusion...If Christianity is a sheer mystification...If God did not come to us and did not descend from his heaven...If he did not take the radical and seemingly impossible leap of the incarnation, then he ceases being credible - he ceases being love - he ceases being God. The scandal of the Incarnation, which means that people cannot believe that God could debase himself or else he loses his honor, becomes the key and the supreme proof that this is the truth. If I can walk the walk to help the needy, can't God descend and walk with me?" In the Incarnation God descended to the manger and became a needy person like us. God is here among us in every good will and act - He is particularly present in the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, giving us his body and blood. Reflect on it. We have priests here, so we can reconcile with everyone we hurt and go to confession to receive Christ in the Eucharist with pure hearts for eternal joy.
The story of St. Ignatius Loyola is an example to reflect upon. Ignatius Loyola was brought up in Spain. The founder of the order of the Society of Jesus in the 16th century was not born a monk. He was born to a Basque noble family, a man of pride ascending the ladder of fame in Spain, then manifested in the military honour and power of knights, and the dating of nice girls until he was seriously wounded in the battle of Pamplona in 1521. In Ignatius of Loyola we see again the power of the transformation God uses in us -weak humans - so that we can become one day united to him in Christ. God who is the eternal Mystery is also the approachable father who calls everyday his servants to become closer to his eternal Son. While being hospitalized, Ignatius read De Vita Christi written by the influential theologian Ludolph of Saxony and there he contemplated in a vision the "discernment of spirits." From the hospital emerged the conversion to Christ when Ignatius experienced the joy of being with Christ and likewise the experience devoid of joy when he projected his glory without Christ. True joy is a fruit of the Spirit as written in the New Testament. And here Ignatius discerns the true joy which will carry him, with some friends, to Jerusalem and then to Rome. The Jesuits or Society of Jesus, approved by Pope Paul III in 1540, carried the missionary work to China in the Far East, to the Middle East, and the New World. Ignatius of Loyola was beatified then canonized in 1622. In his active life as a disciple of Christ, Ignatius educated many followers in the Spiritual Exercises.
How can we return Christ to Christmas in the noise of commercialized materialism? I suggest we start by reflecting on Christ, his humility in the manger, his teachings to the disciples to love everyone including our enemies, and his self-sacrificing love of all creation until death on the cross, and how he uses everyone's good deeds to offer through them his saving grace to others. Let's reflect on him and saints when we are walking or in the train or the bus without being distracted. Let's reflect on him, recall our families, the needy and sick in our communities, in prayers and in helping as much as we can those we encounter.
Fr. Ibrahim El Haddad commented briefly "Christ suffered out of love for his Father. He had a choice to reject the cross, yet he said to his Father 'Not my will but yours be done' (Luke 22: 42)...Christ taught us to pray 'Our Father ...Thy Kingdom come. Thy Will be done' (Matthew 6: 10). In the first 3 centuries of Christianity many martyrs sacrificed their lives rather than denying their faith. This is happening today. It is, however, the duty of armies to defend their countries against aggressors as it is the duty of police to defend homes against thieves. It is the order of peace, good society and human dignity of everyone that we must uphold. Help each other and all to receive Christ not by standing in the streets and shouting out the Gospel but by incarnating Christ in your actions, services, and prayers." Fr. Ibrahim replied to questions regarding heresies in the early church. He said "Heresies arose mainly because of emphasis by some theological schools on Christ's divinity leading to the heresy that he only appeared and was not truly human but as St. Paul had said, Christ is, in every way, like us human except in sin. Other theological schools emphasized Christ's humanity to the point that a heresy arose which separated his humanity from his divinity and claimed that the one who died on the cross is not God but only a man. These groups caused some divisions among Christians and were to some extent the source of Islam's teaching on Jesus. This is why the Church is active for regaining Christian unity today." More reflections by friends included how to be a Christian model as a parent, and how to strive as much as possible to love and pray for your opponents whether at work, in school, or with people who violate your faith, your family and your home.
In closing, Fr. Ibrahim gave the pastoral blessing while the attendees sang the closing hymn "Akathist to the Virgin Mary" Listen here.
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