Dec 202015

Letter of His Beatitude Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and all the East,
of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
On the occasion of the Feast of the Nativity
25 December 2015
From Gregorios, Servant of Jesus Christ
By the mercy of Almighty God,
Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, of Alexandria and Jerusalem
To my brothers, their graces the bishops, members of the Holy Synod and our other sons and daughters in Christ Jesus, the clergy and people, called to be saints, with all those who invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their and our Lord, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:3)
To my brothers, their graces the bishops, members of the Holy Synod and our other sons and daughters in Christ Jesus, the clergy and people, called to be saints, with all those who invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their and our Lord, “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:3)
“I bring you good tidings of great joy..
“unto you is born this day ... a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)
The Nativity according to the Flesh of our Lord God and Saviour, Jesus Christ
25 December 2015
“I bring you good tidings of great joy..unto you is born this day ... a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) This verse begins the Holy Gospel, telling the good news of Jesus to people, “all people” of this world, which is God’s domain. Gospel means good news for mankind, news that is beautiful, lovely, joyful, gladsome, comforting, healing, sublime, close to everyone. Glad tidings! Gospel! Great joy! Thus begins the Gospel of our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ. Thus begins Christianity. Thus begins our holy Christian faith. This is the Feast of the Nativity. On this holy day, this year we hear anew the Christmas angel in the dark night, in the fields of Beit Sahur and Bethlehem, and in all parts of the world. We hear again the voice of the angel announcing to us all without exception, and particularly to all those receiving this letter, “I bring you glad tidings of great joy. I bring to you a Gospel, the Gospel of joy. This joy is Jesus himself, the Saviour.” Christ the Lord is Redeemer, Friend, God who loves mankind. The All-merciful is the friend of saints and is compassionate to sinners, calling all to redemption and the heavenly banquet. Today more than ever, the world needs, we need, you, our families need, our country needs, every human being who is afraid, sceptical, hungry, thirsty, displaced, sick, desperate needs joy! That is why I chose this title for the Christmas Letter in this fifth year of our Arab, especially Syrian, way of the cross. The Arab world, our churches, communities, patriarchs, archbishops, priests, deacons, monks, nuns, faithful sons and daughters of our parishes, fellow-citizens and the whole world, all need this joy heralded by the Christmas angel, “I bring you glad tidings of great joy!” This proclamation made to the shepherds also goes out through this letter to all the sons and daughters of the Greek Catholic Church, both clergy and people ... and so to all people, including all who will read this message, in order to bring to everyone’s heart new joy, the joy of the Gospel, the joy of the Lord Jesus the Saviour, the new Child, God before the ages. This is what His Holiness Pope Francis called us to in the Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, (2013), saying, “The joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.” (Evangelii Gaudium 1) The announcement of the Nativity, “I bring you glad tidings of great joy,” echoes what was mentioned in the books of the Old and New Testaments, and expected for generations: this was fulfilled by the birth of Christ.
Joy of the Gospel
After reviewing this large group of beautiful verses about joy (see Appendix), I should like to offer verses to accompany our daily life and bring joy to our hearts. This group has become our daily bread thanks to our confidence in God's love for us. In this letter, I am pleased to convey to everyone some extracts about joy from Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation entitled The Joy of the Gospel. I recommend that everyone read and reflect upon this document. Here are some extracts from it: “...An evangelizing community is filled with joy; it knows how to rejoice always. It celebrates every small victory, every step forward in the work of evangelization. Evangelization with joy becomes beauty in the liturgy... The Church evangelizes and is herself evangelized through the beauty of the liturgy, which is both a celebration of the task of evangelization and the source of her renewed self-giving.” (No. 24) The Pope emphasises the importance of joy in all aspects of life. “Evangelization as ... joyful..preaching...must be a priority.” (No. 110) “The salvation which God has wrought, and the Church joyfully proclaims, is for everyone.” (No. 113) “We will know the missionary joy of sharing life with God’s faithful people as we strive to light a fire in the heart of the world.” (271) His Holiness speaks about the source of joy and happiness, “Only the person who feels happiness in seeking the good of others, in desiring their happiness, can be a missionary. This openness of the heart is a source of joy, since `it is more blessed to give than to receive.´ (Acts 20:35) We do not live better when we flee, hide, refuse to share, stop giving and lock ourselves up in our own comforts. Such a life is nothing less than slow suicide.” (No. 272) On the same topic, His Holiness says, quoting the words of Pope Paul VI's Apostolic Exhortation entitled Proclaiming the Gospel, “Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow… And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ.” (Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 8 December 1975, 80 [No. 10 Evangelii Gaudium]) He says elsewhere: “With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, he [Christ]makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the resurrection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what will.” (No. 3) And how beautiful the statement in his speech on July 7, 2013 before the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square for peace in Syria, “Dear friends, be glad! Do not be afraid of being joyful! Don't be afraid of joy! That joy which the Lord gives us when we allow him to enter our life. Let us allow him to enter our lives and invite us to go out to the margins of life and proclaim the Gospel. Don't be afraid of joy. Have joy and courage!” Thus, when others ask the reason for our joy, let us give an account of it to them! And let us try to inspire joy, hope, optimism and a smile in others. Thus we redouble our joy by sharing it with others.Inner Joy!
