Office Ordo 2023-2024. Cir. no. 23.58
Cir.23.58
Dear Brother Priests, Deacons and Subdeacons, Consecrated Men and Women.
Attached and below please find a message from Father Albert Constantine, Chancellor for the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon. We are grateful to Fr Michael Shami for his work on the Ordo of the Divine Office.
+ Gregory
Begin forwarded message:
From: Albert Constantine
Date: October 27, 2023 at 6:48:13 PM EDT
Subject: Office Ordo
Dear Monsignors and Fathers,
I pray you are all well.
With gratitude to Father Michael Shami, Director of the Office of Liturgy, please find attached the Office Ordo for the remainder of 2023 and 2024.
If you need more information, please let me know.
Thank you for all you do.
Sincerely,
Fr. Albert Constantine
Chancellor
Day of Prayer and Fasting, Cir. 23.53
Circular #23.53
Dear Brother Priests, Deacons and Subdeacons, Consecrated Men and Women, Lay Faithful,
Please join me in a day of prayer and fasting for the good people in harm’s way in the Middle East.
Please forward the attached letter on your social media platforms, and may Our Lady of Peace intercede for us.
+ Gregory
We join Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and all the Ordinaries of the Holy Land in calling for a day of fasting, abstinence, and prayer on October 17th. Read Cardinal Pizzaballa's statement at: ow.ly/GJaM50PW4Ea pic.twitter.com/a1rR08w795
The Man of God is a Man for Others Cir.23.50
In recent years there has been a great deal of profound reflection on the spirituality of women, but less on the vocation and mission of men. Coupled with some worrisome trends in our culture to undermine masculinity under the guise of remedying past chauvinism or over-reliance on patriarchal structures, not to mention the absence of dads in far too many homes in our country and the need for inspiring male role models, many young men are growing up without effective guidance about how to be live out their male identity.
Caritas Lebanon Telethon Event on October 22, 2023
Lebanon has been suffering through economic hardships, government instability, and social unrest which has left many people having a hard time obtaining the most basic needs. Throughout these hard times, Caritas Lebanon has been at the forefront and worked diligently to provide those in need with critical assistance and support.
In order to raise awareness and continue their much-needed work, Caritas Lebanon will hold a fundraising Telethon Event on Sunday, October 22, 2023 from 10 AM to 11 PM Lebanese Time on MTV Lebanon.
Eparchial Desk Calendar 2024
Attached you will find our 2024 Eparchial liturgical desk calendar. The Sunday and Holy Day observances, as well as the commemoration of Feast Days of the Saints, are faithfully taken from the official 2024 Maronite liturgical calendar prepared each year by the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission in Lebanon which we received last week. We have included the Old Testament readings as presented by Bkerke.
Saint Sharbel Spiritual Life Center
The Maronite Church claims as one of her most beloved and well-known saints, and whom Pope Paul VI pointed to as a model for personal renewal, Saint Sharbel Makhlouf, a hermit priest and intercessor. The Eparchy of Saint Maron, comprised of 46 parishes and missions, a Seminary, Convent, and Monastery, would be even more well equipped for its God given mission if we had a Spiritual Life Center to help form our interior lives according to the great longing for holiness that Saint Sharbel exemplified. We now have that possibility in the sale of the Epiphany Center in Pittsburgh, adjacent to our parish, Our Lady of Victory.
Cardinal Beshara Boutros Rai's Tenth Encyclical -- The Blessed Martyrs: Brothers Massabki
2023 Annual Lenten Appeal for the Eparchy of Saint Maron.
The world needs our help! Please support this year’s Annual Lenten Appeal for the Eparchy of Saint Maron. There are so many challenges here and around the world (especially in Lebanon). This Lent we can offer our prayers, fasting and almsgiving for those suffering more than us. The Eparchy can be a part of your Lenten sacrifice, as we rely upon your generosity to serve the faithful throughout the Eparchy and in the Middle East.
Updated Eparchial MYO Handbook (version 2.0)
Protocol # 052-1-23, Circular #23.10
Dear Brother Priests, Deacons and Subdeacons, Consecrated Men and Women, Catechists, and Lay Faithful,
Please find attached the updated MYO Eparchial Handbook. Please use this as an excellent compilation of best practices and solid guidelines for our parishes and eparchial MYO.
