Icon of the Lord Jesus and apostles
feeding the multitude with the miracle of the loaves and fishes
.Witnesses
of Our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ
.
by
Archbishop George Bacouni, from Tyre, Lebanon
[Since the Sword
of the Spirit is an international ecumenical association of communities,
three church services – Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox – were held
on Sunday morning for the ICM conference participants. Archbishop George
Bacouni, the Greek Melkite Archbishop of Tyre, Lebanon, presided over the
Catholic Liturgy and delivered the following homily for the Feast of Pentecost.
Archbishop Bacouni resides in Tyre, Lebanon. He has been actively engaged
in the life and mission of the People of God community in Lebanon since
the early 1980s.]
Before going back to his Father, Jesus told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem,
and to wait for the gift which his Father promised to give them – his Holy
Spirit. He told them that when they would receive the Holy Spirit, they
would become his witnesses, not only in Jerusalem and all of Judea and
Samaria, but to the ends of the earth as well.
On the day of Pentecost the Father fulfilled his promise to send the
Holy Spirit. The disciples began by declaring the wonders of God and proclaiming
the Good News in many languages.
The Father’s strategy was to send his Son, the Lord Jesus, and then
to send missionaries who would continue his work. In order for this mission
to be successful through succeeding generations, the Father’s plan was
to raise up missionaries who would be true witnesses of the Lord Jesus.
If I may say so, these witnesses would be another “Jesus” – hundreds and
thousands of missionaries – all sons of God working to build the kingdom
of the Trinity – as we prayed at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy of
St. John Chrysostom: “Blessed is the kingdom of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.”
In the Gospel of John, chapter 7, the temple guards went back
to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring
him in?” The guards declared, “No one ever spoke the way this man spoke”
(John 7:45-46). They were astonished not only because of the words, but
also because of the person who pronounced them. They had heard about the
wonders and miracles of Jesus, and they had also heard about his way of
life: his simplicity, his mercy, his love, his humility – and in summary,
his holiness.
Throughout the history of the church the Good News has continued to
spread. And one particular fact stands out in this regard. When the missionary
was a saint who lived a holy life, a lot of people were converted to Christianity
through the witness of the saint’s testimony.
The twelve apostles didn’t convince thousands of people because they
were well organized and well educated. They won many people to Christ because
they acted as real disciples – real saints. In the past many lands converted
to Christianity through the work of saintly missionaries. All the great
religious orders and missionary societies were established by saints.
Do we accept the teaching we receive in our communities because it is
delivered by very intelligent and well educated people only – or is it
not more through the witness and quality of life of teachers who live what
they say, because they take seriously the call to holiness.
I joined the People of God community in Lebanon in the late 1980s. What
motivated me to accept the teachings I received and apply them in my personal
life was the conviction that those who were teaching were genuine men of
God. These men of God continue to be for me “another Jesus,” because
I can find in them Jesus who speaks and teaches through his disciples.
I see these men first and foremost as men who strive to live as disciples
who want to follow Jesus. I know very well that they have weaknesses, just
as I, too, know my weakness. It is the witness of their way of life
– their desire for holiness – that attracted me and helped me to open my
ears and my heart to the message of the good news of Jesus Christ.
 The
theme of this International Coordinators Meeting (ICM) is saints, missionaries,
and martyrs. If I want to use one word to sum this up, that word is witness.
To be a genuine witness of the Lord Jesus requires growth in holiness.
Our time, the particular age in which we live, is in need of saints
– saints who can impact it with the gospel of Christ. We hear lots of critics
of the clergy, and some are leaving the church due to the behavior of some
prelates and priests. Why? Because people expect us to be real witnesses,
to be holy like our Master, the Lord Jesus.
Today I am talking to coordinators – leaders of our communities in the
Sword of the Spirit. The members of your communities and other Christians
look to you to be real witnesses – to be holy like your Master, the Lord
Jesus.
In the first two days of the ICM, we heard about a number of concerns:
our kids, raising young men to be radical disciples, and vocation to the
Servants of the Word. I would also add as concerns for us the average age
of our coordinators and the need to raise up more younger coordinators,
the busyness of life and how it impacts our life and mission.
I am convinced that God will continue to bless and guide us in finding
solutions to our concerns, especially if we take some further steps to
grow in the area of holiness – more intimacy with the Lord, a more radical
way of living Christian values, a simplicity in our way of life, and much
more love for each other and washing the feet of one another as Jesus taught.
Brothers, I am happy to be with you during this ICM and to celebrate
Pentecost with you. I appreciate the welcoming letter of the Archbishop
of Newark, John Meyers, and his prayers for us and for our meetings. I
love you all, my brothers, and I pray the Father grant us more and more
of his Holy Spirit to fulfill our mission. Amen. |