This is our human force in the face of distress, pain and sorrow, sickness and hardship of all kinds. This is our strength in the face of the stifling crises that overshadow our life, oppress our spirits and lead us to despair and frustration ... and in the face of the emigration that saps our lifeblood, causing the loss of the finest forces of our society, especially its young people, doctors and thinkers and makers of history and its future! Today, more than ever, we need joy, because there are many causes of sorrow, pain and frustration ... We have to look for, and even devise possible reasons for joy, and we expect and hope for those longed for but unexpected joys! There are small things that can spark an outburst of emotion and feelings of joy and happiness ... We have to discover, and even create them! It often happens that joy springs from the moment, from the present moment, and does not come from without, or from anyone else! That joy lies within and springs from within, so it can be said to be a joy for direct, local, personal consumption... a pure, spontaneous, given joy - deep, personal, stemming from the depth of the human heart, and surpassing all joy! I should like to tell you, beloved, who read this message: The finest moments and experiences of joy in my whole life, the moments of this joy emanating from within, bursting powerfully from within... were not shared with anyone ... but often occurred in hours or moments of inner solitude, or individual, personal reflection ... often in very difficult circumstances ... when I felt surprised by a mysterious joy or shed a tear of joy, hope, faith and love! Fortunately, I still often feel such moments! ... Great joys often arise in our hearts from small joys! So, for example, we want our young children to be glad because we give them big presents and toys ... but if we do not give them our love , we fail to recognize that we may experience moments of joy with them, joy that can become our joy! I recently read a book by the German Benedictine monk named Anselm Grün. I should like to convey some reflections from it to the readers of this Christmas Letter.Be glad about your life
You do not need unusual reasons to rejoice. Be glad by yourself and with yourself. Rejoice at your life’s memories. Be reconciled to yourself. Take the decision to be happy and joyful. An American writer says, if you take a decision every day to be happy, then you are more powerful than the most powerful force in the world. Be glad that you are who you are! Do not compare yourself with others! And do not be proud, boasting of what you have. And don't be sad because you do not have things that you see others have. Be confident in your identity! It is enough that you can be proud and glad that you are God’s creature! God loves you! Repeat aloud, “God loves me!”Rejoice in nature
God created man and created a paradise! And put in it all sorts of beautiful creatures! This is not poetry, myth or fiction! But reality. It is to be regretted that we rarely really look at nature. This is what Jesus said: “For this people's ... eyes have closed, but blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” (Matthew 13:15-16) Psalm 103 LXX (104) is paying tribute to God the Creator and we recite it every day at Vespers. And through it we learn about the paradise of this universe which God created for us and for our salvation! Many saints have discovered happiness in their spiritual life and relationship with God and their fellow human beings through nature, including St. Francis of Assisi. And before him the desert fathers and hermits ... including saints of our Church, such as the Arab St. Mary of Jesus Crucified, who was in constant dialogue with the joy of nature. This year in particular Pope Francis issued his Encyclical entitled, Praise be to you, my Lord. “Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption.” (No. 222) “It is a return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack. This implies avoiding the dynamic of dominion and the mere accumulation of pleasures.” (No. 222) “Can one needs to live a little too much, especially when it is able to give more space for other pleasure grounds, and to test the satisfaction in fraternal events, service, investment and talent in music, in art, in contact with nature, and in prayer. That happiness lies in knowing the limits of certain needs that confuse us, staying so open to multiple