Marriage Today

Marriage Today

Thinking of You

In March 2018, I wrote a slightly-long article on the history of Christianity...
Revised and Expanded - History of Christianity in a Post-Modern Age
You may wish to read it and review it here:https://todayquestions.blogspot.com/2018/03/revised-and-expanded-history-of.html
However, my emphasis today is two fold:
1) the 3rd anniversary of the passing away of a great Christian philosopher
American Bishop Robert Barron wrote also about the influential Christian philosopher René Girard when the latter passed away in November 2015 - Here: https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/article/ren-girard-church-father/4982/ 
Girard wrote volumes on mimetic desire; Things hidden since the foundation of the world; violence and the Sacred; and The Scapegoat. His most significant book is probably "I See Satan Fall Like Lightning". He was interviewed by Robert Peterson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNkSBy5wWDk&t=190s

2) The continuing, and sometimes confusing, rise of Islam against Christianity in much of today's world which has not escaped the observation of a number of scholars especially in the land that produced the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Arabic Sahara that produced Salafism - On the latest problems, Fr. Rafic Greiche, Pastor of St. Cyril Melkite Catholic parish in Cairo and a great pastor who attracted the youth to church was interviewed by KTO French TV here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8igMw62ytQ&t=849s Fr. Greiche said that some 80 churches were burned in Egypt and some 2 million Muslims became atheists after being under the illusion given by the Muslim Brotherhood - These represent an opportunity for attracting them to the Truth of Christ and helping them as well as other Egyptians with moderate education...We can also discern a regional struggle on the leadership of Sunni Muslims in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi; a U.S.-based journalist thought to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood by Saudi Prince Mohamed bin Salman and his followers in their embassy in Istanbul; an instance that Recep Tayyip Erdogan the Islamist leader of Turkey (a base of the international Muslim Brotherhood) could not ignore in order to publish Turkey's condemnation of the Salafist Mohamed bin Salman as both Turkey and Saudi Arabia vie for the regional leadership of the world's Islamic Sunnis...It comes as Trump has increased sanctions imposed on Iran that also affected European countries in trades they have had with Iran and caused much late disruption in the Islamic Republic of Shiite Iran; the long-endured enemy of Saudi Arabia and Sunni Islam.  To complicate things, on November 11, Trump, Putin and Erdogan will meet in Paris to mark 100 years since the end of World War I...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/05/trump-to-meet-putin-and-erdogan-during-first-world-war-ceremonies
Back to the topic, please read me here:In September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave a lecture at the University of Regensburg on reason and modernity (see the text here: https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060912_university-regensburg.html). There, Professor Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) exposed militant Islam. Speaking about reason and modernity, he gives the historical debate between the Christian Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Muslim Persian around 1393 on the subject of Christianity and Islam. Edited by Professor Adel Theodore Khoury, a Melkite Catholic priest and professor at Munster University, the seventh conversation cites the emperor's point: "Show me just what Mohammed brought, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."  Professor Ratzinger continues quoting the emperor "God is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably (according to reason) is contrary to God's nature." This was one courageous move by Benedict XVI as he sensed the increasing Islamic terrorism after 9/11.  One Muslim author, Aref Ali Nayed, recorded a reply to the pope and critiqued not only Pope Benedict but Arab Christian specialists on Islam such as the Jesuit professor Fr. Samir Khalil Samir (see it here: http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/commentary_on_benedict.php). It is clear from recent reports that:1) Muslims are multiplying much faster than Christians - especially in Islamic countries where there is much ignorance and low health standards (particularly for women and children) to receive adequate care.2) Europe and the West in general have lost or are on the verge of losing their Christian roots due to increased atheism, two World Wars, and the Sexual Revolution while Muslims there increasingly identify with their Islamic Sharia or at least pray their prayers in streets if need be. In October 2017, the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad gave a homily in France in which he denounces the silence and fear of Christian French people and reminds Europeans of the Christian roots of Europe (here in French: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kukeX4kkHxE&t=104s) 
To avoid much blood-spilling, prayers are needed and good deeds too for the needy. I am reminded here by the Epistle of St. James "For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." (James 2: 26)...

