January 2013

The Orthodox are now under attack because a group of them presented a political project dealing with the electoral legislation system. It is necessary here to make clear that the Orthodox who see themselves only of the Church refuse to be given another attribute since they do not recognize themselves as a united political grouping from which issues a certain party opinion. Had they generally agreed on a political position, they would have formed a sect in the Lebanese fabric something which they, in principle, disapprove of. But if the Country, in its constitution, speaks of them as a political grouping, then that is only few words said of them and not an opinion of the Orthodox people. So the Church does not call them to a binding position they have to take concerning the affairs of this world. And their Church does not get into dialogue concerning a political matter; and previously She has taken certain patriotic stands with patriotic dialectics. There is what is called the “Holy Synod” in the Orthodox people and that is the group of Bishops of Syria, Lebanon and Iraq who have taken in recent years certain positions concerning the Arab Region namely the occupied territories of Palestine; and in that the Synod disapproved of Israel. And they have taken other positions that are linked to Syria or Lebanon and we find no reference in them to the Orthodox alone. None of them made a claim concerning the Church’s position on any matter since none of them are commissioned to do so; and because we, the Orthodox, disapprove of having a unity among the Orthodox people in the field of politics since we work for the unity of the Lebanese people; the unity among the Orhtodox come is in their prayers and service to people. But if some of them get together due to some closeness of thought among them in serving the country, then who would owe them anything or has a thing against them? Do not people everywhere do that? So why this campaign against them as if the rest of the Lebanese are quiet concerning their rights and interests and the continuity of their positions and privileges in the nation; as if they are like angels who have attained to a civil or secular vision for the country. The Orthodox are accused of religious fanaticism as if the rest are exempt from that. “He among you who is without sin, let him throw the first stone.” I do not know of a religious group that does not seek to keep what it has gained in what is called the “common life” of this country.

Do you not see that behind many positions, voiced in nationalistic terms and language, claims of self-interest of this religious group or the other? And here I think that no one is qualified to give lessons of nationalistic devotion and purity to any of the others. And I do not find one religious group which is ready to sacrifice on the altar of the nation what it has gained of privileges. And if you feel that some of the Orthodox have caught a little the virus of sectarianism, that is because this pollutant is already disseminated in the country.

In that, religious minorities cannot determine the end of national debates since the majority alone is effective there.

I can understand that one of the majority might be patriotic and civilized enough in being ready not to dominate, but it is clear that the minorities offer spiritual principles and attitudes to the others in the country and yet make no changes in the political status.

Not one person of those who follow on the affairs of this country can be convinced that one religious denomination has gone ahead of the others in calling for establishing a country on non-sectarian basis. I do not believe that those who throw blames on others calling them sectarian do so because they and their group have “dwelled already in the paradise of secularism”.

People used to write against sectarianism and recently they added the term “denominational” due to what they consider of disagreement between the Sunnis on one side and the Shiites on the other; and now the term is being used anew in “stoning” the Orthodox with it as if the rest of the Christians are far from the love of this world and its glories. The fanaticism which is at work in this country requires large numbers of people in one denomination for it to be effective. How can the Orthodox who do not exceed three hundred fifty thousand in a country of four million, threaten the peace and unity of that country?

Nowadays we find much mentioned about the Orthodox be it praise or disparagement or both; their friends and their rivals, see them as a group that is politicized in one direction; but that is not true. They are not the best “nation” given to people since among them are those who do what is good and those who do what is bad; but they are a distinct group that has no “dreams” of ruling the country even though they live in it; and they desire what is good to all people since they feel they are at their service. And their religious beliefs do not keep them from serving with what they have been given of gifts.

Perhaps one does not look down at Her (the Orthodox Church) due to its littleness, and perhaps you get attracted to Her in what She has inherited of richness of history and of beautiful religious services which, if one wants, can be his way to the Lord. But that Beauty and Truth, She has received from the Lord. She is proud of that though She does not brag because She is responsible for what has come down to Her; and when She ignores what She has received, She worships Herself and becomes lost.

It is right for the one who has this great beauty of Byzantine worship to feel that he is “abducted” to the Heavens where he can realize that he has not reached the throne (of God) yet, but he can see it from far.

Such a person does not consider untrue what others see. I have no doubt that all people have inherited much of the “light” whether they have been faithful to it or not; and we go to them with the hope that is in us. No one can be saved unless he sees things that way and receives from them what he can. If the Orthodox get bound to their “flesh” and their world, they are nothing. But if they consider that they are rooted in their heritage and they come from that heritage, then they can become kings; and as such they become of God. He who practices the Orthodox way of worship can understand what Jeremiah says: “The breath of our mouth is the Christ of the Lord.” The Orthodox becomes “something” when he does not distinguish between his mouth and that of God; that is if he through devotion to God becomes able to utter the words of the Gospel after he has plunged himself in it.

He knows that the glory of the world passes quickly. He makes fun of those who seek to divide the glory of the world among themselves. Those stay in the world and do not become holy. But those who have inherited the Kingdom, live in this present time as a preparation to be “kidnapped” to the time in which Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead.

As such the Orthodox have no issues with anyone and themselves are not the issue.

Translated by Riad Moufarrij

Original Text: “الأرثوذكس في الميزان” – An Nahar – 26-01-2013

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The Maronite Church and the Orthodox Church see the election of their Beatitudes, Patriarch Bshara al Ra’i and Patriarch Yuhanna X as leaders of the two Churches a great blessing that has come down on them from Heaven. And that is reflected splendidly in how the two Patriarchs deal with each other with a high degree of cogent love and brotherliness. The two Churches look towards that broad spiritual prospect, especially that they have realized that their greatest concern with the other Churches is to foster the knowledge of the Gospel and to “till” together the Lord’s field. And the Churches in the East look forward for this unified witness after having realized that the time now is for enkindling the “Divine gift” which they have inherited together from the one and only Beloved (Jesus).

Each of us, wherever he is, has become a servant to the One sheepfold of Christ in that the One Shepherd has made him see all the Christian people as one sheepfold of One Lord. And, like never before, we have come to the understanding that we are one in the service of the mystery of Salvation, despite the different forms of ministry and its different terminologies. And there is no more any feeling of rivalry or uppity left in one group towards the other because the times have become bad and we have already been poured out as a drink offering to become a living sacrifice to the Lord.

Theologians have given great importance to the rising consciousness among Christians that they all make one people for the Lord on whom the same holiness comes down through the Word and the Offerings. And that consciousness of the believers is an accord or general agreement in Christ making the two Churches one.

The division among the churches is not a theological reality; it is the reality of sin in the history of the churches; and that cannot be relied on, but what is trustworthy is the unity which Christ builds. Division is a fruit of sin and it has no place with the Savior except in the tears that flow from His eyes. And from those tears we all do come and not from the division; until the Lord removes all traces of the separation.

When the Patriarch is a theologian, as the case is now in the Maronite and the Orthodox Churches, the quality of the relationship between them is elevated in the hope that all the believers would be elevated to the level of the Divine vision so we do not remain in the commonplace parochial relationships but we live up to a great theological understanding and to the establishing of those relationships based on the depth of that understanding. So the question is no more how to live together in one ecclesial society, but it is how to grow in a unified theological mindset and divine education so that we conduct ourselves as if we have started to build together the One Church in the sanctity of righteousness.

How do we break through the historical hurdles and the legal systems while the one vision of the future Church is being revealed to us? The above mentioned vision discloses to us how to practically handle our joint life together and answers questions like: What is the level to which we need to raise ourselves? What is it that we need to knock down so that we can see our desired unity?

There is something special in the work and dealing between the Orthodox and the Maronite Church; not to make their togetherness exclusive of others but due to a profound sense of closeness which could be due to the fact that those two Churches did not experience alienation being together in one geographical spot. Perhaps one can attribute that to the fact that none of them tried to devour the other and to steal the “sheep” of the other since each Church considers that the Lord is present in each of them with the same power. Since the emergence of the ecumenical movement and the rapprochement between the spiritual authorities of both churches, the believers belonging to a Maronite parish and the believers belonging to an Orthodox parish in the same locality, are no more conscious of the presence of division between them; and the parishioners of each start to truly feel they are truly one with those of the other in the communion of the essentials of the faith; and that no real trace of “stealing the sheep” from the other parish is left.

Nowadays, the Christians of this country (Lebanon) live together with a consciousness of unity which exists though it does not have a legal systematic expression. You accept deep inside you – with an understanding be it deep or shallow – that the other Christian is your brother and that you will not wound him. And that is due to the fact that you have started to love him since thirty or forty years and have become conscious that God is blessed with that attitude of yours.

