February 27, 2022, homily by Father François Beyrouti, Ph.D./D.Th.
Gospel of the Cheese-Fare. Forgiveness & Fasting.
Epistle: Romans 13:11-14:4
Gospel: Mt 6:14-21. 

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Meat Fare Sunday. The Last Judgement.
 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 8:8-9:2.
 Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46. 

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In our Melkite Catholic Church and all other Catholic and Orthodox Churches that follow the Byzantine liturgical tradition, there are always periods of preparation for the major feast days of the Church year...

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It’s always good to thank God. After reading today’s Gospel, one thing we may thank God for is that we are not like this Pharisee who brags that he is “not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Luke 18:11)... 

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When you open a Bible, you will find that each passage has a title in bold that summarizes the main point of each section. For example, there are titles like “The Healing of Many People” or “The Feeding of the Four Thousand.” Although these titles are helpful, they can only give one aspect of a section. ..

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Preparation, perseverance, and consequences need to always remain connected in our minds as we live our day-to-day lives and especially as we dig into the significance of the major celebrations of the Church year...

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Christ is Born. Glorify Him. Almaseeh wulidah. Famijodoo. 
One of the most common questions people ask each other is: “How are you doing?” A friend always answers: “I’m going great because every day is Christmas.” 

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For the big feasts of the Church year, we celebrate the day itself and spend weeks preparing for them.
 For example, Pascha (or Easter) is preceded by a special holy week of preparation and before that a 40 day fast. The feast of Saints Peter and Paul is preceded by a fast and the feast of the Dormition is preceded by a two week fast... 

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Today’s Gospel is called the Gospel of the Great Banquet, but it could easily be re-named, the Gospel of the bad excuses because everyone ends up making excuses as to why they can’t make it for the great banquet...

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There are only nineteen shopping days left until Christmas. Or should we say there are only nineteen days left of prayerful preparations for Christmas?

We are sometimes so busy with the buzz surrounding Christmas that we forget this is most of all a special time to prepare for the birth of Jesus Christ...

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