On Christ, Christianity, Saints and Souls

Today is the commemoration of "All Souls" in the Church. It follows the great day of the "Solemnity of All Saints" on November 1st, and "Halloween"on October 31st which developed in the West since the early Renaissance. In October, 2014, I wrote a post on "Halloween"and its Christian significance especially today with the invasion of the West by radical Islam, which can be read here.  Today, many Christians in the West have forgotten their Christian roots and, under the influence of materialism and two World Wars with existential philosophies since The Enlightenment, became atheists or at least fell away from their Christian baptism. However, I recall with devotion the souls of persons I know that departed to God especially my mother of blessed memory and my mother-in-law of blessed memory. They both suffered for me since my heart problems started in 1986. I thank God for their care and the care given to me by great persons including physicians, bishops, priests (here and here) and, above all, God's own blessings through His Son Jesus Christ who merits by His continuing love, cross, and Resurrection the eternal joy given to saints. In the Book of Revelation Christ says "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3: 20). In the Last Judgment, Christ will judge everyone according to what that person did to those in need (Matt. 25: 31-46). In the 20th century, Hans Urs von Balthasar wrote with the same spirit his book "Dare we hope that all men be saved?" in which he and many Christians pray that the merciful love of God may save every one in His judgment of mankind. The selfless loving God who created every person in His image is "Our Father" who runs after the "Prodigal Son" and meets him (see here and here).
The Solemnity of All Saints is an opportunity for Christians to think of saints and, above all, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God who is the 'Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet" in Revelation (12: 1-18) - See also "The Queen Spouse and The Dragon" here as this post refers to interpretations of the Blessed Virgin in salvation and eternal joy by great theologians. Of particular importance is this talk by Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen on Mary "The Woman I love" here. She always points us to Christ - See also "Who Will Triumph" here. After the humble and pure Virgin Mary, come many saints since ancient times - St. George the Great is my patron saint too (see his story here) and so are St. Rita of Cascia (see here) and the Little Flower of Lisieux St. Thérèse of the Infant Jesus proclaimed the greatest saint in modern times by Pope Pius XI in her canonization in 1925. Other beloved saints include the Curé of Ars, St. Jean Vianney, St. Athanasius the Great who dared to challenge the Arian heresy in the 4th century (see here) and the first humanist St. Francis of Assisi called the Alter Christus (see here).
May the Lord help each and every one to discover His love and attempt to do as much as he can with deeds of love towards those in need and become a Christian in following Christ who is the only way to heaven. 

Human Angels

In today's homily at the 10 am Mass in Holy Rosary parish in Toronto, Fr. Professor Daniel Callam spoke about Bartimaeus the Blind whose eyes were opened by Jesus (Mark 10: 46-52) Fr. Callam said that we all need the power of Jesus who is "all and in all" (Colossians 3: 11).
I have sensed this power of Christ through the suffering of many people especially my mother of blessed memory, my mother in-law of blessed memory and my wife since my heart problems that started in 1986. The angels of the Lord worked in the great doctors that treated me with much care. I gave one case in my post here - This is where I was introduced to reading the Bible by a human  angel - a nurse who opened my eyes to the wonders of God. She also accompanied me to the Mass in the chapel celebrated by a Catholic priest even when she was a Protestant. She helped me be seated at the front and receive the holy Eucharist. I wrote too about my longer experience that with the help of many physicians, the Lord extended my life (For more see here). Since May 2018 I have also been examined by my new cardiologist Professor Dr. Antonio Rocca, a devoted Christian who regularly attends the Mass, who will see me on November 1st at the Polyclinic. I have also been followed closely by Dr. Michael Vecchio, a Christian missionary whose clinic is full of great pro-life pictures including St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and statues of great saints such as St. Francis of Assisi. Dr. Vecchio is the one who referred me to Dr. Rocca.
Other human angels include a lady who has a doctorate in French literature from the University of Toronto - Yet she calls me every day as a caring friend of us.
This post would be missing the most important events in my life if I do not add my experience in the spiritual-humanitarian realm. I recall with much love the late saintly Archbishop Paul Antaki who was Patriarchal Vicar of the Greek Melkite Catholic Church over the See of Alexandria (see here and here). He trained me and others too in much of Biblical studies and the Apostolic Movements while in Egypt, and visited  me here in Toronto. He was a true shepherd for his sheep...I am also indebted to God for having the presence of the Jesuit scholar Fr. Henri Boulad and the other equally-Jesuit scholar Fr. Samir Khalil Samir in my life. They pray for me, and give me much knowledge in homilies, lectures, and retreats that I listen to -  (see my post here as an example on the thoughts of Fr. Boulad, here on his mission to change the world, and here on his homily "The Scandal of the Incarnation"). I have found two great scholars who became my confessors at Holy Rosary parish in Toronto: Fr. Daniel Callam, CSB; a professor with a PhD. from Oxford who has regularly taught at St. Thomas University in Houston (see here his lecture on the Creed and the Sacrament of Baptism), Texas and Msgr. Robert Nusca; a Biblical scholar with a PhD since 1998 and professor at the Augustinian Seminary in Toronto. I am also indebted to God for having known many excellent Melkite Catholic  priests in Toronto and particularly for having known Fr. Georges Farah whose credentials include a doctorate in philosophy and another in theology from the Sorbonne University in Paris - He taught at the Paulist Seminary in Lebanon and oversaw the purchase of the first Greek Melkite Catholic parish in Toronto through his efforts and others too. His homilies and lectures were distinguished by a deep understanding of philosophy and theology. He entrusted me with giving lectures to adults from 2004 until 2011 when he retired. Here is one of Fr. Farah's lectures on the joy of Christmas (here) and another on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (here).
God is the true desire of our hearts. "We will not rest until we find him" says St. Augustine. St. Thomas Aquinas reiterates the above reality. God is the cause and object of all created persons and of the creation order (see Thomism here).
The above tells us that we are all related to each other - Technology may have helped facilitate these relations but what is important is the beauty of the heart (post here).
Need we say more? I would rather sing this beautiful hymn with the congregation at St. Anne's in Belfast...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw5ZCZeS32M