That could be due to the fact that one party among the people no more wants dispute and discord. The reason behind that could be that the difficulties that rise due to the division have become harmful to each other and we find that harm needless. In this overall ambiance of rapprochement among the people, the consciousness of unity among them has increased.

How do we cross with that from the simplest level of parochial togetherness among us to the level of high theology? I cannot feel my unity with the Catholic person if I do not put before him my questions concerning several issues related to his intellectual and practical practices. I am not able to love the Catholic truly and greatly if I do not put before him questions concerning some of his religious literature and his pastoral life. The relations among Churches are void of common courtesy. They are based on theology; that is on the great meeting together in Christ Jesus. I think that the weakness of the Churches, or of some of them, is due to the mentality of the people of the East who live together, with their intellectual adversaries and with their friends alike, on the basis of courtesy and shallow rapprochement in all the scopes and domains of their life together.

When we have two Patriarchs who are worthy of all appreciation and love, we can kindly ask of them for the commencing of theological discussions. This of course requires a serious preamble for the study; but if that does not start we would be the prisoners of confessional courtesy and not the brotherly meeting which is great in its conscientiousness and great in its knowledge.

Perhaps our time now is one of togetherness based on brotherly candid discussion. Whoever has known his Beatitude the Maronite Patriarch and his Beatitude the Orthodox Patriarch, and has given them the merit they deserve, cannot but speak of the “breath” (of the Holy Spirit) that descends upon each of them and as such declares that “This is a time during which work is done for the Lord”.

The theological vision is now attainable in the two Churches after they have been drawn with Divine love; and after Divine love comes thought and teaching; and that is what the Apostle calls “the mind of Christ”. And since that mind is alive in the two Churches and in their Heads, it is certain that one of them would call his brother with the call of love so that they meet in the heart of the Lord. And when the Lord inclines Himself towards them and settles on them, then every meeting among them is blessed.

The meeting of the Maronites and the Orthodox is not accomplished by people of this world; but by Christ. And we, together, come from the One who saves and builds hearts with His love.

Translated by Riad Moufarrij

Original Text: “الموارنة والأرثوذكس في حضرة الرب” – An Nahar – 19.01.2013

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When the angel greeted Mary saying: “Rejoice you who are full of grace” he meant that what dwells in her is merely grace; or that her existence is only in the presence of God since no one or nothing can exist if He does not “touch” it. If all what is in you is not a reflection of Him then it is all for nothing. So if we admit that the Lord is in everything, we mean to say that He puts all things under His Lordship and apart from that nothingness is your portion.

The giving of ourselves to God cancels our closed in self-fullness, and so our life becomes as such a march with our face looking God-ward after it used to be only His “journey” towards us, that is only He looking Man-ward. In His union with us, He does not cancel our self, so “humanity” remains in us in full, but that humanity becomes full of Divinity. Of course the self becomes divinized as Islam says or deified as Christianity says especially in Eastern Christianity. The humanity of the person with its created aspect is not cancelled, but you inherit in your created humanity, while still in this world, the Divine Glory that is uncreated since the Beginning.

The insistence on the “I” and its individualism in the history of world civilizations ranging from the sciences to philosophy gave the signal for the emergence of the Humanities in the West; for instance, the nude body in graphic art put an end to the symbolic nature of painting and drawing and hindered Man from knowing himself as a creature in the image and likeness of God. Man started to “worship” his body and get mesmerized with a kind of beauty leaving aside the knowledge of himself as an heir of the Lord. And he got to cancel the face in the human body while in iconography the face represents the “presence” of God.

Contrary to the grace in that view of things is the fall of “braggadocio” and show off; that imprisons Man in his earthliness which in its nature does not “face Upwards”. Show off is an open statement of the triviality of our humanity starting with the pretentiousness there is in the beauty of the body. That means nothing when it is not a recognition of the beauty of God and His splendor shining on us. That is the difference between the Icon and the painting. The Icon speaks of the Lord and the painting speaks of the human body or of human nature without pointing to what is “above” them.

In the West, that was at the core of the Renaissance that was determined to sever the relationship between Nature and its creator. In fact, historically, European art has brought in atheism since the sixteenth century. Man did not “utter” atheism verbally first, but through art; and after that through words and ideas.

