Stay with us, Lord
(Msgr. Youssef Soueif, current Maronite Bishop of Cyprus)
“Stay with us, Lord.” – By then-Msgr. Youssef Soueif
Spiritual Retreat – July 2-3, 2005
Bayt Al-Mahabba – Adonis – Jbeil
Then-Msgr. Youssef Soueif
http://www.ayletmarcharbel.org/content/ebqa-maana-ya-rb-almounsnyour-yousf-souyf-hynha
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
It pleases me to meet again with the Family of Saint Sharbel, this Family dear to my heart who holds a place of love in my heart, and who is a beautiful experiment in the heart of our Church in Lebanon and the East. This is a Family who seeks to live out a spiritual faith journey through the spirituality of Saint Sharbel, and as a reflection of his ascetical experience in the heart of the world.
Our retreat topic today is: “Stay with us, Lord.”
I aim to place before you some fodder for thought on this topic which happens to be the theme of this year.
I propose 35 bullet points which allow us to delve into the topic of the offering, the Eucharist.
1. “Stay with us, Lord” is an appeal. It is the prayer of the Church, the Apostles, the disciples, and the Early Church. It is the prayer of the Church who navigates and walks through this world. This is her constant appeal to Christ who lives in her and in the world - to Christ, risen from the dead: “Stay with us, Lord.” This prayer is an invocation: it invokes Christ, risen from the dead and who is assuredly with us. However, this prayer or this invocation is a kind of awareness and knowledge that He is with us. This presence is revealed in several ways:
The first form pf presence, which is also the most beautiful and most powerful one, is under the species of the bread and wine: the Eucharist. “Stay with us, Lord” proceeds from the Eucharist, and from the gathering of the community of believers gathered around the banquet of the Body and Blood of Christ, declaring the Mystery of His death and resurrection and saying to Him: “Stay with us, Lord.” From this Mystery flow the different forms of the presence of Christ in the experience of the Church.
2. “Maranatha” is an invocation. It is the first breath and prayer of the Church who believes in the risen Jesus which calls to Him: Come, Lord Jesus. “Maranatha” is an invocation of the Lord, but it is also an invocation of the Holy Spirit: “Come, O Holy Spirit,” or “Send your Holy Spirit, O Father.” It is the Church’s prayer to the Lord, and to which the Lord responds by coming to us. On one hand, we pray “Stay with us, Lord,” which expresses the real presence of the Lord; but, on the other hand, for this presence to be fruitful in our history, our invocation, awareness, prayer, and freedom are required. We invoke Him and accept that He come – He, who is eternally present. This is the experience of the Church and of the mindful and free person who chooses that the Lord stay with him or her.
3. “Take and eat. This is my Body”: This is the consequence of “Stay with us” and “Maranatha.” This is a reality that abides in the Church. “Stay with us” is connected theologically, organically, actually, and ecclesially to the Priesthood, which is the greatest expression of “Stay with us”: the priest of the Lord. “Take and eat. This is my Body” is the greatest expression of “Stay with us.”
4. “Take and drink. This is my Blood”: the Blood of the New Covenant. Whoever eats my Body and drinks my Blood will inherit eternal life…for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
5. “Do this in memory of me.” This refers to the celebration of the anamnesis (memorial) of the Lord, and not a “recollection.” It is the anamnesis of the Lord. We make an “anamnesis of the Lord.” We participate in the anamnesis of His death and resurrection. Anamnesis is equivalent to the Mystery and to actualizing the presence of the Lord. The Church invokes the presence of the Lord and God’s entire economy of salvation for the life and salvation of humanity. Hence comes the Church’s response and her public profession of faith: “We remember Your death, O Lord, we profess Your resurrection, and await Your second coming…” All this actualizes the invocation “Stay with us, Lord.”
6. “The Eucharist”: “Stay with us, Lord,” so we can thank You, and not only in the Divine Liturgy. The Eucharist is the main center of our lives, and by it we are nourished with the Body and Blood of Our Lord, and in it we give thanks to God. “We thank You for them and because of them.” The Eucharist flows directly from the sacramental celebration and engages us in the process of transforming our life into a fully Eucharistic life. Important here is the balancing act which we could spend our whole lives pursuing and tweaking: achieving a continual harmony and balance through every retreat and undertaking, every day of our lives: a harmony between the sacramental Eucharist and the Eucharist of daily life.
