Patriarch Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi considered that the time of Pentecost is the time of the Holy Spirit who guides the Church in the world, stressing that the Church walks, as Saint Augustine says, “between the persecutions of the world and the comforts of God.”
The shepherd said, during the Sunday Mass sermon at the Maronite Institute in Rome, that today’s Gospel talks about the world’s persecutions, but before that it calls for three basic attitudes that believers need, which are prudence, gentleness, patience, and steadfastness in it.
He stressed that the Church is not afraid of persecution, because Christ himself was persecuted and ended up on the cross, pointing out that believers must be prepared for any persecution that is for the sake of good.
He added that the Church and believers in the world are being persecuted because they resist evil with good, hatred with love, conflict with reconciliation, injustice with justice, and war with peace, pointing out that this path has accompanied the history of the Church since its beginnings.
The shepherd stressed that the Church was sent to this world, and that every believer is called to bear witness to the spiritual and moral values of the Gospel, in the face of a world that rejects these values, considering that Christ and the Apostles carried the values of love and the Gospel, and that the Church grew through sacrifices and testimony.
Regarding the Lebanese issue, Al-Rahi stopped at the agreement agreed upon by Lebanon, the United States, and Israel, saying: “We want to thank our Lord in a special way for this 14-point agreement,” calling for placing it at the heart of prayer, in the hands of God, “the Master of Peace and the King of Peace.”
He said that the Lebanese have longed for peace since 1975, after living from war to war, adding that most of the Lebanese he sees before him were born in the heart of war and have not known the taste of peace.
Al-Rahi stressed that this agreement does not mean that everyone has accepted it or will agree to it, but he stressed that the path to peace is difficult, and that Lebanon needs to hand this path over to God, the lover and bearer of peace.
Al-Rahi’s positions come at a delicate Lebanese moment, as the agreement between Lebanon and Israel under American sponsorship is still the subject of widespread political and popular follow-up, among those who see it as an opportunity to stop the war and stabilize stability, and those who treat it with caution due to the continuing tension in the south and the fear that its implementation will falter.
Al-Rahi’s sermon gains special importance because it links the spiritual dimension of the idea of peace with the Lebanese reality burdened by wars since 1975, in a country where the collective memory is still drawn to episodes of war, division, and displacement. Hence, his words appeared to be an attempt to place the agreement within a broader political framework, as a difficult but necessary opportunity to get Lebanon out of the spiral of war, provided that it is nurtured with responsibility, commitment, and respect for sovereignty.
