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Christ the Savior Church Volume 40, Number 4 • Fall 2010 How great are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you have wrought them all! (Psalm 103:24) HE OURNALOPHIA OF THE ELKITE REEK ATHOLIC PARCHY OF EWTON STSHE JOURNALOPHIA OF THE MELKITE GREEK CATHOLIC EPARCHY OF NEWTON Inside: Sunday, the Day of the Lord Page 3 46th National Melkite Convention Page 24 Honor Roll of Benefactors Page 38 DEAR EDITOR THE JOURNAL OF THE EPARCHY OF NEWTON FOR Kudos to my Melkite brethren at St. MELKITE GREEK CATHOLICS Joseph's in Lansing, MI. I took special SOOPPHHIIAA IN THE UNITED STATES Contents Contents 3S VFW Parkway, West Roxbury, MA 02132 • www.melkite.org note of them performing an exorcism Phone: (617) 323-9922 • Fax: (617) 323-0188 • Email: [email protected] outside a local kill mill as in reality abortion has satanic origins and many Published quarterly by the Eparchy of Newton. ISSN 0194-7958. Made possible in part by the Catholic Home Mission Committee cultures such as the Aztecs have sac- and a bequest of the Rev. Allen Maloof. rificed thousands of their babies over many years to the god of child murder PUBLISHER: MOST REV. CYRIL SALIM BUSTROS, EPARCH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Rt. Rev. Robert Rabbat who in the Old Testament, is called ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Joseph A. Bou-Sliman Moloch. (Cf. Leviticus 18:21) PRODUCTION: Deacon Paul Leonarczyk By coincidence Human Life Inter- DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Doreen Pierson national (http:hli.org. 4 Family Life Lane, Front Royal, VA 22630) has The Publisher waives all copyright to this issue. Contents may be distributed free and with- out special permission in publications that are distributed free. Wherever possible, please just published "Exorcism and the include a credit line, indicating the name of SOPHIA magazine. Church Militant” by its head, Rev. Unsolicited manuscripts, articles, and letters to the editor are welcomed. The editors assume no Thomas Euteneur, who is an exorcist. responsibility for lost manuscripts or photos. The content of all articles, past, present and future, I recommend HLI entire web site. remains the expressed personal opinion of the individual author and may not reflect, in its entire- ty, the opinion of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton. Russell S. Pond Nashua, N.H. In This Issue Sunday: Day of the Lord and the Precepts of the Church ....................3 Year End Activities ................................................................................4 HaveShare you ever with dreamed ofus! being a writer? Perhaps having Transfiguration Celebration ..................................................................6 your voice heard on the Guild Event ..........................................................................................7 printed page? Is there a Community Celebrates “Eid-El-Saydeh” ................................................8 subject that you have Annual Mahrajan ................................................................................10 wanted to express or a story that you are excited to A Prophetic Process ............................................................................12 tell? We would love to hear from you! Crossing into the “Promised Land” ....................................................13 Heartwarming Celebrations ................................................................16 Along with welcoming updates and Getting Back to Basics ........................................................................18 photos from all of our parishes, man- uscripts articles and letters to the edi- A Brief History of a Special Community ............................................19 tor from our parishioners perspective Young Christian Professionals Evening ................................................20 are needed. Axios! Axios! Axios! ............................................................................21 A Year Full of Events ..........................................................................22 Submissions will be subject to review by the editorial staff and only those approved 46th National Melkite Convention......................................................24 by the publisher will be published. Nouha Ferraye Receives Tawil Award..................................................27 MAYA Pre-Convention Retreat............................................................28 All submissions can be sent to: Reflections on Morality: An Eastern Catholic Perspective ..................30 E-mail: [email protected] Irrelevant Worship? A Response..........................................................32 Snail mail: SOPHIA Letterbox Liturgical Tradition: Submission to “The Other” ................................33 3 VFW Parkway West Roxbury, MA 02132 Priestly Rules for Today ......................................................................34 