7. “The Offering”: it is a gift. “Stay with us, Lord” is an act of offering which proceeds from the One who is offered and who offers, namely, Jesus Christ. He is the offering, the delicious bread, the grain of wheat which died, was buried, but multiplied. “Stay with us, Lord” is an offering which proceeds from Christ, the Offering and the Offeror, and which becomes in us a process of offering, so that we too may become, and be transformed into, offerings and offerors. This is the meaning of the Eucharist, the Divine Liturgy, and “Stay with us, Lord.” We all participate and share in the offering. It is not good enough that I am offered up by the priest, if Christian understanding remains stranger to me.
8. “The Sacrifice on the Cross.” It is a bloody sacrifice that occurred in history, the pledge of the Father’s love which is revealed in the Son sacrificed on the Cross for us.
9. “Spiritual sacrifice”: The sacrifice on the Cross is perpetuated through a spiritual, unbloody, mental sacrifice – a sacrifice of the heart, a sacrifice for peace. We are sacrificed spiritually. Our entire Divine Liturgy becomes a spiritual sacrifice which receives its meaning from the bloody sacrifice on the Cross, and through which salvation and life were given to humanity. This salvation, life, and hope are renewed in us inasmuch as we live out this spiritual sacrifice.
10. “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice in it and be glad”: Today. It is crucial that we live in the present. The true believer, and by that I mean the Eucharistic believer, lives the “Stay with us, Lord” with God today. He or she is not stuck in the past and its fading glory. Today: today is the “world without end.” We live in the present, and whoever lives the Eucharistic experience lives in the present, is “up-to-date,” and his or her youthfulness is constantly renewed in God.
11. “Here and now.” “Hic et Nunc” (in Latin). The Eucharist, this presence of the Triune God, the Eucharistic presence of Christ, happens here and now. The “now” is realized in time: at this time, in this place, in this person, with this community, and on this altar.
12. “Priest and priesthood”: This whole process requires the priest and the priesthood. This fulfills the need of the ecclesial community before any individual desire. The priest stands in the midst of the community to intercede to God for them. The priest is called in order to stand before God and on behalf of the people.
13. “This is the Mystery of Communion”: Communion is realized in the experience of “Stay with us, Lord.” God refuses to be alone, and is in perpetual communion. Christianity is communion. God Himself is a communion of Three Persons and is also in communion with us. God is with us. The mystery of communion is realized in the Eucharist.
14. “Trinitarian communion”: The Trinity itself is a communion. God is present in the Eucharist, and we become part of this communion dynamic. The icon of the Eucharist par excellence is the icon of the Trinity.
15. “Communion of brothers and sisters”: The Communion of the Trinity is inseparable from the communion between brothers and sisters. Here is an opportunity for us to examine our conscience: how do we celebrate the Divine Liturgy? Do we live in communion with the Trinity, but yet not with our brothers and sisters?
16. “Mystery of forgiveness”: “Take and eat. This is my Body given to you for the forgiveness of sins” is the source of forgiveness. This does not preclude the sacrament of reconciliation. The sacrament of reconciliation is rooted in the Eucharist. This Bread is for the forgiveness of sins. The Mystery of forgiveness is the Mystery of perpetual joy in Man’s heart.
17. “The kiss of peace”: Not like Judas’ kiss, God forbid. I do not kiss and betray. It is a kiss of peace and reconciliation.
18. “He is the Bread of Life”: Not the bread of death. This Bread gives Life.
19. “Pledge of the Kingdom”: This refers to the “eschatological dimension,” meaning that we can already have in this life a foretaste of the Kingdom.
20. “The food of the Saints and of holiness”
21. “The food of angels”: By participating in “Stay with us, Lord” we enter the world of angels. We are freed from earthly dimensions and limitations. We are lifted up (“Let us lift up our minds and hearts”) and enter the world of angels. Christ is the food of angels and the food of earthly beings who are called to be unshackled from earthly chains, to live in the heavenly sphere and be elevated to the angelic realm. These are actual experiences a person can have.
