The Prodigal Son in Us

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) can be contextually interpreted in view of today's conflicts and indeed in every generation and family. Traditionally the first son was the most important child in the family. He would carry the family’s progeny for generations. The ancients, like us, wanted to be eternal. A father would become eternal through his son. And his son too would become eternal through his own son. The first son is the first fruit of his parents and this is why he was dedicated to God by his parents in the Jewish tradition and most other traditions of the world.

Professor René Girard, a contemporary brilliant anthropologist, devised his Mimetic Rivalry Theory (which is now part of advanced research in universities), based on imitation that creates rivalry. If I and my brother love the same girl with passion, then we will imitate each other and eventually fall in rivalry! If I find that my brother took his share of inheritance and thought of himself alone, I would imitate him for the possession of what I believe is my money (which is scarce today) and psychologically at least I would wish to ruin him rather than receive him if he comes back in need of my help! I can understand why the elder brother was angry when his younger brother was given a welcome of a hero by his father. If I condemn the elder brother, I would be condemning the vast majority of humanity and of Catholics, including me, indeed. Christians today who think that because they follow the gospel are better than Non-Christians are acting like the elder brother.

If I follow Girard’s thought to the end, I will find rivalry by imitation where competition forces small businesses to lower their prices and thus lay off their employees. The large corporations do more harm to society by pressing consumers through sophisticated marketing tools to buy their products at the expense of small business and indeed be more efficient by using automated technology rather than human resources thus increasingly causing higher unemployment. For a fair society we need to understand reciprocity, equity, and collaboration as inherently needed for the human survival. A good book to read is Professor Peter Corning’s “The Fair Society” published in 2011.

Let’s now have a look at the lost son, a man who wasted all his money on “fun stuff” and prostitutes, then found himself needing to survive. His selfish conclusion was to go back to his father and only utter a few words of repentance in hope that his father will give him to eat in return for letting him work as one of the servants. I also find this son’s behaviour typical of any natural reaction to hardship. This is why people return to God only when they are faced with death, in hardship or in terminal sickness.

This is probably one of the reasons for the recent revolutions in the Middle East. Division is the result of revolutions. This is why I urgently called Christians to reunite under the leadership of the Pope of Rome. See http://www.todayquestions.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-christians-should-be-catholic.html

The only shocking action in the Parable is that of the father. Christ reveals the tender love of God, the Father of all, who not only welcomes his lost son but runs not minding his old age to meet him midway and kiss him. That would have been enough for the son to be reassured of the love he has in his father’s heart. The old father does not wait for his lost son, now found, to complete the sentence of asking forgiveness and immediately orders his servants to cloth him with the best and celebrate his return. It is the story of God's providence and love throughout history who rather than damning the sinful of his creation, He dared to look for the lost ones and run after them until they said yes to His abiding love.

The idea of God's universal love is progressively revealed in the Old Testament and clearly found in the teachings of Christ our God and Saviour and, following him, St. Paul, and St. John in the New Testament. The same idea runs through the Patristic writings including those of Origen and St. Augustine, and in Medieval theology in St. Bernard of Clairvaux and others as well as in St. Thomas Aquinas and beyond.

These works have been retrieved by the Jesuit theologian Henri de Lubac (and his students such as Jean Daniélou) whose movement of “Ressourcement” (i.e. bringing the sources) and writings since the 1940s contributed to the development of thought and drafting of the documents of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), and influenced Yves Congar, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), Blessed John Paul II, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner and many great contemporary Catholic theologians.

God loves all and works in all through his Spirit, the Spirit of his Son throughout the ages. It is up to us, Christians, to respond to the grace of God, spread the truth of Christ, and show the love we receive without merit by our actions and thoughts, in family, work, church, and society as did the saints; for although God offers salvation freely, only in cooperating with his grace can it be realized in us.

God is at work since the beginning of history; for God wills that fallen humans be saved and have eternal life even though it cost him his life on the cross at the hands of his beloved creatures. He always forgives not only on the cross but also in his own Resurrection. See how he responded to Thomas who doubted. And in the long history of humanity, God worked in civilizations as for example converting the hard Gothic tribes to accept the Christian faith and become more human in the 5^th century; and in a harder lesson for Christians, having seen Christian divisions in the 5^th century, he did not abandon them - God worked in the Assyrian Dyophysite Christians who separated from the Catholic Church after the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD and the Syrian Miaphysite Christians who separated from the Catholic Church after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. In spite of their afflictions, these faithful in Syria and Iraq lived with the Islamic conquests in the 7^th century and produced such giants as St. John of Damascus whose writings greatly influenced the Latin Catholics in Medieval Europe. They also translated the Greek philosophy of Aristotle to Arabic. Arabs took these translations and studied Aristotle whose writings then reached the Moors, an Islamic civilization in Spain, and there they were translated again to Latin. These works now in Latin fell in the hands of St. Thomas Aquinas. Saint Thomas used Aristotle to build a renewed Christian philosophy that opened the way to exploration of the natural world which developed in the scientific age.