The 60 Martyrs of Gaza ......................................................................35 SOPHIA welcomes and encourages letters Archbishop’s Appeal............................................................................37 from readers. Please send them to SOPHIA Letterbox, 3 VFW Parkway, West Roxbury, ON THE COVER: A close-up of the life giving Chalice at the Divine Liturgy at the MA, 02132. Or send them via e-mail to 46th National Melkite Convention. Photo courtesy of photobymike.com. [email protected] † 2 SOPHIA • Fall 2010 From the Eparch Sunday: Day of the Lord and the From the Eparch Precepts of the Church By Archbishop Cyril S. Bustros Eparch of Newton t. Paul writes to the Romans: Christ’s life is a long journey, it lasts “The precepts of the Church are set “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in the whole life. And since it is a divine in the context of a moral life bound to SSview of God's mercy, to offer your work, it cannot be realized without and nourished by liturgical life. The bodies as living sacrifices, holy and God’s grace, which is the Holy Spirit obligatory character of these positive pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act dwelling in our hearts. laws decreed by the pastoral authori- of worship. Do not conform any longer In the beginning of the Divine ties is meant to guarantee to the faith- to the pattern of this world, but be trans- Liturgy, we ask the indwelling of the ful the very necessary minimum in the formed by the renewing of your mind. Holy Spirit in our hearts to purify us and spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the Then you will be able to test and approve save us: “Heavenly King, Consoler, the growth in Love of God and neighbor: what God's will is – his good, pleasing Spirit of Truth, present in all places and The first precept (“You shall attend and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:1-2) filling all things, the Treasury of bless- Mass on Sundays and on holy days of Christianity is not a bunch of theo- ings and the Giver of life, come, O obligation and rest from servile labor”) ries. It is a way of life, and a way of life Good One, and dwell in us, cleanse of requires the faithful to sanctify the according to God’s will revealed to us all stain, and save our souls.” commemorating of the Resurrection of through his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Sunday and feast day, the the Lord as well as the principle liturgi- It includes a transformation of life: no Church calls all her children to come cal feasts honoring the mysteries of the more according to the pattern of this to participate in the Divine Liturgy. Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Christianity is not a bunch of theories. It is a way of life, and a way of life according to God’s will revealed to us through his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. world, but according to the mind of The name of this day in Latin is saints; in the first place, by participat- Christ, who is “the Way, the Truth and “Domenica” which means: day of the ing in the Eucharistic celebration, in the Life.” (Jn. 14:6) “Dominus”, day of the Lord. Our which the Christian community is gath- Christian Life begins on the day of spiritual life cannot grow, and even ered, and by resting from those works baptism, by which the baptized starts a cannot be maintained in its holiness and activities which could impede such new life in Christ. St Paul also in the without prayer and cannot become a sanctification of these days.” same letter to the Romans describes more and more mature without reli- The other 4 precepts are also related this new life: “What shall we say, then? gious education. Sunday is this spe- in some way to the Day of the Lord, as Shall we go on sinning so that grace cial day consecrated to prayer and preparation to this holy day, or as may increase? By no means! We died religious education. We come to pray implementation of its meaning: to sin; how can we live in it any not as individuals – this we can do at “The second precept (“You shall longer? Or don't you know that all of home – but as members of one body, confess your sins at least once a year”) us who were baptized into Christ Jesus the Body of Christ. We come to be ensures preparation for the Eucharist by were baptized into his death? We were nourished by the two tables: The table the reception of the sacrament of recon- therefore buried with him through bap- of the Word of God and the table of ciliation, which continues Baptism’s tism into death in order that, just as the Eucharist, Body and Blood of our work of conversion and forgiveness. Christ was raised from the dead Lord Jesus Christ. The third precept (“You shall through the glory of the Father, we too In this perspective we can under- receive the sacrament of the Eucharist may live a new life.” (Rom. 6:1-4)
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