The pastor of the Maronite Diocese of Byblos, Bishop Michel Aoun, presided over a celebratory Mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Byblos, on the occasion of the feast of the patron saint of the Maronite community and the tenth anniversary of his assumption of the reins of the diocese.
The mass was attended by Minister of Tourism Walid Nassar, member of the “strong Republic” Bloc MP Ziad Al-Hawat, adviser to the president of the Republic for Health Affairs Dr. Walid Al-Khoury, Director General of the Beirut and Mount Lebanon Water Foundation Jean Gibran, the mayor of Byblos Nathalie mari Al-Khoury, the mayors of Byblos and Wissam Zaarour, the Colonel Nabil Farah, head of the “oxelia” Association Abdo Abi Khalil, head of the “ang” social Association Iskandar Gibran, members and a crowd of believers from the villages and towns of the judiciary.
At the beginning of the mass, Monsignor Anton delivered a speech in which he said: “many crises and upheavals have rolled over our homeland Lebanon, and the country for which the finest of our youth died, became floundering and swinging like a bruised reed waiting for the final break, and we are all in the ship of the homeland is about to Dr. Charles Malek said: “if it were not for the Maronites, Lebanon would not exist, and if the Maronites wavered, everyone fell into disappointment and confusion, and if they were determined and led, the resolve intensified and everyone became one and the same.” father Michel Hayek has always expressed the culture of the Maronite faith, including what he wrote about five proofs in history for more than sixteen centuries, secondly, their glorious past testifies to them, thirdly, the age is a wheel, fourthly, history is vast, and fifthly, they believe in the Lord Jesus the dead and the Risen One”. There is no doubt that this latest proof is the source of strength and struggle”.
“What we need today is this faith, to the spirit of the founder, derived from the roots of the Gospel, to a spirit that pushes us forward with our living testimony before our brethren in the homeland, which means: to play the role of living conscience, inspiring, warning and reproaching, and also to a prophet who chastises and rebukes the king when he deviates from the way of God, the way of truth, like the Prophet Elijah when the King Then Elijah said to him,” I did not disturb Israel, but you and your father’s house by leaving you the commandments of the Lord and your walk after Baal, ” and Baal today is corruption and love of money and power. This was also done by John the Baptist when Herod wept and was alerted when he married the wife of his brother Herodias, who shed his blood and did not retreat from the truth, preferring to act with his conscience even to behead him. The prophet has a word to say and no one is afraid, he speaks the truth without any favor or compromise; was this not what our God and Savior Jesus Christ taught us when he expelled the sellers from the temple when he saw them and they made the House of God a cave for thieves?’!! Did he not say either, let your words be yes yes or no no”.
“Yes, today we need a prophet who speaks the word of God honestly with the people, leads his footsteps with his spiritual insight and preaches boldly against corruption and injustice.
“By the power of the Holy Spirit, who poured into your heart your episcopal ordination ten years ago, and whose commemoration we celebrate today, I cannot fail to say in the name of my brethren, priests, all those who know you, and in my own name, that there is in you the spirit and the power of a New Testament prophet, those who proclaim the word of Christ and encourage the people in crisis,”he said. He called on him in the name of “our oppressed, despised, oppressed and enslaved people, do not hesitate to spread the word of truth and to make the saddle of the believers a fire and to tighten their midst at the time of difficulties, because we and you are the salt of this land and this homeland, because if the Salt”.
After the Holy Gospel, Aoun delivered a sermon in which he said: “for the tenth year in a row, I celebrate with you the grace of God the feast of the diocese on the feast of our Father St. Maron and the anniversary of the assumption of the diocese surrounded by my brothers priests, monks and nuns and with your presence, dear sons and daughters of”we will continue to work together, clergy and laity, in the spirit of listening and discernment, and in the spirit of the Synod launched by His Holiness Pope Francis, as a synodal church that walks together with all its sons and daughters in the spirit of communion, sharing and mission,” he said.
“The challenges of our days are many and difficult, but we face them together with our faith in Christ, who overcame death by his resurrection, who told us that you will suffer in the world narrowly, but trust that you have overcome the world. We face it with our faith, our unity, our solidarity and our acts of love with the poor and needy of our children and families, in order to help us to withstand and fortitude.however, while the urgent Living, Health, Hospital and social needs must be met, and in the face of the worsening of the crisis more and more, we have begun to realize the importance of thinking about solidarity projects and planning with specialized teams in the field of Agriculture, Health and development. “Along with my core mission of teaching, sanctifying, caring for God’s people, and serving love, this will be my priority.
He continued: “The Gospel chosen by our Maronite church to be read on the feast of our Father St. Maron, in which the Lord Jesus says:” the grain of wheat, if it does not fall in the Earth and is fulfilled, remains one. “If you die, it will bear much fruit. “Yes, the fruits of the redemption achieved by our Lord Jesus are many, and they translate into the life of believers a new life by the Holy Spirit.these fruits that overflowed from Jesus ‘ death and resurrection give the believer who receives them to experience that he is no longer enslaved to sin, but has become a man living the freedom of the children of God and capable of love”.
Jesus also says, “he who loves himself loses her, and he who hates her in this world saves her for eternal life”. Saint Maron abandoned the world and its joys, and he worshiped God until love to gain eternal life. He chose to follow the example of the Lord Jesus, the grain of wheat that died from the glories of this world, and he gave many fruits in the church through the holiness of his life, which attracted many men and women from the sons and daughters of his time, becoming for them an example and a teacher of spiritual life. Maron walked after the Lord Jesus in a life of self-abandonment and death from the world, and lived in the open on the top of Mount Cyrus worshiping God in asceticism, austerity and prayer, and became for the children of his time a destination for every seeker of grace, an example in holiness and union with the Lord Jesus, and a witness of the treasure he found that made him yearn with all his being to win the heavenly kingdom”.
“What is the message that St. Maron leaves us today, and how do we live Maronite spirituality in our time today?””
At the end of the mass, Aoun accepted Eid congratulations from those present in the cathedral salon.