Your Excellency Monsignor Selim Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus
Most Reverend Monsignor Giorgio Chezza, Chargé d’Affaires of the Nunciature of Cyprus.
Father Theodorus, Father Antoine Haimate
Brothers and Sisters
May the Lord give you peace!
In this liturgical season of Lent, on this second Sunday of Lent, on Vespers of the feast of St. Patrick, and close to the solemnity of St. Joseph, I have the grace of celebrating my first anniversary of my Episcopal Ordination. Precisely on March 16, here in Nicosia, at the “LifXozia” “Filoxenia” conference center, I was consecrated bishop. The first Latin Catholic bishop ordained for Cyprus, and in Cyprus after 400 years. And the word that I have in my heart is: “EfXaristo poli”, thank you… I have so much and only to thank… for all the affection, welcome and encouragement that I have received and continue to receive from all of you…
I thank God… I thank the trust of the Holy Father Francis. The trust of His Beatitude Cardinal Pizzaballa, to my Franciscan brothers, to the Maronite Church in the person of Archbishop Monsignor Selim (my co-consecrator). To the fraternal closeness of Monsignor Giorgio Chezza, to the priests, to the nuns (Of St. Joseph, to our Franciscans, to the Sisters of Perpetual Help). Thank to Maestro Iosif Kartapanis who gave us the gift of reliving with songs that unforgettable, unique day of my ordination… to all of you members of the different pastoral cares, of the different groups, especially to the youth group, truly thank you for cooperating, and for the affection that you show at every moment and every pastoral proposal that I propose to you.
I celebrate this my first anniversary with the grace of the Jubilee Year. And the Jubilee celebrations are the right time to feel more intensely the unity that exists between memory, presence and plans for the future. Our life is a mixture of past, present and future. We divide time into these periods. Instead, in reality, they are intimately and inseparably united with each other. According to Saint Augustine, “Time is a dimension of the soul. It is the consciousness that expands to embrace with the present also the past and the future.
Yes, in this dimension I want to celebrate this my first anniversary of my Episcopal ordination. Three years have passed that I have lived in Cyprus, and now a year as a bishop… and I would like to live these years that the Lord gives me, with the grace of living here in the Homeland of Saint Barnabas. As unique days, months, and years of grace. Yes, brothers and sisters, we live moments of grace, of being led by the Lord… we want to be a Church: people of God who are led by Jesus, the true and only teacher.
Today, on this second Sunday of Lent, Jesus leads us to Mount Tabor, to the “mountain” of prayer, to contemplate his glory, the beauty of God. However, to contemplate the beauty of God we must be guided by Scripture, by the Word of God. And for this reason I chose as my episcopal motto: “Secundum Verbum Tuum”, (According to your Word). And for this reason I entered this Church on December 8, 2022 with the Word of God in my hand. We have many needs: on a social level, materially… but our priority is the Word… our priority is Jesus, it is the knowledge of Jesus… as we heard in the Gospel: “This is my son… Listen to him”… Yes, we want to be a Church that listens…
And let us not forget the beauty of the transfiguration, of the graces, of the presence of the Lord, of the beauty of his presence… Saint Clare of Assisi, in moments of darkness and tribulation, invites us to remember the beautiful things. The grace that God gives us. The beautiful things that we live in God, are like dew that restores our soul in moments of suffering. And I would like to conclude with the same words with which I concluded my homily a year ago:
Beloved brothers and sisters, let us begin to serve the Lord, seeking together the face of the Father, to be authentic witnesses of the joy of belonging to his Son Jesus Christ, to his Church, and for me the joy of serving the Church of Cyprus…. Amen!