Yet, in the first place, life is not philosophical precepts but attitude and conduct. Thinking of things in depth, one wonders what the bragging of a pretty woman of her beauty really means. in the last analysis, seduction by a woman is a summoning for others to adore her namely to adore her body. Braggadocio can mean nothing except the seeking of adoration, or worship in other words, which is actually blasphemy since it is basically impossible to worship two things simultaneously.

Money is more dangerous to worship than the flesh since the Lord says that it is “a worship of idols” in Colossians 3: 5. The Lord has made you make it (money) so that you can distribute it as the Scriptures say “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor” (Palms 112: 9). Beauty and money are two possessions which when you make them “reign” in your life, you become a person whose freedom has been usurped from him. Each of the passions we have is a distraction from the “the grace that saves all people” (from Titus 2: 11).

The believer who has beautiful features does not give heed to praise; he might not be aware of the gift of creation or might not think about it and accepts its dissolution when the time comes. He does not approach it as possessed only by him or by others. His “possession” is only that which comes down on him from above. Perhaps intelligence is the most “seductive” gift since it is splendor par excellence since it is linked to something greater and since the “divine mind” which is the mind of Christ, is reflected in it. Every smart person, regardless of his religion, is essentially close to God whether his faith is great or little. God manifests Himself in him in a splendid way and perhaps without his knowledge. And when compared with richness in beauty and money, intelligence reveals God as no other gift does. And in contrast with money and beauty, intelligence does not remain in custody of its owner since in its nature it spreads and is given to others.

Does that mean that a person does not know his qualities or even his spiritual virtues? He who renounces his money understands that but the ascetic, if he is a true believer, does not attribute goodness to himself and acknowledges only the gift that is Divine. In the same way, it is hard for a pretty woman to attribute her beauty to God; but He is able to put such faith in her and then she would have obtained a good sum of holiness.

What is loftier than that is for the very cultured person to consider himself nothing and to say: “I am nothing. All what my mind has is partly a training, but sense is poured in me from above and I will not dissipate it so that wisdom obtains; and blessed is he who can depart from what he has known in me of wisdom to Him who has all knowledge.

“And at the end, Christ will submit all the Kingdom to God the Father who has submitted all things to Christ.” After this God will be all things and in all things (from 1Corinthians 15: 24-28). All the gifts that we are given are from Christ and the gifts essentially come from Him. And we are nothing if we do not admit and acknowledge that. But if we believe that God is all things and in all things, then we also understand that He is in our beauty no matter what its nature is; we also will realize that we have torn asunder the veil that is made of money and beauty and intelligence in order to behold the Word that is from the Beginning.

Translated by Riad Moufarrij

Original Text: “التباهي” – An Nahar – 12.01.2013

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When the angel greeted Mary saying: “Rejoice you who are full of grace” he meant that what dwells in her is merely grace; or that her existence is only in the presence of God since no one or nothing can exist if He does not “touch” it. If all what is in you is not a reflection of Him then it is all for nothing. So if we admit that the Lord is in everything, we mean to say that He puts all things under His Lordship and apart from that nothingness is your portion.

The giving of ourselves to God cancels our closed in self-fullness, and so our life becomes as such a march with our face looking God-ward after it used to be only His “journey” towards us, that is only He looking Man-ward. In His union with us, He does not cancel our self, so “humanity” remains in us in full, but that humanity becomes full of Divinity. Of course the self becomes divinized as Islam says or deified as Christianity says especially in Eastern Christianity. The humanity of the person with its created aspect is not cancelled, but you inherit in your created humanity, while still in this world, the Divine Glory that is uncreated since the Beginning.

The insistence on the “I” and its individualism in the history of world civilizations ranging from the sciences to philosophy gave the signal for the emergence of the Humanities in the West; for instance, the nude body in graphic art put an end to the symbolic nature of painting and drawing and hindered Man from knowing himself as a creature in the image and likeness of God. Man started to “worship” his body and get mesmerized with a kind of beauty leaving aside the knowledge of himself as an heir of the Lord. And he got to cancel the face in the human body while in iconography the face represents the “presence” of God.

Contrary to the grace in that view of things is the fall of “braggadocio” and show off; that imprisons Man in his earthliness which in its nature does not “face Upwards”. Show off is an open statement of the triviality of our humanity starting with the pretentiousness there is in the beauty of the body. That means nothing when it is not a recognition of the beauty of God and His splendor shining on us. That is the difference between the Icon and the painting. The Icon speaks of the Lord and the painting speaks of the human body or of human nature without pointing to what is “above” them.

