Ignatius of Loyola

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, until he was seriously wounded in the battle of Pamplona in 1521. Such was the case also with Francis of Assisi. 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, were active in the Counter Reformation preaching. They carried the missionary work to China in the Far East, to the Middle East, and the New World. Ignatius of Loyola was beatified and then canonized in 1622. In his active life as a disciple of Christ, Ignatius educated many followers in the Exercises. The Jesuits have been at the forefront of Catholic education. Not an easy task in an increasingly secular environment, they continue to teach and found universities and schools in the entire world. Among them you will recognize such giants as the twentieth/21st centuries Henri de Lubac, Karl Rahner, John Courtney Murray, and Avery Dulles with their suffix S.J. or sj which means Society of Jesus. On this blog, many of them are featured in links to other websites of great learning. In this spirit, Christians are invited to learn, guided by the Church, and be open to the Spirit.

Michel Chalhoub on Repentance

Fr. Michel Chalhoub spoke at Jesus the King Melkite Catholic parish about the need for repentance. He said that we are preoccupied by temporal things at work, family, and entertainment to the point that we leave no space in our thought for God. The advances in consumerism and material innovation are not matched by advances in hunger for spiritual renewal. This is particularly seen in the Mass when people receive the body and blood of Christ without having confessed their sins. St. Paul said that he who receives the sacred body of Christ without merit brings upon himself judgment. "You may say: I did not steal or kill, but are you sure that in your heart you have not killed the reputation of your neighbour? Could not you humble yourself before God as he humbled himself to the point of death for you?" He continued: When I raise the cup to the Father in the Eucharistic prayer, I kneel and so you behind me should kneel in your hearts. The love that God showers on us everyday requires us to repent and be humble. He touched upon an event in the life of St. Elizabeth. When the Blessed Virgin Mary rushed to visit her cousin Elizabeth, she did not expect the older woman who had just been pregnant miraculously to receive Mary with humility. In Luke we read that Elizabeth said to Mary "And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me." In her humility Elizabeth was granted the revelation that from Mary shall come the Lord. It is with such humility that we should repent, receive the Sacrament of Penance or Confession and only then receive the Body and Blood of Christ our Lord and God. Michel Chalhoub also said that when he kneels before the Eucharist, he prays for all the people in church and all their sick and their departed ones so that the ever loving God may grant his mercy to all.

The "Occupy" Phenomenon

The phenomenon started a couple of weeks ago in the heart of Capitalism as a protest of the "99%" of Americans who feel they have been betrayed by the government and its supporters of lobby groups which allow 1% of the population represented in Wall Street and the corporate elite to "steal" and control the resources, wages, and survival of the vast majority of people. The phenomenon has now spread to many more cities in the U.S. and in Canada where more protests have been launched by similar protesters. In Europe, and particularly the periphery where people are suffering more government programs cuts, there is an astonishing wave of protests in Greece, Italy, and Spain. Some commentators have already expressed the similarity in many ways with the Arab uprising in the Middle East. America, Canada and Europe indeed have been in what is arguably "a double dip" economic recession that, if not checked, will bring the entire globe to its knees. Many questions can be raised: 1. What is the specified objective of these protests - Are they about lost jobs? Higher fees for tuition in universities? Pensions? Poor conditions? 2. Is there a proposed alternative to respond to the above needs that protesters are proposing? 3. If these protests descend into anarchy and violence, as happened in Italy today, the police will have to respond and this by itself will discredit the good cause of protesters. How can they be justified in a civilized society? 4. We may be able to compare these protests with those in the Middle East except that violence in the Middle East is increasingly taking place along sectarian and religious lines especially the latest violence by the governing armed forces against Christian protesters in Cairo, Egypt last Sunday. It is evident that dictatorship is not only that of the political dictators exploiting the resources of their people, but also the dictatorship of the majority of rich corporate elites enslaving the workers as well as that of denying people of certain religious groups the right to worship according to their own creed. We will have to come to this again as it touches on the concept of fair society which is an urgent moral issue today.

Francis of Assisi - The Friend of Creation!