possibilities offered by life. ” (No. 223) “Even living on little, they can live a lot, above all when they cultivate other pleasures and find satisfaction in fraternal encounters, in service, in developing their gifts, in music and art, in contact with nature, in prayer. Happiness means knowing how to limit some needs which only diminish us, and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer.” (No. 223) The Pope prays every day the prayer of St. Thomas More, “Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour...to discover in life a bit of joy and to be able to share it with others.” Pope Francis addressed the Cardinals and members of the Roman Curia just before Christmas 2014, telling them that they were suffering from certain diseases (some fifteen in all) including disease no. 12, “The disease of a lugubrious face... In fact, a show of severity and sterile pessimism are often symptoms of fear and insecurity... An apostle must make an effort to be courteous, serene, enthusiastic and joyful, a person who transmits joy everywhere he goes... A heart filled with God is a happy heart which radiates an infectious joy. How beneficial is a good dose of humour!”Communing with nature
I do not know whether we commune with nature when we pray (we monks, nuns and priests) the opening lines of this beautiful psalm 103 (104) at Vespers. And here I should like to share its beauty with all the faithful who rarely attend Vespers. The title of the Psalm is hymn to God the creator. Here are some verses from this psalm which describe nature, and we should not close our eyes to its beauties:“Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great... He sends forth his fountains among the valleys: the waters shall run between the mountains. They shall give drink to all the wild beasts of the field: the wild asses shall take of them to quench their thirst. By them shall the birds of the sky lodge: they shall utter a voice out of the midst of the rocks. He waters the mountains from his chamber: the earth shall be satisfied with the fruit of thy works. He makes grass to grow for the cattle, and green herb for the service of men, To bring bread out of the earth; and wine makes glad the heart of man... The trees of the plain shall be full of sap; even the cedars of Lebanon which he has planted. There the sparrows will build their nests; and the house of the heron takes the lead among them. The high mountains are a refuge for the stags, and the rock for the rabbits. He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knows his going down... How great are thy works, O Lord! In wisdom hast thou wrought them all... All wait upon thee, to give them their food in due season. When thou hast given it them, they will gather it; and when thou hast opened thine hand, they shall all be filled with good. I will sing to the Lord while I live; I will sing praise to my God while I exist. Let my meditation be sweet to him: and I will rejoice in the Lord.”Thus the human life of the believer and psalmist become an anthem and prayer of joy, gladness and blessedness, through his proximity to God and nature, and his fellow-man ... We need to communicate with the nature that God created for us. We need to “walk” in Paradise, with him who created it, and where he met Adam and Eve, whom he created ... When we walk in nature, we relax, not confining our thinking to our worries and pain ... but we get out of ourselves, for we are met by God in nature, and are happy and joyful at its beauty. .. it is good to go beyond our ideas, projects, problems and concerns of today ... to go into nature, where we meet God its Creator ...
Rejoice in small things
Joy awaits you in the small things of everyday life. Try to be happy with all the work you do, no matter how small. Rejoice ... as you arrange your desk ... or take a morning bath and enjoy breakfast with your family, your wife and children and friends! Be glad when reading a message from a friend, or loved one or relative ... and happily reply to the message with love, thanks, gratitude and congratulations for his or her well-being and so forth or wish them success in a project or work or other ... Rejoice with friends! And try to have fun with them ... And bring them good news or a joke or a spiritual or social idea ... Shed your ego to meet up with others or simply rejoice in bringing joy to others through the details of your everyday life.Rejoice with friends!
