Homily of His Excellency, Selim Sfeir, Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus, February 16, 2025
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“Lord Jesus, precious in your eyes is the death of your righteous ones. Blessed are they and all your saints, who since their childhood, have kept their bodies and souls pure. They are like fragrant incense in your presence.” – Ramsho
In the weeks leading up to the Great and Holy Lent, the Maronite Church sets aside three Sundays of special commemoration.
This Sunday we celebrate and venerate the work of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ, by beautifully crafting holy men and women in every generation, by fashioning saints as splendid copies of Jesus Christ. Our good friends, the saints cheer us on in our great battle for holiness and apostolate. They do not repose in sweet indifference, but because they lived charity to a heroic degree in this life, they live it now, even more generously in eternity. If, in this life, they ‘clothed the naked, fed the hungry, and visited those in prison’ they do so now, in eternity, with an even greater athleticism. Freed from the boundaries of this fallen condition, now they can really help us. Let us love the saints!
And lest anyone accuse us of being distracted from Jesus Christ by our love for the saints, we assert that every saint is a portrait of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who is the great iconographer who brings Christ close by raising up saints who live His life and share His love. In every saint we catch a glimpse of His Holy Face.
Catechism of the Catholic Church #828
By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors.
The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church’s history. Indeed, holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal.”
† Selim Sfeir
Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus