A Banquet
A Banquet – Fr. Maroun Moubarak m.l.m.
http://www.ayletmarcharbel.org/content/madbt-alab-maroun-mbark-mrsl-lbnany
We have customarily been meeting at the end of every year, on the last Friday of the last month of the year, to partake of the Word and the Sacrifice. Inspired by the Spirit, I figured that we ought to make these meetings a meaningful spiritual journey that lifts up our way of life, we who belong to the spirituality of the Family of Saint Sharbel.
We began the second millennium with the topic of “passing over” and meditated on how to show our identity, so we can “pass over” to the other side. In 2001, we examined the topic of “deepening our roots” and our belonging to Jesus and his Church, so we can continue the long and difficult journey of the new millennium which requires this deep attachment to our roots. After that, in 2002, we explored the topic of “discipleship,” which is a continuation of the deepening of our roots, because when we become disciples of Jesus and advance in the levels of our understanding of his Word, our roots grow stronger, so we can continue our journey as witnesses in the third millennium. Last year, in 2003, we approached the topic of “witness” by word and deed, so that the third millennium could run its true course, reach its end, and pass on the baton to the fourth millennium. Today, in 2004, I would like to continue the journey with the topic of “the banquet” or “the meal” which sustains in us all the activities we have talked about over the years: it gives us sustenance to pass over to a better future, the strength to deepen our roots, the lessons to learn, and the motivation to witness.
Event though we are gathering on New Year’s Eve to welcome the year 2005, the Christmas ambiance, in the beauty of the Mystery of the Incarnation, is still shedding its rays on us. We have celebrated this Christmas in a Eucharistic fashion, and the connection between Christmas and the Eucharist is close. Pope John Paul II wants us to celebrate Christmas in its Eucharistic dimension, since he declared the year starting in October 2004 as the Year of the Eucharist.
Christmas is the Feast of the Incarnation, which means that the Lord took human flesh and became present among us and with us in a visible an concrete way: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son,” says Saint John the Evangelist in the introduction to the Gospel he wrote. In his last supper with his disciples, Jesus took the bread and wine as signs of his permanent presence among us and with us, so he can live in communion with us, and so we can live in communion with one another. Our God is with us, Emmanuel. He is present in the Mystery of the Body, which is the Mystery of the Eucharist. We stop today to meditate on the banquet, the divine banquet which is set on three tables:
In sum, on this feast we are called to the following:
Amen.
Teaching – Friday December 31, 2004 – Annaya
http://www.ayletmarcharbel.org/content/madbt-alab-maroun-mbark-mrsl-lbnany
We have customarily been meeting at the end of every year, on the last Friday of the last month of the year, to partake of the Word and the Sacrifice. Inspired by the Spirit, I figured that we ought to make these meetings a meaningful spiritual journey that lifts up our way of life, we who belong to the spirituality of the Family of Saint Sharbel.
We began the second millennium with the topic of “passing over” and meditated on how to show our identity, so we can “pass over” to the other side. In 2001, we examined the topic of “deepening our roots” and our belonging to Jesus and his Church, so we can continue the long and difficult journey of the new millennium which requires this deep attachment to our roots. After that, in 2002, we explored the topic of “discipleship,” which is a continuation of the deepening of our roots, because when we become disciples of Jesus and advance in the levels of our understanding of his Word, our roots grow stronger, so we can continue our journey as witnesses in the third millennium. Last year, in 2003, we approached the topic of “witness” by word and deed, so that the third millennium could run its true course, reach its end, and pass on the baton to the fourth millennium. Today, in 2004, I would like to continue the journey with the topic of “the banquet” or “the meal” which sustains in us all the activities we have talked about over the years: it gives us sustenance to pass over to a better future, the strength to deepen our roots, the lessons to learn, and the motivation to witness.
