The Maronite Eparchy of Cyprus

Deepening the Faith. The Gospel of the Week: Jesus appears to seven disciples ( John 21 / 1 – 14)

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”“No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Meditation on the Gospel – Jesus appears to seven disciples.

“In every age He convokes the Church, entrusting her with the proclamation of the Gospel by a mandate that is ever new” (‘Porta Fidei’ Benedict XVI 7).

It is now the church’s duty to go into the world and act upon the mission.

“By faith, they went out to the whole world, following the command to bring the Gospel to all creation (cf. Mk 16:15) and they fearlessly proclaimed to all the joy of the resurrection, of which they were faithful witnesses” (‘Porta Fidei’ Benedict XVI No. 13)

The Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus invited by The Ecumenical Patriarch at the seminar “The Reality on Religious Freedom 1700 years after the Edict of Milan by Emperor Constantine”

A Seminar on Religious Freedom, organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in collaboration with the Council of European Episcopal Conferences, was held in Istanbul Turkeyon May 17-18, 2013. His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew officially opened the seminar and delivered the keynote address, while His Holiness Pope Francis addressed a formal message to participants. Read More

Pope Francis welcoming the Caritas Internationalis family

Pope Francis welcoming the Caritas Internationalis family provides His Apostolic Blessing onto Cyprus through HE The Maronite Archbishop Youssef Soueif and affirms:

…."Caritas is the caress of the Church to his people, the caress of the Mother Church to her children, the tenderness and the closeness. The search for truth and the study of Catholic truth are other important dimensions of the Church that theologians will do ... Caritas is the love in the Mother Church, which is approaching, caresses, loves. "…….

…"It is not just an economic crisis –that’s one aspect – it is not only a cultural crisis – that’s another aspect – it is not only a crisis of faith. It is a crisis in which the man is the one who suffers the consequences of this instability. Today man is in danger, the human person is in danger, Christ's flesh is in danger. Attention, eh! For us every person, much more if marginalized or sick, is the flesh of Christ. The work of Caritas is especially to realize this. "