ARTAS – On Sunday September 5, 2016, and on the occasion of the Feast of Our Lady of the Enclosed Garden, Bishop William Shomali, Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem and Palestine, presided over a mass at the Convent of Hortus Conclusus in the village of Artas south west of Bethlehem.
Fr. George Da’boub, Chaplain of the Convent, concelebrated the mass in presence of priests, deacons, man and women religious, some of the Latin Patriarchate seminarians and the faithful.
In his homily, Bishop Shomali accentuated the life of Mother Teresa, who was canonized on the same day of the celebration Our Lady.
“It’s true that the Catholic Church canonized Mother Teresa after her death but people considered her a saint while she was alive. She was a saint to the whole world and not only to the church.” He pointed out. Speaking about her mission and achievements, he said, “Her life centred around caring for abandoned children, the elderly, disabled people, prostitutes and she spoke out against abortion”.
Regarding the miracles attributed to her, the Patriarchal Vicar said, “The life of Mother Teresa and her reliance on God are larger than the miracle of healing of the Brazilian engineer who suffered from brain tumors”.
Then Bishop Shomali mentioned some of her sayings that she lived by:
– “He who lives without giving doesn’t live at all”.
– “None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things with great love, and together we can do something wonderful”.
At the end of his homily, he drew attention to the story that the Apostolic Administrator mentioned in his last meditation about the dying man at the end of life, found in the sewers on the edge of the city. In the story, the Sisters of Mother Teresa pick him up; they bring him home, wash him, dress him, and care for him. And he, before dying, says this: “I have always lived like a wretch, I am dying like a king.”
Source: Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