Event though we are gathering on New Year’s Eve to welcome the year 2005, the Christmas ambiance, in the beauty of the Mystery of the Incarnation, is still shedding its rays on us. We have celebrated this Christmas in a Eucharistic fashion, and the connection between Christmas and the Eucharist is close. Pope John Paul II wants us to celebrate Christmas in its Eucharistic dimension, since he declared the year starting in October 2004 as the Year of the Eucharist.
Christmas is the Feast of the Incarnation, which means that the Lord took human flesh and became present among us and with us in a visible an concrete way: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son,” says Saint John the Evangelist in the introduction to the Gospel he wrote. In his last supper with his disciples, Jesus took the bread and wine as signs of his permanent presence among us and with us, so he can live in communion with us, and so we can live in communion with one another. Our God is with us, Emmanuel. He is present in the Mystery of the Body, which is the Mystery of the Eucharist. We stop today to meditate on the banquet, the divine banquet which is set on three tables:
- The first table: the manger, or, in French, the “Crèche.” This is the first table on which we find the gift of Heaven and Earth, the great gift, namely, the descent of God and his self-lowering toward man to become a man like men and to enable men to know him. The Lord God lay down on the table of the manger to be close to man…
…to be close to man and to teach him about the gift of life. We have gotten used to saying that, at Christmas, we think of renewal—the new life symbolized by this child who brings about life—, not by looking back, but forward. This is what we learn that:
* Life is a gift from God, and what we are called to do with it.
* Life is not about looking back, but about looking forward because our journey with God is from one beginning to another, and it has no end. This is why Christmas means hope: “Good hope to men and women of good will.” Christmas teaches us about hope, and this is what the story of the Four Candles (that I have told in another talk) is about. - The second table: This is the Last Supper which Jesus spent with his disciples. This supper completes God’s plan to be close to man so that man learn to approach him and emulate him. God came to show us the way to the Kingdom, the door of the Kingdom, and the dwelling of the Kingdom. Hence, he used several metaphors to explain it to us. Here at the table of the Eucharistic Supper we understand several things:
* This Supper cannot be separated from God’s plan of salvation as a whole because it is one link in a complete chain of events leading to man’s salvation, which is the forgiveness of sins, the victory of the grace of eternal life, and removing all that kills life in us so that life continue endlessly. This dinner-event has several dimensions:- A supportive dimension: the narrative quotes Psalms 22 and 66, which are prayers in the Old Testament aimed to strengthen faith in times of weakness. The religious aspect of the Passion gives it a spiritual motivation and support to strengthen the faith.
- A liturgical dimension: the gestures and words at the Supper all indicate an organized prayer and communion. This happened also when Jesus prayed in the Garden alone and sweat blood, which is an expression of the power of prayer, personal struggle and inner strength of man.
- A geographic dimension: the places and their succession (The Garden where he prayed – the Supper in the Upper Room – At Pilate’s royal palace – Golgotha – the tomb in the Garden). All these are places where events occurred and they bear meaning for everyone, and all witness to the economy of salvation.
- A temporal dimension: the marking of the hours from morning until the morning of the Resurrection: in the morning he was delivered to Pilate, at nine there was the crucifixion, at noon darkness, at three he breathed his last, and in the next morning an empty tomb. Jesus filled a whole day to sanctify time.
All these dimensions are in the wider context of the Supper. In the narrower context, we find:
* The conspiracy of the High Priests and the Jews.
* The Supper and Judas’ betrayal.
* After the Supper, Peter’s denial and the Apostles’ flight.
In the midst of all this, Jesus continued his work of salvation. He is faithful to the Father and his plan. Jesus is faithful in the midst of his ordeal.
In addition to this faithfulness, Jesus promises his disciples that he will not eat bread or drink wine until that day when he drinks it in the kingdom. This shows prophecy. Jesus in faithful and prophetic. We learn from the banquet of bread:
* Faithfulness: the Eucharist teaches us faithfulness to God’s will for us. When he said: “do this in memory of me,” he was teaching us that, when we gather around his heavenly Bread, he becomes present. The bread was divided up among the Twelve, but it was reunified through them, for they became one big “loaf of bread,” a Mystical Body which is the community.