22. “The glory of hope”: Stay with us. Now that we have been lifted up and have touched the angelic realm, we must not keep floating in the air. We participate in this great Mystery with earthly realism. On this earth, hope wanes at times, but this Mystery renews our hope.
23. “This Mystery gives life to the dead”: it gives life to the dead in many ways: it gives life to those who died, but also gives life to what is dead inside me.
24. “A Liturgy of Love,” Agape. It is the gathering of the Eucharistic community in the parochial home, so that people may encounter one another, not only in Church and in Liturgy, but also on a human, ordinary level. This happens effortlessly. Whoever encounters a brother or sister liturgically, encounters him or her also in life.
25. “For the sanctification of the world”: This whole experience and gathering is for the sanctification of the world. We have a big responsibility. We have the power and potential to sanctify the world through each Divine Liturgy. This is real. How else would the world be sanctified if not through people who are united to holy things and to the Holy One? “Holy gifts for the holy ones” who are, thus, enabled to sanctify the world.
Could a blind person lead the blind? Only an enlightened person could lead the world.
This applies at many levels, low, median, and high, at the level of ecclesiastical, administrative, civil, and temporal responsibilities. The Church is called to sanctify the world, and the world can only be sanctified by people who have experienced holiness and the Holy One in their lives.
26. “A community-bridge”: There is no longer a chasm between the altar and the world. The community has become the bridge that links the altar to the world, and the world to the altar.
27. “A Eucharistic Church”: A Eucharistic community in its daily, anthropological dimensions, i.e., in all the expressions and complexities of the person. Our presence in the world is a Eucharistic presence. All our movements, actions, and thoughts are Eucharistic.
28. “A Eucharistic attitude”: Our thinking, logic, and actions are all informed by this Eucharistic attitude.
29. “Participation through self-preparation”: We ought not to approach the Eucharist haphazardly, nonchalantly, or without due preparation. We ought not to come to the Divine Liturgy without inner preparedness. We are entering the Holy of Holies. “Take off your shoes when you set foot on this holy land.” We renounce the world we live in, and enter a holy land. We ought to be always self-prepared in order to be in this Eucharistic state.
30. “Washing of the hands and hearts”: These are the fruits I see and pick through my participation in the Eucharist.
31. “The joy of participation”: Let us rejoice in it and be glad! Our Divine Liturgy is not a Liturgy of dead or of miserable people. Rejoice with a joy that appears on faces, permeates consciences, and is shared between brothers and sisters and with all people.
32. “An honest participation”: without deception or pretense.
33. “A participation technique”: How we pray, sing hymns, move our bodies, etc.
34. “A Church of participation”: I am not alone in this Church or in the world. I am a “We.” I am the Church of Christ, a building stone in the Church of God, in this living building.
35. In brief: cross – altar – fire – light – bread – blood – cup of salvation.
These were the ways we properly live out “Stay with us, Lord.”
All these ideas and this information help “Stay with us, Lord” to transform us into a community of resurrection who professes the death and resurrection of Christ.
Eight points for reflection:
1. How deep is my faith in the presence of Christ in the world?
2. “Take and eat. Take and drink”: God gives freely. What do we give in response to His gift, and how do we give? Is our giving Eucharistic?
3. The sacrifice: do we go beyond the bloody dimension and enter into the mental, spiritual, emotional, personal dimension to encounter the Mystery?
4. Today, now: the reality of the Eucharist. Do I embody this reality in my daily life, my personal history with the Lord? Or do I talk about it in the abstract? Do I have the courage to allow this reality to be relevant to my personal history?
5. The Trinitarian communion and the communion between brothers and sisters: How well do I balance these two dynamics?
6. The Eucharist of forgiveness, peace, and reconciliation. Do I respond to, align myself with, think about, and open myself up to the universal, broad, human, and holistic dimensions of the Eucharist, away from self-isolation, protectionism, and human narrow-mindedness? In other words, do I enjoy celebrating the Divine Liturgy only with this one community and in this one place?
7. Do I build a human bridge between the altar and the world, or do I make the chasm even bigger?
8. The Family of St Sharbel is a Eucharistic community, from Annaya to our parishes, and to our Church in Lebanon, in the East and in the world.