I am grateful for Fr. Boutros El Hachem, Director, Deacon Christian Hbaiter, Assistant Director, and Sister Therese Maria, Past Director, as well as for the Team they have assembled and the MYO Advisors who have worked so hard to put this Handbook together. With gratitude, I remain,
+ Gregory
Circ # 23.01 re: Passing of Monsignor Paul Mouawad in Lebanon
Circular # 22.94: Passing of Father Len Basinow
GivingTuesday — A Global Generosity Movement
Thanksgiving Day, we gather together as a family to give thanks to the Lord.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday we focus on the needs and wants for ourselves as well as our families and friends.
This Giving Tuesday, join us in giving to help fellow Maronites of the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn and throughout the world.
Circ# 22.80: 2022-2023 Ordo
Eparchial Desk Calendar 2023
Eucharistic Amazement
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The United States Bishops have invited us to reflect, over the next three years, on the great Mystery of the Eucharist. Thus, I would ask all our parishes, missions and institutions to enter even more fully into the joy and spirit of this time and to deepen our amazement, love and devotion to our Eucharistic Lord.
Lebanon Today
Joint letter of Solidarity with the Patriarch and all brothers and sisters suffering in Lebanon
Circular letter on National Eucharistic Revival
1 June 2022
Prot. No. 484/2/22
Circ. No. 22.44
Reverend and Dear Monsignors and Fathers, Deacons and Subdeacons, Brothers and Sisters;
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, including all of its Eastern Catholic Bishop Members, have launched an initiative to foster a greater awareness of the true presence of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the Holy Eucharist.
They have chosen to call this effort a National Eucharistic Revival, which has as its official kickoff date June 19, 2022, the Feast of the Body of Christ (in the Latin Church in the USA). The general idea is to re-catechize the faithful in the essence of the Eucharist, not as a medieval magical source, and not as a mere symbolic sign, but as a real gift given to us by Jesus, ensuring his actual physical presence among us on this earth until the end of time.
This Eucharistic Revival will come to its culmination two years from now, with the celebration of a National Eucharistic Congress, which will take place in Indianapolis, IN, from July 17-21, 2024.
The national office of the USCCB, which is coordinating this Revival, has asked that every parish/mission participate in this kickoff by having a Eucharistic Procession on the Feast of the Body of Christ. In our Maronite Church, this feast is celebrated this year on Thursday, June 16. Bishop Gregory is strongly encouraging each parish/mission to join in these efforts by having a Eucharistic Procession either before or after the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on Thursday evening, June 16, or on Sunday June 19.
During these two years, you are being asked to gear several Sunday homilies toward the true meaning of the Eucharist, and to share with the faithful the many writings of the early Church Fathers on this matter. Also, in a special way during these two years, continue to make exposition and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament available to the faithful at least once per month.
Should you like more information on this Revival or would like more resources, please contact me, as I am the liaison of our Eparchy to this committee.
I will conclude this letter with an excerpt of one of Saint Ephrem's Homilies which may be of some assistance to you (Lamy, Vol 1, pp. 399-566: Sermones in hebdomadam sanctam, diem resurrectionis et dominicam novam):
Our Lord Jesus took in his hands what in the beginning was only bread; and he blessed it and signed it, and made it holy in the name ofthe Father and in the name ofthe Spirit... He called the bread his living Body... He gave them (his disciples) the bread which his right hand had made holy: " ... Do not now regard as bread that which I have given you; but take, eat this bread, and do not scatter the crumbs; for what I have called my Body, that it is indeed. One particle from its crumbs is able to sanctify thousands and thousands, and is sufficient to afford life to those who eat of it.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Chorbishop Michael G. Thomas, JCD
Vicar General
Solemn Act of Consecration of humanity, and Russia and Ukraine in particular, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Dear Priests, Deacons and Subdeacons, Consecrated Men and Women, Lay Faithful:
Pope Francis asks us to join in a solemn Act of Consecration of humanity, and Russia and Ukraine in particular, to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The Holy Father himself will pray his solemn Act of Consecration in Rome at approximately 6:30pm (Rome), 12:30pm (Eastern time), March 25.
He asks us to join him in prayer in our churches, homes and places of prayer that day, Friday, March 25.
Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Basilica of Saint Peter
25 March 2022
O Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, in this time of trial we turn to you. As our Mother, you love us and know us: no concern of our hearts is hidden from you. Mother of mercy, how often we have experienced your watchful care and your peaceful presence! You never cease to guide us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
Yet we have strayed from that path of peace. We have forgotten the lesson learned from the tragedies of the last century, the sacrifice of the millions who fell in two world wars. We have disregarded the commitments we made as a community of nations. We have betrayed peoples’ dreams of peace and the hopes of the young. We grew sick with greed, we thought only of our own nations and their interests, we grew indifferent and caught up in our selfish needs and concerns. We chose to ignore God, to be satisfied with our illusions, to grow arrogant and aggressive, to suppress innocent lives and to stockpile weapons. We stopped being our neighbour’s keepers and stewards of our common home. We have ravaged the garden of the earth with war and by our sins we have broken the heart of our heavenly Father, who desires us to be brothers and sisters. We grew indifferent to everyone and everything except ourselves. Now with shame we cry out: Forgive us, Lord!
Holy Mother, amid the misery of our sinfulness, amid our struggles and weaknesses, amid the mystery of iniquity that is evil and war, you remind us that God never abandons us, but continues to look upon us with love, ever ready to forgive us and raise us up to new life. He has given you to us and made your Immaculate Heart a refuge for the Church and for all humanity. By God’s gracious will, you are ever with us; even in the most troubled moments of our history, you are there to guide us with tender love.
We now turn to you and knock at the door of your heart. We are your beloved children. In every age you make yourself known to us, calling us to conversion. At this dark hour, help us and grant us your comfort. Say to us once more: “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?” You are able to untie the knots of our hearts and of our times. In you we place our trust. We are confident that, especially in moments of trial, you will not be deaf to our supplication and will come to our aid.
That is what you did at Cana in Galilee, when you interceded with Jesus and he worked the first of his signs. To preserve the joy of the wedding feast, you said to him: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3). Now, O Mother, repeat those words and that prayer, for in our own day we have run out of the wine of hope, joy has fled, fraternity has faded. We have forgotten our humanity and squandered the gift of peace. We opened our hearts to violence and destructiveness. How greatly we need your maternal help!
Therefore, O Mother, hear our prayer.
- Star of the Sea, do not let us be shipwrecked in the tempest of war.
- Ark of the New Covenant, inspire projects and paths of reconciliation.
- Queen of Heaven, restore God’s peace to the world.
- Eliminate hatred and the thirst for revenge, and teach us forgiveness.
- Free us from war, protect our world from the menace of nuclear weapons.
- Queen of the Rosary, make us realize our need to pray and to love.
- Queen of the Human Family, show people the path of fraternity.
- Queen of Peace, obtain peace for our world.
O Mother, may your sorrowful plea stir our hardened hearts. May the tears you shed for us make this valley parched by our hatred blossom anew. Amid the thunder of weapons, may your prayer turn our thoughts to peace. May your maternal touch soothe those who suffer and flee from the rain of bombs. May your motherly embrace comfort those forced to leave their homes and their native land. May your Sorrowful Heart move us to compassion and inspire us to open our doors and to care for our brothers and sisters who are injured and cast aside.
Holy Mother of God, as you stood beneath the cross, Jesus, seeing the disciple at your side, said: “Behold your son” (Jn 19:26). In this way he entrusted each of us to you. To the disciple, and to each of us, he said: “Behold, your Mother” (v. 27). Mother Mary, we now desire to welcome you into our lives and our history. At this hour, a weary and distraught humanity stands with you beneath the cross, needing to entrust itself to you and, through you, to consecrate itself to Christ. The people of Ukraine and Russia, who venerate you with great love, now turn to you, even as your heart beats with compassion for them and for all those peoples decimated by war, hunger, injustice and poverty.
Therefore, Mother of God and our Mother, to your Immaculate Heart we solemnly entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine. Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The “Fiat” that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace. We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more. To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.
Through your intercession, may God’s mercy be poured out on the earth and the gentle rhythm of peace return to mark our days. Our Lady of the “Fiat”, on whom the Holy Spirit descended, restore among us the harmony that comes from God. May you, our “living fountain of hope”, water the dryness of our hearts. In your womb Jesus took flesh; help us to foster the growth of communion. You once trod the streets of our world; lead us now on the paths of peace. Amen.
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