In spite of the conflicts and sins so abundant in the world, God still loves us in Christ. Indeed, everyone who is ever saved is saved through Christ alone, and according to Dominus Iesus, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in 2000 “The Church is the ‘universal sacrament of salvation’ (Vatican II, Lumen gentium 48), since, united always in a mysterious way to the Saviour Jesus Christ, her Head, and subordinated to him, she has, in God's plan, an indispensable relationship with the salvation of every human being. For those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, ‘salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit’ (John Paul II, Redemptoris missio, 10) it has a relationship with the Church, which ‘according to the plan of the Father, has her origin in the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit’(Vatican II, Ad gentes, 2)”.

May we all listen to that voice that moved the Prodigal Son into his father’s arms and trust in his love.

Bishop Ibrahim: How to build the Church

We asked Bishop Ibrahim Ibrahim, Bishop of the Melkite Catholic Church in Canada, how he was able to build the Cathedral in Montreal which cost $10 million dollars. The answer came with a story of a visit he made to the pastor of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the area Fr. Arsanios. The late priest said to Most Reverend Ibrahim that when he wanted to build the church, he was faced with an impossible task: the Church council objected to the project that would cost $6 million when they had only $36,000. The bank told the priest that a loan was not justifiable. Then Rev. Arsanios said to the bank and the council: My father is very rich – He will supply. The remark about “Our Father in heaven” ringed in our ears. “Since I felt that faith I have never lost it – I am never worried.” The impeccably enthusiastic bishop said last night at Jesus the King Church. Here he was teaching the flock! Everything we have is a gift from God, he resounded. “Everyone is given talents which can and should be invested to serve the other – Not only bishops or priests are called to the priesthood; for we all have a share in the priesthood of Christ” echoing the authentic teaching of the Church expounded in Vatican II. Then, in a moment of sheer greatness - the greatness of humility, he turned to the parents and to the young youth who came to hear him and said in a bold voice: It is true that the Church needs the youth, but it is also true that the youth need the Church. “Without you the Church will have no future, but remember too that without the Church you will have no future.” A silent moment went on as if I was gazing into eternity! Then Bishop Ibrahim gave the final word that every young Christian must remember and every parent must teach his children. He said “We are not a social club but the Apostolic Church that fed many generations for 2,000 years – There is absolutely no comparison between what each one of us can give and what the mother of all has given and continues to give!” This was a word that we all needed to hear. Bishop Ibrahim built the Church by establishing many activities for the young and the younger then built the Cathedral. He said his dream is to build the Melkite Church, a strong Church, everywhere there are Melkites in Canada, that will carry the great tradition into this land. This was indeed a word that we all needed to hear. It is up to this community to remember his word, cherish it, and invest her talents to enthusiastically build the Church. By the way, enthusiasm comes from the original “en” which means “within” and “Theou” which means “God.” The enthusiasm which Bishop Ibrahim expressed meant he carried within him “God!”

The Quest for Christian Unity

Although Christian unity is urgently needed, there is little hope that it will materialize soon. One of the major stumbling blocks is rivalry between ecclesial jurisdictions of patriarchs and bishops who each claims to have the sole right of leading the community in the same city. An example may suffice: In Egypt, there are three patriarchs - the Coptic Orthodox Pope; the Greek Orthodox Patriarch; and the Coptic Catholic Patriarch. Although the Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches and the Non-Chalcedonian Churches (including the Coptic Orthodox Church) have signed agreements since 1989 that they share the same doctrines and have the same fasts, they are still not yet one Church. As for relations with the Coptic Catholic Church, tension continues to exist between Coptic Catholics and Coptic Orthodox Christians in spite of mutual visits between the heads of both and agreements between the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church.

In fact, all the major schisms in Christian history were partly caused by rivalry. The divisions which arose from the 5th century show rivalry for precedence between three main Sees of Christendom: Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch. The 11th century Great Schism between the See of Rome and the See of Constantinople was probably caused by a rift of estrangement in their respective cultures but was nevertheless a matter of rivalry.

The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches reached a reunion in two Councils: The Council of Lyons I (1274) and the Council of Florence (concluded in 1445). However, the reunion fell upon the collapse of Constantinople to the Muslim Ottomans in 1453 since the military aid promised by Catholics did not help the Greek Orthodox in defending the city.

If we look at the world from our human perspective then we will surely be disappointed by the continuous failures of us Christians to be like Christ.

