Exodus

As I was finishing this post, the good news from Egypt reached us. The Egyptian President El-Sisi, a moderate Muslim, has just visited St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo to congratulate the Coptic Orthodox Christians for Christmas 2015 where the Coptic Orthodox Patriarch, Pope Tawadros II,  was celebrating the mid-night Mass of Christmas. This is definitely a great gesture for Christians and Muslims in Egypt that we hope will find its way throughout the rest of the suffering Middle East. It does not, however, eliminate violence and excessive materialism in the world.

This is what materialism tells us: Three things can trouble the human person: Fear; Death; and God. We usually wish to be in peace without any worries about them. We only need an "exit" (i.e. "exodus") from them.  

In biological sciences, Darwin is credited with the principle "Survival for the fittest." The "New Atheists" of today such as Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss are scientists who devote much time attacking religion because they constrain their research to what is observable in the cosmos where survival of the stronger or larger necessarily eclipses the smaller. In schools today, our children learn mostly what constitutes physics but very little, if any, about metaphysics (i.e. beyond physics).

In post-modern philosophy, Frederick Nietzsche is credited with moral relativism and "the death of God." Nietzsche (died in 1900) sees the slave-morality as a social illness that has overtaken Europe — a derivative and resentful value which can only work by condemning others as evil. In Nietzsche's eyes, Christianity exists in a hypocritical state wherein people preach love and kindness but find their joy in condemning and punishing others for pursuing those ends which the slave-morality does not allow them to act upon publicly. Nietzsche calls for the strong in the world to break their self-imposed chains and assert their own power, health, and vitality upon the world. In relativism (called also Postmodernism), everyone is right. There is no absolute right and absolute wrong. This helps political correctness in the pluralistic world of today.

Sigmund Freud and later schools of psychology, introduced psychological repression that repels one's own desires for pleasure. Therefore sexual promiscuity and playing with sexual organs for pleasure only, are considered something normal taught to students in schools of the academic minds in the West. In more materialist studies the mind is reduced to the material brain which then abolishes real human freedom. Everything becomes an illusion akin to the deterministic world of Daniel Dennett and the Far East philosophy of reality as an illusion.

Exodus is therefore not only the name of a Biblical book that ushers the blessings of God when in response to his servants God liberates his people from slavery but also a pattern in today's materialist culture augmented by today's exodus of Christians and non-Christians from the lands in which the early Church developed. The psychological and material impacts of wars in the Middle East since 2011, or probably since 2003 in Iraq, have reduced the lives of many inhabitants to a mere survival of ghosts. The entire region from North Africa to Turkey has produced much violence. For survival that every reasonable person seeks, exodus to the West has been growing. 

Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan too have seen refugees from Syria and Iraq. But the swelling of numbers (over a million refugees in Lebanon) calls for immediate rescue efforts by governments. Nonetheless sectarian tensions are growing in Europe and North America fearing for the security of their citizens threatened by violent Islamic extremists who could infiltrate their borders and cause much destruction. Exodus is therefore a moral issue that must be addressed. It is life, above all, that is being destroyed. Pope Francis lamented: No one cares when a poor person dies of hunger, but the media rushes to give us the news if the stock market lost a few points.

See some of the latest news here (in The Guardian): 

See also how you can help needy Christians in Syria here: http://foodforsyria.org and needy Christians in Iraq here: http://www.iamiraqiiamchristian.org/ (both websites have been built by the Knights of  Columbus at Jesus the King Church).

Let's get simpler...An anecdote that I read years ago in The Catholic Register goes like this: Satan was making a grand plan to deceive humanity so he gathered all his troops and asked them: What lie shall we tell the world to fall into our traps. One of the little devils came to him and said: Tell them there is no God! Satan thought and answered him: This is not hard - Every thoughtful person knows that there is God. Another devil came to him and said: Tell them there is no right or wrong! Satan thought a little and answered him: But everyone who goes back to his conscience knows that there is indeed right and wrong - It depends on what you make of it. A third devil jumped up and down and said: I found it - Tell them there is time! There is ample time to do as you please. And Satan praised this devil for he found the lie that people would fall for...