* Prophecy: this means that, in addition to preserving the gift of life (the Crèche), we must nurture life to witness to the sincerity of God’s love. Our lives project an image of the kingdom. To expound on the meaning of all this, I say that, just as Jesus incarnated God’s love in the manger by becoming man and taking a human body, so we incarnate God’s love when we gather around the table of the Divine Bread and form his Body when we live harmoniously as brothers and sisters under God’s banner. We are his Body and he is the Head. We receive life from him, and from him we learn how to deal with life.
* Nourishment: life is nourished and strengthened from the table of the altar. This is what the table of the Eucharist teaches us: from the commemoration of the Passover in the Old Testament to the new “passing over,” and to a new life full of God’s power, communion, and continual witness. This is also what the prayer of the priest at the end of the Divine Liturgy teaches us, where he promises to perpetuate the Liturgy through his daily actions. Hence, we are called to exemplify faithfulness, prophecy, and nourishment.
- The third table: the wood of the Cross on which lay the Son of God to give his life and make it an “offering.” He drew near us in the manger where we found our first table, then he drew nearer in the bread and wine at the Last Supper. In the beginning we called him Emmanuel, “God with us,” which is what he wants to be. But in the second event, he wanted more: to the request of the disciples on the way to Emmaus that he stay “with them,” Jesus’s response was to stay “in them.” This is what the presence of the Lord means: from “God with us” at Christmas to “God in us” in the Eucharist. At the Cross, Jesus goes even so far as to shed his life for those he loves. He transformed all the terror to which the Jews and their associates subjected him. He transformed the slaughter into an offering and did all that with great love. He offered up this terror to the Father when he said: “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” for forgiveness is a love that transforms man and turns him from a monster into a lover of truth who reforms his conduct. He offered this terror on behalf of all people when he said: “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” because forgiveness brings meaning back to one’s life and gives it hope, not by gaining, but by giving oneself. This is why Jesus taught that he who wants to gain himself loses it, which means that he must offer what is his in order to receive what is God’s. This is the meaning of repentance.
From the table of the Cross where Jesus lay, we learn:
* The great love: not the regular love. In Aramaic, Hebrew, and Arabic there is only one verb: “to love.” But in Greek, love is expressed in four verbs:
- Stergein --> familial love.
- Ergān --> love mixed with desire
- Filein --> Abstract, philosophical love
- Agapān --> Sacrificial love
Let us not fear self-giving because self-giving enriches us and does not impoverish us. We rejoice in giving because others gain and benefit, and we gain by freeing ourselves and finding happiness, just as the story of the Ghanaian child says.
* Forgiveness: the hymn says: “when I embrace my friend without hypocrisy, Christmas comes again…. when the spirit of vengeance dies within me….when my cold-heartedness burns out in me…Christmas comes again…” Forgiveness is not a natural act but a supernatural act that requires an extreme labor of love. In forgiveness, the Christian thinks only of the sinner’s misery, and not of herself, except from the standpoint of her mission and her calling to forgive. Forgiveness does not occur on the spur of the moment, but it is the product of a long, powerful, and continual spiritual journey. The more filled of God we are, the more we forgive.
* Repentance: this means knowing oneself in the light of God’s great love. When the thief on the Cross discovered the innocence of Jesus and his love, he realized how far gone he was and asked to get closer to Jesus. Thus, when we experience the journey of Jesus through the three banquets laid on three tables, we realize our need to get closer to him and to ban our usual conduct which distances us from him, so we can live in repentance.
In sum, on this feast we are called to the following:
- To recognize the value of life, which is a gift from God.
- To be faithful to this gift and to protect it.
- To be prophetic in striving to live out the promises of the Lord to us.
- To give out of great love.
- To translate the power of love within us into forgiveness.
- To repent by constantly seeking to draw closer to the Lord.
Amen.
Teaching – Friday December 31, 2004 – Annaya