Spiritual Retreat – July 2-3, 2005
Bayt Al-Mahabba – Adonis – Jbeil
Then-Msgr. Youssef Soueif
http://www.ayletmarcharbel.org/content/ebqa-maana-ya-rb-almounsnyour-yousf-souyf-hynha
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
It pleases me to meet again with the Family of Saint Sharbel, this Family dear to my heart who holds a place of love in my heart, and who is a beautiful experiment in the heart of our Church in Lebanon and the East. This is a Family who seeks to live out a spiritual faith journey through the spirituality of Saint Sharbel, and as a reflection of his ascetical experience in the heart of the world.
Our retreat topic today is: “Stay with us, Lord.”
I aim to place before you some fodder for thought on this topic which happens to be the theme of this year.
I propose 35 bullet points which allow us to delve into the topic of the offering, the Eucharist.
1. “Stay with us, Lord” is an appeal. It is the prayer of the Church, the Apostles, the disciples, and the Early Church. It is the prayer of the Church who navigates and walks through this world. This is her constant appeal to Christ who lives in her and in the world - to Christ, risen from the dead: “Stay with us, Lord.” This prayer is an invocation: it invokes Christ, risen from the dead and who is assuredly with us. However, this prayer or this invocation is a kind of awareness and knowledge that He is with us. This presence is revealed in several ways:
The first form pf presence, which is also the most beautiful and most powerful one, is under the species of the bread and wine: the Eucharist. “Stay with us, Lord” proceeds from the Eucharist, and from the gathering of the community of believers gathered around the banquet of the Body and Blood of Christ, declaring the Mystery of His death and resurrection and saying to Him: “Stay with us, Lord.” From this Mystery flow the different forms of the presence of Christ in the experience of the Church.
2. “Maranatha” is an invocation. It is the first breath and prayer of the Church who believes in the risen Jesus which calls to Him: Come, Lord Jesus. “Maranatha” is an invocation of the Lord, but it is also an invocation of the Holy Spirit: “Come, O Holy Spirit,” or “Send your Holy Spirit, O Father.” It is the Church’s prayer to the Lord, and to which the Lord responds by coming to us. On one hand, we pray “Stay with us, Lord,” which expresses the real presence of the Lord; but, on the other hand, for this presence to be fruitful in our history, our invocation, awareness, prayer, and freedom are required. We invoke Him and accept that He come – He, who is eternally present. This is the experience of the Church and of the mindful and free person who chooses that the Lord stay with him or her.
3. “Take and eat. This is my Body”: This is the consequence of “Stay with us” and “Maranatha.” This is a reality that abides in the Church. “Stay with us” is connected theologically, organically, actually, and ecclesially to the Priesthood, which is the greatest expression of “Stay with us”: the priest of the Lord. “Take and eat. This is my Body” is the greatest expression of “Stay with us.”
4. “Take and drink. This is my Blood”: the Blood of the New Covenant. Whoever eats my Body and drinks my Blood will inherit eternal life…for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
5. “Do this in memory of me.” This refers to the celebration of the anamnesis (memorial) of the Lord, and not a “recollection.” It is the anamnesis of the Lord. We make an “anamnesis of the Lord.” We participate in the anamnesis of His death and resurrection. Anamnesis is equivalent to the Mystery and to actualizing the presence of the Lord. The Church invokes the presence of the Lord and God’s entire economy of salvation for the life and salvation of humanity. Hence comes the Church’s response and her public profession of faith: “We remember Your death, O Lord, we profess Your resurrection, and await Your second coming…” All this actualizes the invocation “Stay with us, Lord.”
6. “The Eucharist”: “Stay with us, Lord,” so we can thank You, and not only in the Divine Liturgy. The Eucharist is the main center of our lives, and by it we are nourished with the Body and Blood of Our Lord, and in it we give thanks to God. “We thank You for them and because of them.” The Eucharist flows directly from the sacramental celebration and engages us in the process of transforming our life into a fully Eucharistic life. Important here is the balancing act which we could spend our whole lives pursuing and tweaking: achieving a continual harmony and balance through every retreat and undertaking, every day of our lives: a harmony between the sacramental Eucharist and the Eucharist of daily life.
