St. Sharbel honored

In a stirring celebration exuding the rich heritage of the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church, the faithful gathered for a Mass on Oct. 16 at St. Patrick Church in Baton Rouge to honor St. Sharbel, “priest, monk, hermit and ‘in love with God.’ ” 

On Oct. 9, 1977, Pope Paul VI canonized St. Sharbel who became the first member of the Eastern Rite to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. The saint is revered for his healing miracles among Lebanon’s estimated one million Christians.

Father Alex Harb, a native of Baton Rouge and Maronite priest, celebrated the feast Mass, which is the 43rd in the Diocese of Baton Rouge. Bishop Emeritus Sam Jacobs, of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux was the homilist.

The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic Church dating to the fourth century and named after St. Maron, a Syrian hermit who lived in the fourth century. Generally, the tradition of the Maronite Mass in Louisiana dates to the late 1800s, according to the St. Sharbel Maronite Mission to Louisiana.

What the Roman Rite refers to as the Liturgy as Mass, the Maronites refers to in Syriac as the Qurbono, which translates as offering and is often called Liturgy or Divine Liturgy.

Music and poetry were threaded throughout the liturgy, which, has its roots in Antioc, Jerusalem and Edessa. 

The liturgy draws from creation and Scripture for images of God and his love and presents them with a paradoxical beauty in English and Syriac Aramaic, a dialect of Aramaic, which was spoken by Jesus and the apostles, so people might enter into the mystery of salvation.

At the beginning of the liturgy was a preparatory service which included a candle lighting hymn and the preparation of gifts; the “Sedro,” or teaching prayer which precedes the first reading and explains the meaning of the liturgy that day; a “Mazmooro,” psalm-style hymn before the first reading of one of the Epistles or Acts of the Apostles; and then the Gospel.

In his homily, Bishop Jacobs alluded to the readings that day from the Song of Songs and Gospel parable of the five wise and five foolish virgins in the Gospel of St. Matthew. 

In the Song of Songs, the beloved hears her lover knocking at the door at night and she reluctantly, but teasingly answers the door. When she opens the door, her lover “has turned and gone.” Perplexed, she goes on a journey seeking him. She eventually finds him but first goes through tough times and transformation.

“God is a lover. And God doesn’t just walk away, but he challenges us to come to the door,” said Bishop Jacobs.

He further pointed out, “It’s a story where God wants more for us than we want for ourselves. The story of God’s love is that the Lord is working on us until that moment we want him more than anything else.”

In the Gospel reading, Jesus picks up on that passage from Song of Songs in the parable of 10 virgins waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom to begin the wedding feast. The groom delays and they fall asleep. When the announcement comes at midnight that the bridegroom is coming, the five wise virgins had brought extra oil, so they trimmed their lamps and went in to the wedding feast. 

The five foolish virgins had not brought extra oil and when they returned after purchasing more oil, the door was locked and they were turned away. 

“(He) Jesus begins to help the disciples understand how important it is to have a relationship with him, how important it is to respond to him no matter what,” said Bishop Jacobs.

He connected the readings of the liturgy with St. Paul’s writings about God’s gift of salvation.

“We don’t earn that salvation. St. Paul is saying respond to the gift God is giving you in such a way that you will be with God forever,” said the bishop.

The homily was followed by the profession of faith and prayers for access to the altar, God’s blessings of the offerings and the transfer of the offerings, which were incensed. 

There was also an elaborate sign of peace, which emphasizes that peace comes from God to the altar, from the priest to the people serving on the altar to the people in the pews.

There was also a prominent epiclesis, or calling down of the Holy Spirit, upon the gifts, and an elaborate rite of the breaking and blessing of the consecrated host and wine.

Communion was also distributed by intinction, the partly dipping of the Eucharist in the consecrated wine before distributing it to communicants on the tongue.

In a moving concluding prayer, Bishop Jacobs and Father Harb said to the altar, “Remain in peace, altar of God. I know not if I will be able to return to you to offer another sacrifice.”

 At the conclusion of Mass many came forward to receive an anointment with healing oil and to venerate the relics of St. Sharbel.