Farewell of Patriarch Sabbah to the Kehilla

Patriarch Sabbah at the farewell mass

The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, who will be retiring from the position he has held for more than twenty years, came to the Hebrew-speaking community in order to celebrate a final mass and preach one last time in Hebrew as Patriarch of Jerusalem. Concelebrating with him were the Vicar, Father Pierbattista and a number of priests from the Vicariate, including the priest responsible for the Jerusalem community, Father Apolinary and the Secretary of the Vicariate, Father David.

In his fluent Hebrew, the Patriarch not only celebrated the mass but also addressed his words to the assembled faithful in Hebrew. A translation into English of his homily can be found below. The Eucharist was accompanied by the songs of the small choir and an atmosphere of joy and serenity was apparent among the faithful.

After the Eucharistic celebration, Father Pierbattista addressed his own words of farewell to the Patriarch. He thanked the Patriarch for his presence in the Church of Jerusalem and for his leadership over the difficult years that have gone by. Then three representatives of the kehilla presented the Patriarch with small tokens of our thanks and expresed wishes for the Patriarch's well-being. Anya, from the Jerusalem community, presented the Patriarch with a beautifully illustrated volume in Hebrew on bread and the different religious communities as well as a CD. Brother Yohanan Elihai presented the Patriarch with his dictionary of Arabic dialect and Father David gave the Patriarch a ceramic tile with Psalm 23 written on it in Hebrew.

Father Pierbattista thanks the Patriarch

Brother Yohanan presents his dictionary to the Patriarch

Father David presents Psalm 23 to the Patriarch

After mass, the community met for a fraternal moment of sharing food and drink as the Patriarch chatted with different members of the kehilla.

We wish him well as he departs his office after twenty long and hard years of service of the Lord. May God bless him and keep him.

(Photographs thanks to Marie-Armelle Beaulieu of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land)

For more photographs: See here

The text of the homily of H.B. Patriarch Michel Sabbah for the Hebrew-speaking
community in Israel, 1.6.2008

"I am very happy to pray with you and participate with you in this celebration of the Eucharist. Like the Church of Jerusalem as a whole, you too are a small community. However, as men and women, each one of you is great in the eyes of God. No one is small because each one is loved by God and looked after by Him. As far as institutions go, there are no great in Jerusalem. Only Jesus Christ is great and He alone is the Lord, although he is still not accepted in his own land, neither in Israeli society, nor in Palestinian society. We, the Christians, each one in the midst of his small community, are witnesses to Christ in his country. This is our vocation in Jerusalem, the vocation of each one of us, each Christian and each every small community all of which make up the Church of Jerusalem, the community born right here on the day of Pentecost, and that spread from here to the ends of the earth.

Each believer's belonging to a people is not only an accepted thing, it is even essential and important at the level of faith. We believe in God so so that by means of our faith and because of the grace and power of the Holy Spirit in us, we might be faithful also to our society. Each one of us has the same task, you, the Hebrew-speaking society belonging to the Jewish people, and the Christians belonging to the Palestinian people. The task is to contribute to the building of our two societies. As loyal to his society, the Christian needs a heart as large as that of Jesus, a heart that embraces all of humanity, all nations and all human beings. We must all contribute to our society, each one of us to both societies, Israeli and Palestinian. We must help in the implementation of justice and peace. Our societies are not in need of mercy from us nor in need of words or feelings of compassion. They do not even primarily need acts of charity. These are all positive things. However the most necessary thing is to pray for justice and peace, to pray for what is just and what is necessary for each one of the two societies - Israeli society, on one hand, that must live in peace, that needs security and is recognized by all, and Palestinian society, on the other hand, that must live in peace and needs the same justice and recognition.

What is our place in the Church of Jerusalem, among the thirteen churches of which she is constituted? It is a place primarily of prayer. Our prayer is the prayer of Jesus for unity, "that they may be one like we are one" (John 17:22). We must pray for unity so that, even before the longed for unity is reached, by means of our love for one another, we might be what we are called to become. This is indeed our vocation: to be true witnesses to Jesus Christ.

The Word of God in the Gospel of Saint Matthew (Mt 7:21-28) that we have just heard, invites us to move beyond all formal things and human plans in our faith. Jesus says to us: it is not when we say "My Lord, my Lord" that we enter the Kingdom of Heaven but when we do the will of our Father in heaven. The will of God is revealed to us in two ways: in the Holy Scriptures and in the events of our lives, both private and public. Every event takes place under divine providence. Thus every event becomes a sign, a word from God. Therefore, our lives must be a constant listening to the Word of God, His word in the Scriptures and His word in the events, so that we might know His will and live according to it. Jesus continues his word and says: even if we have performed great miracles in his name, even if we consider ourselves prophets, even if we have chased out demons, that is not to say that all these acts constitute the will of God. In fact, it can happen to us, in our lives of faith, that we think we are doing the will of God and acting for His glory. However, it becomes apparent, even unconsciously, that we are acting according to our own will and for the glory of our own name. It is this that Jesus means when he says: even if you performed miracles, for you did not perform them for my name but rather for your own name. Not by performing these miracles will you live your vocation or enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The reprimand that comes at the end of the passage is a very hard one. The Lord says to those who acted according to their own name and not according to the name of God: "I never knew you, go away from me you evil doers". The Lord defines the miracles they performed, the prophecies they prophesied, their human plans that they planned with the term "evil". These are very harsh words and yet they provide us with the clear criterion that helps us discern between the human and the divine in us.

The passage we heard from Paul the Apostle is less hard (Romans 3:21-25). The words of the Apostle encourage us. He says to us: "Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are now justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus". Thanks be to God, that despite the difficulty to discern between the human and the divine in us, we can trust in the grace we have received from Jesus Christ.

I wish each one of you, dear brothers and sisters, to walk in the ways of the Lord, to be faithful to the vocation of the Hebrew-speaking community within Israeli society and in the face of every person as a person.

Yesterday we concluded the month devoted to Mary, the one who lived according to the will of God. She also experienced anguished moments in which it was difficult to discern the will of God. However, she believed always and she continued to march into the mystery even when things were far from clear. In her we have an example and so we too march on into the mystery of God. With her we march and we ask her to accompany us in our faith and in our lives as Christians in Israel and in the Church of Jerusalem.

Brothers and sisters, pray for me and I will continue to pray for you.

+ Michel Sabbah, Patriarch