2023-09-05 10:51:32
On Sunday, the third of September, the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, presided over the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Summer Residence Church in Diman, and delivered a sermon entitled “Her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much” (Luke 7:47).
Patriarch Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi began his sermon saying that “the most important characteristic of man is that he has love in his heart. That is because he is “created in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27), and God in his essence is love. John the Apostle wrote in his first epistle: “Let us love one another.” Some, because love is from God, and whoever loves is born of God, and knows God. Because God is love” (1 John 4: 7-8). And His Beatitude added, “In this evangelical event, the power and courage of love and its influence on God’s heart became evident. That well-known sinful woman in the city was led by the love in her heart for Jesus, and the decision to repent and seek forgiveness for her sins inspired her by loving Him with deeds, not words. This love taught her that the merciful Jesus is able to forgive her many sins, and make her start life once more. She shed tears of repentance on the feet of Jesus, and dried them with her hair. I kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. By these actions, she expressed her remorse and her love for Jesus, so he said to the skeptical host Pharisee: “This woman is forgiven her many sins, because she loved much” (Luke 7:47). And to her he said: “Your faith has saved you! Go in peace!” (Luke 7:50). His Beatitude added, “Whoever loves God, acknowledges his sins and repents with regret, and God bestows His forgiveness on him, no matter how heavy his sins are, because he reads in his heart his belief in the power of forgiveness.”
In his sermon, the Patriarch Al-Rahi said, “Faith, love, and repentance. Three interconnected things that the Lord Jesus teaches in the Gospel incident. Jesus praised the sinful woman’s faith, love, and repentance, and exchanged for her the forgiveness of her sins with greater love. The woman believed in Jesus, and realized that He is able to forgive her sins and heal her, in order to start a new life.” That is why she went to him in the house of Simon the Pharisee. She prepared for repentance, and went to him with love and trust. She made a double initiative rich in meaning: she stood weeping at the feet of Jesus, and he wet them with tears. It is a sign of heartbreak and remorse. She regretted her past life and the sins that distorted her. She wept regarding her condition and her past, and she was sorry. And she decided to change the course of her life, and she wept ashamed for what she had done, and in her heart there was a spark of hope that Jesus would understand and forgive her. She feet him with her hair, kisses them and anoints them with ointment. It is a sign of her great love for Jesus, a love that transcends all things and persons. With love that is silent and expressive at the same time, she confesses her countless sins and begs for forgiveness.”
Patriarch Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi indicated in his homily that “unfortunately, especially among those who obstruct the rise of Lebanon and the election of a President for the Republic, there are many hearts that are empty of God’s love, mercy and tenderness, and of the spirit of remorse and repentance for personal sins. Society has become living in a structure of sins that No one repents for it, as if it has become sins without perpetrators.For example, they talk regarding corruption and combating corruption, and no one knows who the corruptors are.There is no way to start a new life on all private and public levels, personal and collective, without a will of faith, and a decision to change the way of thinking and behaving. Everyone, especially the political officials, need hearts to tell them what good they should do.” His Beatitude added, “The dialogue to which the nation’s deputies are called, if it takes place despite the tensions between acceptance and rejection, first requires coming to it without prejudices and the will to impose their ideas, projects, and point of view without any regard for others; Adopting the constitution and considering it the only way to follow it, and fourthly, it requires frankness, acknowledgment of personal mistakes, and the search for the objective truth that liberates and unites.
At the end of his sermon, presiding over the Sunday mass in the church of the Patriarchal Summer Residence in Diman, Patriarch Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi said, “To God’s providence and the lights of His Holy Spirit, we entrust the march of our homeland and our people, hoping to reach the port of safety, by the grace of the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to Him be glory and thanksgiving.” Now and forever, Amen.”
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