Love one another as I have loved you

This past Sunday October 21, 2018 was a memorable Jerusalem Students Mass at St. Justin Martyr Church. The entire initiative goes back to 2011 when Mr. Hikmat Dandan, a member of Jesus the King Council of the Knights of Columbus was inspired by the call of then visiting Archbishop Joseph Jules Zerey to Toronto, and initiated the Jerusalem Students project with the purpose of of sponsoring needy Christian students in the Holy Land to help them get a decent education through the Melkite Catholic Patriarchal School under Archbishop Zerey at the time, go to university, graduate and ultimately form successful families thus strengthening the Christian presence in the area and reversing their diminishing trend. In its fraternal year 2012-2013, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus awarded the International Youth Service Award to Jesus the King Council received duly by Hikmat Dandan in San Antonio, Texas on August 7, 2013 (see http://jerusalemstudents.org and http://jerusalemstudents.org/award.html) 

This year Hikmat Dandan is again, by election, the Grand Knight of Jesus the King Council, the first Arab Council of the Knights of Columbus in the world. Dandan's motto is taken from the Epistle by St. James where it is written "faith without works is dead" (James 2: 26)

In the Mass, presided over by the charismatic Rev. Monsignor Vid Vlasic, Honor Guard from St. John Paul II Assembly, Chinese Martyr Assembly and Bishop Grecco Assembly was very impressive. Why?? Because all of the Sir Knights love the Holy Land. Rev. Monsignor Vid Vlasic praised the sponsors and the Knights of Columbus for supporting these needy Christian students in the Holy Land. Then he blessed all and sprinkled them with Holy Water. Sir Knight Randy gave a short speech about the project and the student "Ramez", sponsored for several years by St. Justin Martyr Council who graduated this year, was present too. He said the members of the Council felt they were all his "Uncles" in Canada. At the end, Rev. Monsignor Vlasic asked all the Honor Guard to come and stand in front of the altar, blessed them and asked all the parishioners to give them a big hand for being the right arm of the Catholic Church. The clapping continued for a few minutes. The attending sponsors were around 25. Thanks to all the valued sponsors and the Sir Knights (Gold Sponsor Toronto Council: 6 Students, Silver Sponsor Jeannette & Michael Elliot: 4 Students). More than 70 needy Christian students have been sponsored. Sixteen already graduated under sponsorship; five of them this year.

The above reminds us that we can love others by good deeds even if they ate hundreds of thousands miles away. Our Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" (John 13: 34).