Be glad to recollect time spent with friends and remember the pleasant times spent with dear ones, with friends, relatives or colleagues. So you will move on from a sense of loneliness towards forgetting your worries. Contact friends! This facility is available today through social media. Call them particularly on special occasions: birthdays – anniversaries – illness – travel ... And don't wait for them to call you ... Devote ample time to meeting friends! Even without a plan, object or outline. Meet friends to experience the joy of friendship, without artifice or ulterior motive, without sin, shame or reproach in friendship, just trust, honesty, and loyalty, affection, sympathy and joy! Isn't this what Jesus meant when he said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20) And “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven!” (Matthew 18:19) Isn't this what Jesus did with his friend Lazarus, and with the Apostles after the resurrection, when he prepared fish grilled on embers? (John 21:9) ... Isn't this what Jesus said to his disciples at the Mystic (Last) Supper, “Ye are my friends…! Henceforth I call you not servants… but I have called you friends! ” (John 15:14-15) He also said, “ And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again [after the resurrection], and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” (John 16:22) Then he announced,” For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me.” (John 16:27) How beautiful is the prayer of Jesus for his disciples before his saving passion, as we see in Chapter 17 of John’s Gospel! It is a prayer of love and friendship, trust, unity, loyalty, compassion and honesty. “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. ” (John 17:13-19) “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:23-26) This is the friendship to which Jesus invites us! He invites us to faith! He is a source of joy for all of us! Jesus is the teacher of friendship and joy!Enjoy giving joy to other people
Enjoy giving joy to others! Try to discover joyful things! I recall that when we were in the process of developing the new liturgical books, we used to spend hours in hard work. We had a list of jokes and funny stories. One or other of our group often used to begin by telling a joke, just to create a comfortable atmosphere of joy and friendship. Then we would resume our work. I remember how His Grace Archbishop John Mansour used to enliven our sessions with something topical from the newspapers, with stories, anecdotes and jokes. I remember my school days at the Major Seminary of Holy Saviour, where there was always pleasant, cheerful joy among the students! The Superior General and the Presbyteral Council would come to take part in the evening study sessions of the older students and hear the jokes told by one of the brothers who was renowned for his humour, and experience the atmosphere of joy that he created among his companions. This is just a matter of human social skill. It should be on the social and moral education curriculum! We can learn sound doctrine from proverbs. Don't forget that proverb, “Don't walk about with your eyes shut!” I mean: keep in touch with love, affection, friendship and attention to others. Rejoice! And give joy to others! One of the senior Druze sheikhs told me, “A comfortable person makes things comfortable, but a complicated person complicates things!”“Man is created for joy”
That is a phrase from the famous French philosopher Pascal. Indeed, joy is a characteristic of human beings and the aim of Christian spirituality is to attain that joy, which is the essence of man. The celebrated French thinker Paul Claudel says, “Christian mission is an invitation to joy.” The French novelist Georges Bernanos wrote, “The mission of the Church is an invitation to enable the believer to discover the source of joy that was lost through human sin.” And the Gospel is good news of joy to humanity. Therefore, the call to joy is at the core of the Christian faith. That is why the Christian always radiates joy. It is most appropriate to rejoice and express your deep faith. Discover joy in your life.The road to joy and happiness
And here I am reminded of a letter from a German friend, referring to a text he had found at a barber’s in Cairo. He sent me a copy of the text which he had translated into German. This text is called, The Road to Happiness:- Keep far from your heart hatred, enmity and grudges!
- Don’t overload your thoughts with many worries!
- Live simply, don’t expect sublime things!
- Be generous! Hum and sing a lot!
- Keep going!
- Fill your life with love!
- Let your soul shine!
- Don’t think of yourself, but of others!
- Treat others as you would be done by!
