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Feast Days of Maronite Saints

St Maron

Feast Day – 9th February

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St Rafqa

Feast Day – 23rd March

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Blessed Massabki Brothers

Feast Day – 10th July

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St Charbel

Feast Day – 5th September

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St Nimatullah

Feast Day – 14th December

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Mary, Mother of the Lord, David’s daughter, full of grace, left this world of sin and pain for the joys of paradise, and hosts of the cherubim and seraphim sang their praise to God. Her assumption is revered in the heavens and on earth, for God’s Son was born from her pure and holy womb. #MaroniteLiturgy #Maronite In Luke 1:30-33 we hear… “The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” The announcement by the angel fulfilled a prophecy revealed in the book of Isaiah. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) This icon can be found in almost any Maronite Church. Our Lady of Elige is uniquely Syriac inspired Maronite art. The icon is more than 1000 years old, and was the Maronite Patriarchs personal icon. The icon has travelled with generations of Patriarch’s, travelling wherever Maronites moved to flee persecution. The icon is given its name following its discovery in the Church of Our Lady of Elige which is located in the village of Mayfouq in the district of Jbeil. From the 12th to the mid- 15th century the Church was the refuge, shelter and home of our Maronite Patriarchs. The icon has had extensive restoration work done in the 1980’s. The Carmelite nuns assigned to the restoration, discovered layer after layer of paint over the original icon. It is one of our oldest preserved icons. Many of our early icons were destroyed over the centuries due to wars, persecutions and the destruction of Churches. The icon depicts the Virgin Mother with Christ on her lap. The painting continues the Syriac artistic tradition initiated by the Rabulla manuscripts of the sixth Century. The blue of Mary’s robe signifies divinity, and purple of the child Jesus robe signifies royalty. The halos of both figures are a simple wide band if gold typical of Syriac iconography and free of Byzantine influence. A cross is contained in Christ’s halo and lettering for the “Mother of God” in Our Lady’s. The profession of faith made by the symbolic form of blessing of Jesus’ right hand, that is three fingers joined (to signify the three Persons in one God), and the index and other finger (signify that Christ is God and man). Our Lady’s right hand also declares Christ divine and human. As is typical in Syriac icons, the Virgin Mother’s hair is completely concealed and covered by the headband worn in the Semitic culture. The two star-like symbols on Mary’s head and shoulder represent her enduring virginity before and after Christ’s birth. The facial features of both figures are in the Syriac style and reveal the delicate, gentle and transparent divine presence. Our Lady of Elige – Pray for Us Today let us reflect on Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth. Mary had just received news from the Angel Gabriel that she was to have a child. On arriving in the city of Judah, Elizabeth greets her cousin with joy and immediately knows Mary is pregnant and that the child she carries, is the one who has come to be sacrificed for the world. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. Her child (John the Baptist) leaps in her womb and Elizabeth cries out: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Luke 1:42-45 The Holy Spirit has filled Elizabeth and her unborn baby and John is baptised in the womb and will have his own mission to be the forerunner of Christ. St Ephrem writes: The Word of the Father came from His womb. and put on a body in another womb; the Word proceeded from one womb to another- and chaste wombs are now filled with the Word; blessed is He who has resided in us Through the Mystery of the Eucharist we are privileged to receive Jesus, He resides in us just as he did in Mary’s womb. If you have not been to Mass in a while, go and allow the Lord to reside in you. Remember that you can encounter Christ everyday through prayer and through the mystery of the Eucharist. Allow him to visit you and allow yourself to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Maronites have a deep devotion to Our Lady. In homes and in villages you will see icons and grottos dedicated to Our Lady. Villages often have a secondary Church dedicated to her. One such example is in the village of Hadchit where one of the Churches is dedicated to ‘Saydet el Sheef’ or Our Lady of the cliff. It is believed that Our Lady carried a rock off the side of the cliff and it transformed into a child (perhaps an alluding to the virgin conception). As we prepare for this feast of her Glorious Assumption we have a special intention. We ask her intercede for all those people who are living life on the edge. Those suffering with their mental health, those who are living with addictions, those in prison, those who are the victims of physical and sexual abuse, those who are lonely, those who are grieving, those who are homeless and those who are poor. May she be their refuge and their hope. Amen Many countries claim their own Marian shrines such as Fatima, Medugorje or Our Lady of Lourdes. For Maronites many flock to the Maronite shrine of Saydet Beshwat, deep in the scenic village in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon. The original Church was built in 1741 after a Byzantine wooden icon of the Virgin Mary was discovered in one of the deep caves below the current site. In 1880, after a request from the villagers, a Jesuit priest organised for a copy of the statue of Our Lady of Pontmain to be erected in the Church. Pontmain in France is also the site of a Marian shrine where it is reported there was an apparition of Our Lady to some children in 1870 during the Franco-German war. Our Lady of Beshwat wears a gold crown and a blue star-spangled robe. She carries a crucifix and a rosary in her hand. Pilgrims, both Christian and Muslims flock to the site seeking the intercession of Our Lady of Beshwat and for that reason a new larger church has been built next to the old one. Many people claim that they have experienced miracles in their lives because of her intercession. One such experience was reported by an expatriate, Tony Sukkar who suffered from a disease which paralysed his upper body. He visited the site and sought the intercession of Saydet Beshwat and was healed. He subsequently constructed a statue of the Virgin Mary in his nearby home town of Deir el Ahmar in her honour. Saydet Beshwat intercede for us

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