You have to know how to die to be able to live

By Dr Amine Jules Iskandar Syriac Maronite Union – Tur Levnon

On the evening of August 13, I was blessed to be able to attend the mass of “the Family of Mar Charbel” in Annéya, celebrated by the Bishop of Antélias Mgr. Antoine Bounajem. His sermon was powerful as ever, his message targeted, and his voice clear and fervent. The congregation left shaken. There is nothing Christian about a sermon that does not shock. It must shake things up and appease, reassure, and comfort, all at the same time, because it brings man closer to Christ, His terrifying passion and His infinite love.

I will not pretend here that I can convey the integrity of Mgr. Antoine Bounajem’s powerful message out of memory. But the echo of his words still echoes my mind. I will therefore only humbly try to repeat his words as faithfully as possible, as far as my memory allows me. The young bishop began his homily with these words:

“In these challenging times, death is everywhere, on everyone’s lips. Our country is dying, our customs too, and our joy of living. Our families are scattered, torn by exile. We are walking, a whole people, towards the end of all that we have known and absorbed into the attributes of life. Fear in the stomach, sadness in the heart, and deep despair haunt us. They accompany us in this macabre and inevitable march towards death. And yet, Mar Charbel knew death three times. The first time when he chose to leave the world behind him and enter the monastery. The second time when he chose to abandon himself to become a hermit. But you have only heard of his third death, which happened on Christmas Eve. So let me tell you about the other two, those two times he died so he could sprout and shine again.”

“For Christianity, death is the beginning of life. Passion and the cross are only the path of resurrection and triumph. Christ has spoken to us so many times of this need to know how to die in order to be able to give life. He did this in parables. When He spoke of the mustard seed which must die and be buried in order to give birth to the plant and its flowers. Or when He spoke of the leaven which lets itself disappear to generate bread. Without death there is no creation, renewal, or improvement.”

“This death is what Mar Charbel chose. He cherished it by stripping himself of all the superfluous, of all material goods. We have by no means chosen this ourselves. But can we not accept it in order to discover the nobility of resistance, the strength of faith, and the unknown that the future holds? To those who miss the opulent life of before, I tell them that if after this crisis we find ourselves in the same conditions, then this would be the true tragedy. Because in this case all our suffering and our sacrifices will have been in vain. And what about the blood of our martyrs? Those of August 4, and those of all our humble and heroic history. It is fundamental that each series of hardship can enrich us with a layer of holiness.”

“To be stripped of all pleasures, lust, travel, electricity, the Internet, the grand buffets of pompous weddings, pomp and display, sometimes to the point of disgust, is to be able to return to the essence. To relearn the values of Christianity, the happiness of resisting life in the face of death, our faith in the face of fanaticism, our Lebanon in the face of obscurantism, our culture, our openness and our love in the face of ignorance and hatred.”

“But for that, we must resist; and to resist is not to leave. And what do we see today? People of little faith who abandon everything, turn their backs on sick Lebanon and leave. There is nothing Christian about this. They reject the confrontation and suffering; they refuse death and the resurrection that it entails. Some of you have no choice and you will have to go. So, it is not to them that I am speaking, but to those who have the possibility to stay and to form our resistance. To those who leave because they are unable to live without their luxury. They refuse to endure a time without electricity and internet, without gasoline and without outings and parties. Among them I see some very well-off people who crave wealth and abandon their homeland and their people in need. I speak directly to most of you doctors. You who have made so much money over the years, but now you see your income go down. You abandon our patients, leave them without care in order to maintain your standard of living! Today, more than ever, we need you. Do you measure yourself by your income? Are these your values? Is it proportional to your thrift? Can you not work for your neighbor for some time? Truly I tell you, wherever you go your spirit will never find joy nor peace.”

“Our Lebanon must remain, and its Christian message must continue to shine. Lebanon is not just a piece of land. It is us, the men and women who have endured centuries and have always known how to resist in order to carry the word of Christ high in this region of the world. This mountain is the message of Jesus, and it makes our presence here a mission and a duty. Like Mar Charbel, let us accept to die in order to be able to live in Christ, and it is there that we will discover the real joy, the reward, and the genuine happiness.”

Dr. Amine Jules Iskandar is an architect and the former president of the Syriac Maronite Union: Tur Levnon. Amine Jules Iskandar has written several articles on the Syriac Maronites, their language, culture, and history. You can follow him @Amineiskandar2

For the article in French see L’orient le Jour

For the article in Spanish see Maronitas.org

The views expressed in this op-ed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of SyriacPress.

Also Read from the same author:

A Port, a City, and a Mountain

Language in the Formation of Nation States

“KAFNO”: The Genocide on the Christians of Mount Lebanon during the First World War

The Mysterious Origins of the Language of the Maronites