In the West, that was at the core of the Renaissance that was determined to sever the relationship between Nature and its creator. In fact, historically, European art has brought in atheism since the sixteenth century. Man did not “utter” atheism verbally first, but through art; and after that through words and ideas.

Yet, in the first place, life is not philosophical precepts but attitude and conduct. Thinking of things in depth, one wonders what the bragging of a pretty woman of her beauty really means. in the last analysis, seduction by a woman is a summoning for others to adore her namely to adore her body. Braggadocio can mean nothing except the seeking of adoration, or worship in other words, which is actually blasphemy since it is basically impossible to worship two things simultaneously.

Money is more dangerous to worship than the flesh since the Lord says that it is “a worship of idols” in Colossians 3: 5. The Lord has made you make it (money) so that you can distribute it as the Scriptures say “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor” (Palms 112: 9). Beauty and money are two possessions which when you make them “reign” in your life, you become a person whose freedom has been usurped from him. Each of the passions we have is a distraction from the “the grace that saves all people” (from Titus 2: 11).

The believer who has beautiful features does not give heed to praise; he might not be aware of the gift of creation or might not think about it and accepts its dissolution when the time comes. He does not approach it as possessed only by him or by others. His “possession” is only that which comes down on him from above. Perhaps intelligence is the most “seductive” gift since it is splendor par excellence since it is linked to something greater and since the “divine mind” which is the mind of Christ, is reflected in it. Every smart person, regardless of his religion, is essentially close to God whether his faith is great or little. God manifests Himself in him in a splendid way and perhaps without his knowledge. And when compared with richness in beauty and money, intelligence reveals God as no other gift does. And in contrast with money and beauty, intelligence does not remain in custody of its owner since in its nature it spreads and is given to others.

Does that mean that a person does not know his qualities or even his spiritual virtues? He who renounces his money understands that but the ascetic, if he is a true believer, does not attribute goodness to himself and acknowledges only the gift that is Divine. In the same way, it is hard for a pretty woman to attribute her beauty to God; but He is able to put such faith in her and then she would have obtained a good sum of holiness.

What is loftier than that is for the very cultured person to consider himself nothing and to say: “I am nothing. All what my mind has is partly a training, but sense is poured in me from above and I will not dissipate it so that wisdom obtains; and blessed is he who can depart from what he has known in me of wisdom to Him who has all knowledge.

“And at the end, Christ will submit all the Kingdom to God the Father who has submitted all things to Christ.” After this God will be all things and in all things (from 1Corinthians 15: 24-28). All the gifts that we are given are from Christ and the gifts essentially come from Him. And we are nothing if we do not admit and acknowledge that. But if we believe that God is all things and in all things, then we also understand that He is in our beauty no matter what its nature is; we also will realize that we have torn asunder the veil that is made of money and beauty and intelligence in order to behold the Word that is from the Beginning.

Translated by Riad Moufarrij

Original Text: “التباهي” – An Nahar – 12.01.2013

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In the Gospel of Matthew it says “Blessed are the poor in spirit”; and according to our Fathers, that means the humble. And the scholars agree that this verse is a palliative rendering of the rather harsh verse in Luke 6: 20 “Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” And they say that what Matthew says is the original version that the Lord has uttered. Regardless of the interpretation, it is clear that the needy have a special place with Jesus of Nazareth since He says that the Good News will be preached to them in Matthew 11:5. As if the writer of those words wanted to say that the Gospel is for them, or that they are the ones who accept it since they are the ones who seek the Kingdom of Heaven. It is as if he also says that the rich have their possessions which they consider their “place of rest”. As such, money is the focus of their sentiments and they rely on it. So we find in the story of Lazarus and the rich man that the rich man is almost a synonym for luxury and pleasure and ease which sort of “contain” the rich man.

But what is poorness? Is not it having a low income status in a certain community? But what is the weak? There is a relatively new term being used and it is “at the threshold of poverty” whereby the person has an income that just barely keeps him from dying of hunger or makes him unable to support his family with the necessities like food, clothing, shelter and education.

That condition makes one belong to a social grouping that is looked down upon by those who are proud making them a marginal group and not one that participates with them in production and in the active political life. And as such, in their eyes, the world is classified into two classes, the rich and the poor.