An Inspiration

I am unable to forget the man who inspired generations by his example. Paul Antaki who passed away a week ago is the man. His practice of virtues to a heroic level include humility, discernment of the spirits, and self-sacrifice. Many of the people who knew him recounted how he spoke of himself as Fr. Paul Antaki when he was already a bishop. He never made a public appearance for self-promotion - a lesson for other bishops. He always sat among others, not above them. I recall that Paul Antaki is the one who, by the grace of God, introduced me to my new life with my partner for life my wife. As I knew her through activities in the Supreme Council of the Melkite Youth in Egypt, I cannot forget that he was the inspiration and creator of the Council and the instrumental agent of God who through such activities brought many men and women to marriage in the Church. He blessed our engagement in 1979 and on April 25, 1982, he presided over our wedding at St. Cyril in Heliopolis. Before immigrating to Canada, Archbishop Paul Antaki encouraged us with the words: May your departure to Canada be a seed of renewal in the life of Christians in the land of Canada. He knew about the secular atmosphere that was becoming anti-Christian in Canada. In his discernment, he gave us powerful advice hardly matched by other spiritual leaders. He encouraged and worked himself in retreats with young adults to prepare them for their vocations. His work was fruitful in the many souls he sent to sacramental marriage and to sacramental priesthood. Of a high class socially, he never condescended but on the contrary appreciated what is good and positive in everyone and everything. Moderate in his outlook, he moved people who knew him to serious active life tempered by moderation for the glory of God whom he loved. In my work under his guidance, I can testify to his active work with lay movements in the Catholic Church and to his spirit of moderating openness with commitment to Tradition. If I can ascribe St. Augustine's words "Be moderate in everything except in love" to anyone's work, it is to Paul Antaki's.

His self-sacrifice has been attested to by many witnesses. Among them, we count my brother Dr. Samir Farahat, FRCP (ENT) who took him to other specialists for his hurting knee. When asked by doctors about how many times does he climb stairs a day, his response was: 30 times. Samir asked him why? The archbishop replied that he visited many parishioners everyday which required him to climb up many stairs! On the ecumenical front, Archbishop Antaki was always receptive of dialogue. In 1971, he invited Archbishop Paul Minas of the Antiochine Greek Orthodox Church to give a lecture in the Patriarchal residence that I attended. In 1972, when Patriarch Shenouda III Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church declared that he will not tire until there is one Church in Egypt, Archbishop Paul Antaki responded in his homily at St. Cyril's Church saying "Our hearts danced when we heard these words"! May Paul Antaki be a star in heaven as he was on earth leading the Pilgrim Church to Christ!

Paul Antaki The Great

We are saddened by the passing away of the holy archbishop, and dean of all Greek Melkite Catholic bishops, Paul Antaki in Cairo, Egypt. Our consolation is that he will now intercede before Christ in heaven for everyone and especially for the suffering ones on Earth and in Purgatory. Paul Antaki was a great example for me personally and for many other people of several generations especially in his deep commitment to the Church, living spirituality, commitment to the young adults, vocations to the priesthood, and extreme humility coupled with extraordinary capacity for self-sacrifice which he practiced unceasingly. I recall his letters to me since I arrived in Canada which he signed as Fr. Paul Antaki and his constant encouragement. I do not know much about the iron person Paul Antaki who managed to earn the respect and love of everyone I know he knew. But this is what little I know: After serving as a priest director of the Patriarchal College, he worked tirelessly in the parishes of Alexandria and Cairo. At the young age of 42, he was elevated to the ranks of bishops by the synod headed by Patriarch Maximus V in 1968 to be General Patriarchal Vicar on the See of Alexandria, Egypt and Sudan. Many pastoral visits to the parishes in all of Egypt and Sudan followed his installation. In 1971, I requested my first meeting with him in which it became apparent to me that this man was truly a man of ecumenical breadth and commitment to dialogue with the Orthodox Churches. He was enthusiastic about the youth and actively managed their activities in the Melkite parishes in Egypt and Sudan. I worked under his direction in the Catholic Apostolic movements and conferences held from 1972 which brought together some highly intellectual Catholics and the Catholic youth. In January 1978, he inaugurated the first youth meeting with the Patriarch and soon asked me to lead the new Supreme Council of Melkite Youth (university and older) in Egypt which I served for one year. Three times he called me to the priesthood and three times I declined, but he never gave up on the youth. In 1984 he accepted to be my guest for a few days when he visited Toronto, Canada. Archbishop Antaki visited Toronto again in 1990, celebrated Mass at our home, and at St. Luke Roman Catholic Church (used at the time by Melkite Catholics in Toronto.) As always, his presence meant a special occasion to my family and to the many other friends who knew him.

In 2002, Archbishop Paul Antaki resigned as Patriarchal Vicar in Cairo due to reaching the age of 75 but remained a spiritual director for many people and was followed by Archbishop Joseph Jules Zerey who is today the General Patriarchal Vicar on the See of Jerusalem. When the choir director Joseph Homsy passed away, I informed him of the sad news and he immediately contacted the Homsy families with condolences. Many other stories come to mind about how this man of God implanted a great spiritual plant in Egypt, but I will leave them to another post. To the Greek Melkite Catholic Church together with all its bishops, priests, orders and faithful all over the world, the passing away of Paul Antaki is a moment for celebration and not for sending condolences since I believe heaven is now celebrating the arrival of this humble servant. I am confident that Paul Antaki will be elevated to the ranks of the blessed as John Paul the Great. As he is a great Christian, I wish, therefore, to call him Paul Antaki the Great!