7. “The Offering”: it is a gift. “Stay with us, Lord” is an act of offering which proceeds from the One who is offered and who offers, namely, Jesus Christ. He is the offering, the delicious bread, the grain of wheat which died, was buried, but multiplied. “Stay with us, Lord” is an offering which proceeds from Christ, the Offering and the Offeror, and which becomes in us a process of offering, so that we too may become, and be transformed into, offerings and offerors. This is the meaning of the Eucharist, the Divine Liturgy, and “Stay with us, Lord.” We all participate and share in the offering. It is not good enough that I am offered up by the priest, if Christian understanding remains stranger to me.
8. “The Sacrifice on the Cross.” It is a bloody sacrifice that occurred in history, the pledge of the Father’s love which is revealed in the Son sacrificed on the Cross for us.
9. “Spiritual sacrifice”: The sacrifice on the Cross is perpetuated through a spiritual, unbloody, mental sacrifice – a sacrifice of the heart, a sacrifice for peace. We are sacrificed spiritually. Our entire Divine Liturgy becomes a spiritual sacrifice which receives its meaning from the bloody sacrifice on the Cross, and through which salvation and life were given to humanity. This salvation, life, and hope are renewed in us inasmuch as we live out this spiritual sacrifice.
10. “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice in it and be glad”: Today. It is crucial that we live in the present. The true believer, and by that I mean the Eucharistic believer, lives the “Stay with us, Lord” with God today. He or she is not stuck in the past and its fading glory. Today: today is the “world without end.” We live in the present, and whoever lives the Eucharistic experience lives in the present, is “up-to-date,” and his or her youthfulness is constantly renewed in God.
11. “Here and now.” “Hic et Nunc” (in Latin). The Eucharist, this presence of the Triune God, the Eucharistic presence of Christ, happens here and now. The “now” is realized in time: at this time, in this place, in this person, with this community, and on this altar.
12. “Priest and priesthood”: This whole process requires the priest and the priesthood. This fulfills the need of the ecclesial community before any individual desire. The priest stands in the midst of the community to intercede to God for them. The priest is called in order to stand before God and on behalf of the people.
13. “This is the Mystery of Communion”: Communion is realized in the experience of “Stay with us, Lord.” God refuses to be alone, and is in perpetual communion. Christianity is communion. God Himself is a communion of Three Persons and is also in communion with us. God is with us. The mystery of communion is realized in the Eucharist.
14. “Trinitarian communion”: The Trinity itself is a communion. God is present in the Eucharist, and we become part of this communion dynamic. The icon of the Eucharist par excellence is the icon of the Trinity.
15. “Communion of brothers and sisters”: The Communion of the Trinity is inseparable from the communion between brothers and sisters. Here is an opportunity for us to examine our conscience: how do we celebrate the Divine Liturgy? Do we live in communion with the Trinity, but yet not with our brothers and sisters?
16. “Mystery of forgiveness”: “Take and eat. This is my Body given to you for the forgiveness of sins” is the source of forgiveness. This does not preclude the sacrament of reconciliation. The sacrament of reconciliation is rooted in the Eucharist. This Bread is for the forgiveness of sins. The Mystery of forgiveness is the Mystery of perpetual joy in Man’s heart.
17. “The kiss of peace”: Not like Judas’ kiss, God forbid. I do not kiss and betray. It is a kiss of peace and reconciliation.
18. “He is the Bread of Life”: Not the bread of death. This Bread gives Life.
19. “Pledge of the Kingdom”: This refers to the “eschatological dimension,” meaning that we can already have in this life a foretaste of the Kingdom.
20. “The food of the Saints and of holiness”
21. “The food of angels”: By participating in “Stay with us, Lord” we enter the world of angels. We are freed from earthly dimensions and limitations. We are lifted up (“Let us lift up our minds and hearts”) and enter the world of angels. Christ is the food of angels and the food of earthly beings who are called to be unshackled from earthly chains, to live in the heavenly sphere and be elevated to the angelic realm. These are actual experiences a person can have.