Then Karl Marx comes with what he considered to be the balance of justice calling to abolish the social classes at a time the European continent has become a group of people in which one finds an outrageous distinction between social classes. He did not wish that people would have social and economical sameness, but he desired that there would be a reasonable mutual existence void of humiliation due to the outrageous difference in the standards of living.

It does not seem that Marxism was successfully realized with Lenin. And after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it is clear that there is no “romantic sense for communism” among the millions that benefited from it whether they are of the proletariat or the highly cultured among them. But the longing for a reasonable justice is still in the heart of many.

It is clear to those interested that Christianity is not based on an economical system and does not call for one. Jesus did not place Himself in the framework of a social organization as communism did in its denunciation of individual property in production and trade and its rejection of social inequality. Christianity is a call for the sake of the needy and the poor or one may say that in Christianity there is such a call. But Christianity is neither a system that is realized through a revolution nor a non-revolutionary social system like we have in the Scandinavian countries.

The obsession with a revolution or a coup is foreign to Christianity which is a call. That is what Jesus of Nazareth, who never wanted to coerce anyone or to impose a system by force even by just calling for it, desired. That is what makes us understand that Apostolic Christianity did not associate itself with the state or separate itself from it. At its primordial appearance, Christainity had its followers as Romans and it never sought to establish itself as a state outside that of the Roman Empire because the Man from Nazareth was content to reveal that His reign is that of the Kingdom of God and that it is in people’s hearts.

He did conquer countries neither by force nor by peace. During His days that was the business of the Roman Empire. And after His death, during the times of the Church, the spread of His Kingdom was, in principle, not associated with politics. He wanted to work through His Spirit and His Gospel; and the kingdoms of this world are left to the different approaches of the different periods of time. And we who follow Him are not of that system though we are in the world; Christ is King in people’s hearts.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not present the rich as being without a heart but it teaches that wealth is a danger on Man. The Nazarene warns of the spiritual dangers whatever they are, of enslaving yourself to any creature or man-made thing; and thus He says “you cannot worship both God and money” (Matthew 6: 24). We have the worship of the only and unique God. And as a worshipper God considers you not a slave but His son. But according to the understanding of one of our great theologians, you make yourself God’s slave through love.

If you become through love a slave to God, you cannot make for yourself another lord.

No doubt that money and all your possessions capture you strongly. If this is so, then you are not left free to worship God. You have to surrender yourself to Him alone. That is the condition of love; as such there is no love other than God. So we see that there is no place for money in one’s heart and there is no enslavement to any human being. To love others like the Nazarene said “love your neighbor as yourself” is not an enslavement but it is giving till the end that is till death. That is in conflict with the love of money and possessions.

Are the rich a group of people whom Christ denounced? In fact Jesus spoke about those rich who are in love with their money and are attached to it not considering the presence of those who are poor and severing themselves from them. The concern of Jesus of Nazareth is that we be socially one with all people without being separated by social standards and as such we see ourselves as people who are entrusted with what belongs to God (our money and possessions).

Our money is not ours. We manage it for our own benefit and the benefit of others. Christianity does not have rulings concerning the possession of money or giving it away. It says to every human being that the other human being is your brother and so treat him as a brother.

So if you behave accordingly there remains no separation between you and the other; and you would not run your life with pomp and affluence but with compassion not allowing your neighbor to get close to death due to hunger or due to any other need because your neighbor is of your flesh and of your bones. So what has come to you through an inheritance or what you have earned through work would be spent by those who are in need of it and you look after their need and serve them as if they are Christ.

Christianity dictates on you to give those around you a portion of your wealth. Christianity makes your heart feel that you have nothing on this earth. And with that you get to a point where you stop believing in keeping things as private belongings but as things to share with others (communion).

Communion means that you do not consider the “I” alone but you say “you” and “I”; in fact you say “we”. Translating that to our living reality means to love the community which you are part of and is part of you.

Some differences will remain. “The poor are with you always but I am not with you always”. Saying that to Judas, Jesus does not mean to say that He accepts that others should be in need. He wants us to bring justice into the society we are part of and above justice love. Jesus was not metaphysical that is putting off what is good. “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Love is the Kingdom of God.

Translated by Riad Moufarrij

Original Text: “الفقراء” – An Nahar – 05.01.2013

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