On October 4, the Catholic Church remembered St. Francis of Assisi. Francis was born to a rich merchant in Assisi in the 12th century. He was given the name Francesco (the French man) by his father in honour of his French business. In Francesco's early youth years he spent his time with rich friends and in worldly pleasure, yet he also showed generosity to beggers. This is the heart that the Crucified opened up. In 1201 Francis joined a military expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner where he spent a year in captivity. When he returned to Assisi he became seriously ill and there had a conversion experience. While praying at the church of St. Damieno, he had a vision of the Crucified Christ speaking to him and asking him to "Rebuild my Church." Francis took this request literally and started rebuilding the church of stone with money from his father's business. While asking God to show him the way, he came to understand Christ's request in a new way - rebuild the Church of souls. This was a turning point in Francis' life. Francis had already spent much time in meditation and came to reject the worldy life that he had experienced in his early youth. The Roman Church was at the peak of its earthly power with Pope Innocent III. Francis requested the pope to allow him to start a beggars order. Innocent III had a vision of the future Church after which he approved Francis' request. All of this is history, but the significant lesson is the way Francis responded to the call of the Crucified. His conversion was probably gradual. However his generosity allowed him to share in the poverty of beggars' life of need and create a huge order with many followers - The Franciscans who grew up to count in thousands only in a few years. Francis was called the Alter Christus (the Other Christ); for he imitated Christ in his tender love of all creatures. Francis taught by example and talked to animals, birds, called the Sun Sister and the moon Brother and seemed at ease with wild animals. He is probably the first humanist in history; for he loved Christ and every other human he encountered. He built the first manger and added real animals to be part of the nativity scene. He insisted on the beauty of creation and was himself a poet. His mission took him to Egypt to preach to the Muslim Khaliph Al-Kamel and then to Acre but without success. Francis received the first known stigmata in history and suffered with Christ in silence "to complete" in his flesh "what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body that is the Church" (Col 1:24). On his death bed, Francis was surrounded by his followers singing his hymn "Make me an instrument of your peace." Contrary to us, he was not afraid of death; for he himself considered death "a brother." Since his mission started in the 13th century, he has been beloved by many generations; for like the prostitute whom Christ forgave, he "loved much." (Luke 7: 47)

An Open Letter to Pope Benedict XVI

Your Holiness Benedict XVI: I would like to thank you for the many gifts given to you by God that you have invested in serving in the vineyard of Christ. Your defence of the Church and her Lord in your addresses, books, and theological works are a shining post in theological development in the Catholic Church. Your participation in Vatican II as an expert and your work in ecumenical encounters following the Council shine more your committment to Christian unity. There is a lot more that I can cite from your work that would take me an entire book to write. However, I wish only to focus on the challenges we face today in the Middle East. As a son of the Catholic Church and in the spirit of Vatican II, I implore you to help advance the theological dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox Churches that the Catholic Church recognizes as true sister Churches of the Church of Rome. True, Christian unity is a gift from God but I believe that God uses his servants to realize the day when they share the full communion together. I also recall to your attention that most Eastern Churches whether Orthodox or Catholic are suffering in the Middle East and are mostly poor compared to the riches and assets owned by Roman Catholic Churches of the West. In the same spirit of Vatican II, I recall the insistence of the Council for a preferential treatment of the poor and the gestures made by your predecessor of venerable memory Pope Paul VI. Pope Paul VI gave up the tiara and his ring for the benefit of the poor. Blessed Pope John XXIII, who convoked Vatican II and worked tirelessly for opening the Catholic Church to the world, said that the Church seeks today to apply the remedy of mercy to her children. Blessed Pope John Paul II advanced the cause of the poor in his many addresses and called for a sincere dialogue between the rich North and the poor South. It is with the above consideration that I approach you to seriously consider the poor Christians in the Middle East. I propose that your holiness help them in their struggle for survival and encourage them to do the best not only for the Church but also for their own families that are suffering. I can think only of the remnants of Greek Melkite Catholics in the Middle East, my own community, that our patriarch and bishops are pressing to stay in the Middle East only to preserve the presence of Christians there. If the Catholic Church is serious about keeping the presence of Christians in the Middle East, she can do more than simply exhorting the faithful. Through the Vatican's diplomatic representatives, she can press governments in the Middle East to ensure the continuous safety of all Christians in that region of the world and their freedom to practice their religion. She can also help them financially and support them to remain Christian in this region. Moreover, a public gesture from your holiness would generate positive feelings in the media such as those of your predecessors of venerable memory: Probably visiting the war-torn region of Eastern Africa that is causing great famines among its most vulnerable citizens. And while speaking about Africa I note that it is the continent where Catholic missions are gaining to Christ many new faithful. This continent, together with Asia, deserves the attention of the Holy See. And as a case in point, upon their recent independence, 30 million Christians in Southern Sudan are in need of much help to reconstruct their lives after 50 years of an atrocious war with the North Sudan that claimed many innocent souls. A Jesuit priest from the Melkite Catholic Church, who has been active as vice-president of Caritas International in the Middle East and worked in Sudan himself, has proposed the idea of twinning between a rich town/city in Germany or North America and a poor one in Southern Sudan. According to him, the idea had already been successfully implemented in Europe assisting poor villages. A website is being developed for this purpose. Your personal powerful intercession for those poor Christians in Southern Sudan will definitely bear fruits. Africa is ripe as a vineyard for the Catholic Church. I will continue to recall your words at your inauguration as the Vicar of Christ in 2005: I want to be a humble servant in the vineyard of the Lord. Finally I seek Your Apostolic blessing in the name of Christ. Yours faithfully, George Farahat Chancellor, Jesus the King Council, Knights of Columbus Lecturer, Jesus the King Greek Melkite Catholic parish Toronto, Canada