22. “The glory of hope”: Stay with us. Now that we have been lifted up and have touched the angelic realm, we must not keep floating in the air. We participate in this great Mystery with earthly realism. On this earth, hope wanes at times, but this Mystery renews our hope.
23. “This Mystery gives life to the dead”: it gives life to the dead in many ways: it gives life to those who died, but also gives life to what is dead inside me.
24. “A Liturgy of Love,” Agape. It is the gathering of the Eucharistic community in the parochial home, so that people may encounter one another, not only in Church and in Liturgy, but also on a human, ordinary level. This happens effortlessly. Whoever encounters a brother or sister liturgically, encounters him or her also in life.
25. “For the sanctification of the world”: This whole experience and gathering is for the sanctification of the world. We have a big responsibility. We have the power and potential to sanctify the world through each Divine Liturgy. This is real. How else would the world be sanctified if not through people who are united to holy things and to the Holy One? “Holy gifts for the holy ones” who are, thus, enabled to sanctify the world.
Could a blind person lead the blind? Only an enlightened person could lead the world.
This applies at many levels, low, median, and high, at the level of ecclesiastical, administrative, civil, and temporal responsibilities. The Church is called to sanctify the world, and the world can only be sanctified by people who have experienced holiness and the Holy One in their lives.
26. “A community-bridge”: There is no longer a chasm between the altar and the world. The community has become the bridge that links the altar to the world, and the world to the altar.
27. “A Eucharistic Church”: A Eucharistic community in its daily, anthropological dimensions, i.e., in all the expressions and complexities of the person. Our presence in the world is a Eucharistic presence. All our movements, actions, and thoughts are Eucharistic.
28. “A Eucharistic attitude”: Our thinking, logic, and actions are all informed by this Eucharistic attitude.
29. “Participation through self-preparation”: We ought not to approach the Eucharist haphazardly, nonchalantly, or without due preparation. We ought not to come to the Divine Liturgy without inner preparedness. We are entering the Holy of Holies. “Take off your shoes when you set foot on this holy land.” We renounce the world we live in, and enter a holy land. We ought to be always self-prepared in order to be in this Eucharistic state.
30. “Washing of the hands and hearts”: These are the fruits I see and pick through my participation in the Eucharist.
31. “The joy of participation”: Let us rejoice in it and be glad! Our Divine Liturgy is not a Liturgy of dead or of miserable people. Rejoice with a joy that appears on faces, permeates consciences, and is shared between brothers and sisters and with all people.
32. “An honest participation”: without deception or pretense.
33. “A participation technique”: How we pray, sing hymns, move our bodies, etc.
34. “A Church of participation”: I am not alone in this Church or in the world. I am a “We.” I am the Church of Christ, a building stone in the Church of God, in this living building.
35. In brief: cross – altar – fire – light – bread – blood – cup of salvation.
These were the ways we properly live out “Stay with us, Lord.”
All these ideas and this information help “Stay with us, Lord” to transform us into a community of resurrection who professes the death and resurrection of Christ.
Eight points for reflection:
1. How deep is my faith in the presence of Christ in the world?
2. “Take and eat. Take and drink”: God gives freely. What do we give in response to His gift, and how do we give? Is our giving Eucharistic?
3. The sacrifice: do we go beyond the bloody dimension and enter into the mental, spiritual, emotional, personal dimension to encounter the Mystery?
4. Today, now: the reality of the Eucharist. Do I embody this reality in my daily life, my personal history with the Lord? Or do I talk about it in the abstract? Do I have the courage to allow this reality to be relevant to my personal history?
5. The Trinitarian communion and the communion between brothers and sisters: How well do I balance these two dynamics?
6. The Eucharist of forgiveness, peace, and reconciliation. Do I respond to, align myself with, think about, and open myself up to the universal, broad, human, and holistic dimensions of the Eucharist, away from self-isolation, protectionism, and human narrow-mindedness? In other words, do I enjoy celebrating the Divine Liturgy only with this one community and in this one place?
7. Do I build a human bridge between the altar and the world, or do I make the chasm even bigger?
8. The Family of St Sharbel is a Eucharistic community, from Annaya to our parishes, and to our Church in Lebanon, in the East and in the world.