The above anecdote is relevant to us. Yes, we think that there is a lot of time here. But more so, it has become fashionable to think less and waste our time in entertainment with shallow thoughts (Facebook has over a billion registrants who mainly exchange congratulations, party pictures and the like with friends - Many persons I know built their entire discussions like the herd imitating others in taking their own pictures and showing them off to the rest of friends). The excuse is simply that everyone is busy (See The Economist research article here) but is only free for a few minutes a day. Yet, in a contradiction of terms, we believe the devilish lie "There is time"! It is self-destructive! Why? Because I can make hundreds of friends on virtual social networks, yet fail to know them. How sad would it be when I find out that none of them was close by when I needed her or him most! The entire Web experience is intended for open education and business development, as well as increased social development but not to replace our own families and social life. Selfishness creates wolves in us driven by greed and human weakness of the flesh. You will be surprised to see how the Web has been infected not only by hackers (from North Korea!) but also by ads on cheap sex as if women are for sale!

Today we see how our consumerist society has invested in the ideology of self-empowerment. Businesses flourish based on selling products to consumers. The more we consume the more business flourishes. This is the child of materialism married to capitalism. The new generation is busy with spending on new stuff or trying it. Let's have fun today. Leave tomorrow and its worries. No need for marriage if half of the marriages end up in divorce. Young adults who choose to get married can hardly afford to beget kids. Let humanity end itself and its civilization?? Can we allow civilization to disintegrate before our eyes when we claim that Christianity carries the spirit of humanization?

In view of the above, it is hard to avoid today's exodus: An exodus from the true reality beyond matter; an exodus from true love and true joy; an exodus from values that lead to eternal life!

But if anyone thinks of Biblical Exodus, he will find hope that God is liberating many today in spite of human weakness and sin. To quote Fr. Henri Bolulad, S.J.: "As the magi were sincere in their search for the king of truth, sincere atheists and non-Christians searching for the truth will be the first to worship little Jesus." In this way God brings the far to his kingdom and awakens "dormant Christians",

Christians cannot reject modernity. On the contrary Christians need to always maintain a good dialogue with today's world of thought and systems. Christians have always been at the forefront of science and technology. However, Christians need also much education in Christianity and the love of God who created us and redeemed us. We need not fear for God himself came from heaven to be with us and is there to embrace all. "Open the doors to Christ," said St. Pope John Paul II.  For this I propose Christians start with prayers and reflections such as St. Ignatius' spiritual exercises even if for 10 minutes a day. I also propose that Christians keep a moderate stance with regard to the media and interaction with everyone. Christians are, after all partakers, of the human development. The enmity between the People of God and the world was broken by Christ and his disciples.

Use the Web: Will you look up the lives of saints on the Web? Learn from the Bible about Jesus Christ our Lord and the saints. Try St. Irenaeus of Lyon, St. Athanasius,  St. Basil the Great, St. John of Damascus, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Rita; St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Charbel Makhlouf, St. Gemma Galganni, or St. Maximilian Kolbe. Those are worthy of imitation.

On another occasion, I will explain some of the good system technologies that can benefit Christians as tools in helping the Church.

Any sincere person with good intentions will find Christ in others. If men really need to spend time after work, they may better join the Knights of Columbus or other Christian organizations where both men and women are active in the vineyard of the Lord for the Church needs her young adults in creative projects to assist the community and for the world to come to Christ The Truth (John 14, 6).

Can we achieve full joy in this world?

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.)

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

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).

Today we need to examine our conscience and return Christ to Christmas by educating ourselves and children guided by the Church, exiting ourselves and our worries, thinking of others, praying for the sick, an helping as much as we can the needy in our community and especially the suffering Christians in the Middle East.

What Could We Learn from Liberal Sociology?

Sam Richards?
In Progress