God bestows joy on people
God sends an angel to announce to people joy at the birth of Jesus Christ, “I bring you glad tidings of great joy.” The Saviour is the greatest joy. People should make God joyful, by loving him, keeping his commandments, and trusting him, and gladdening their fellow human beings. The Christian faith is based on joy. Christian love is joy. A feast of love! The liturgical year is a calendar of feasts. Christian festivals are festivals of joy: the Annunciation of Jesus Christ, his Nativity, his Presentation at the Temple, his Baptism, his Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, the Entry to Jerusalem, the Mystic Supper with the disciples, and through Passion Week to Pascha, and the Divine Ascension, and the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Then there are the principal feast days of the Blessed Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary: her Conception, her Nativity, her Entry into the Temple, the Annunciation, her Birth-giving to Jesus Christ, her Purification, and finally her glorious Dormition. Not to mention the feastdays of the saints whom we commemorate daily, especially during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy: the holy angels, prophets, apostles, martyrs, Church fathers, unmercenary doctors, wonderworking bishops and the male and female martyrs, confessors and ascetics. Church history has always been a festive history! Although it is also a history of struggle, pain, agony and martyrdom. It is a way of the cross, but leading to the joys of the resurrection.Enjoy the moment
There is a saying in Latin, Carpe diem meaning, “Seize the day.” Enjoy the moment. It's your moment! It's your opportunity! It's your very own! There was a monk in Gaza named Dorotheos (that is, gift of God) who lived in the sixth century. He was an ascetic. People used to visit him or send him messages and he offered them advice according to their needs. His basic advice was usually, “Live today! seize the moment!” I understood this teaching through noticing a man sitting in front of me on the plane. He was wearing a jacket marked, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery. Today is a gift: that’s why it’s called the present!” So the past is over and done for you, and you don’t know what the future holds in store. Now: this is your time! This is your domain! In this regard, I remember a book by Brother Roger Schütz, founder of the Taizé community, entitled: Live God’s today. Enjoy the moment. Vivre l'aujourd'hui de Dieu. Savour the moment while striving for your ultimate goal! This is also the nature of daily liturgical prayers. They always refer both to the here and now, and to eternity. So we pray repeatedly every day, “For an angel of peace, a faithful guide, a guardian of our souls and our bodies, let us ask of the Lord! That this whole day may be perfect, holy, peaceful and sinless, let us ask of the Lord.” We pray, “O Lord, keep us thy people this day without sin.” This leads us to joy in our faith! This is what Jesus says to us, “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.” (John 12:36)Beloved!
Someone might say on reading this letter about the joy of the Gospel: You, Your Beatitude, are not in the real world, but in your ivory tower! You don’t see the painful reality of bitterness, wormwood and gall! And there is no sign on the horizon of any sign of joy and relief, no end to this dark tunnel, this bloody Way of the Cross which our Middle East, especially Syria, has been treading for the last five years! But I do know all that very well. I experience every day our common tragedy, and walk, as do our people, like a prisoner, with bloodied feet, carrying the daily cross! Yes, this way of the cross is long! This is a harsh Calvary and a dark tunnel! This horizon is overcast ... That is precisely why I have entitled given this title to my letter, echoing the angel’s greeting to all people, “I bring you good news of great joy!” This is what you need, in the face of the tragedies, victims and martyrs and the hundreds or rather thousands of mortars and rockets ... and the scenes of destruction, barbarity, murder, violence and torture ... Yes, what you need today, my beloved, is joy! As the poet said, “In the dark night, the full moon is wanting!” I wanted to contribute to the introduction of spiritual joy, the joy of faith, hope and love, hopefulness and confidence, optimism, happiness and contentment ... I wanted to bring these feelings to your hearts! And to the hearts of the sons and daughters of Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait and the Gulf, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Yemen ... and to the hearts of the children of our Church, pastors and believers everywhere ... and the heart of every human being ... My friends and benefactors of my patriarchal service, and to all of those who relievie people’s suffering and pain ... I want to gladden your hearts with the joy of Jesus! Let us sing joyfully at the Nativity, as the angels did on that saving night, singing the Christmas hymn with the angels, “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people...” Thus we echo the words of the angels of Beit Sahour, Bethlehem and Jerusalem and all our churches and our guardian angels and say, Brother! Sister! I bring you good tidings of great joy! God knows your name! You are the apple his eyes! God loves you! Repeat over and over again, “God loves me!” And allow happiness to enter into your heart. With the Apostle Paul, repeat, “Rejoice, and again I say, rejoice!” And Merry Christmas! In peace, security and love! May the New Year 2016 be a year of peace for Syria, the whole region and the world!With my love and apostolic blessing
+ Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
Of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
For the Melkite Greek Catholic Church
+ Gregorios III
Patriarch of Antioch and All the East
Of Alexandria and of Jerusalem
For the Melkite Greek Catholic Church