The Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, inaugurated the Church of St. Simon Al-Amoudi in the town of Arda in Zgharta District. He presided over a mass for the occasion, in which he was assisted by the Archbishop of the Maronite Archdiocese of Tripoli, Bishop Youssef Soueif, the parish servant of the parish, Syed Maroun, and a group of priests and monks of the diocese.
The mass was attended by former Minister Pierre Raffoul representing President Michel Aoun, Caretaker Minister of Information Ziad Al Makari, Caretaker Minister of Defense, Brigadier General Maurice Selim and Representatives: Michel Moawad, Tony Franjieh, Jamil Abboud, Abdel Aziz Samad and Adib Abdel Massih, the former minister Estephan Douaihy, Commander of the North Military Region, Brigadier General Wael Abu Shakra, representing the Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, the head of the Maronite League, Ambassador Khalil Karam, representatives of heads and leaders of Christian parties and leaders of the security services, mayors, mayors, captains, in addition to representatives of the Maronite patriarchal institutions and a number of Of the heads of monasteries, and charitable and humanitarian organizations.
At the outset, Soueif delivered a speech in which he said: “Before you, Your Beatitude, today we stand with our parishes, our diocese and this beloved country Lebanon, and we affirm that we will cross this difficult crisis, like Easter, we cross it towards the state of citizenship. We pray today for the renewal of faith and for Lebanon’s identity, freedom, faith and dialogue, and we are working With your directives, for the sake of steadfastness in love and strengthening of solidarity among people in these difficult circumstances, and if this solidarity did not exist, we would be in a worse state than we are.”
shepherd
After the Holy Gospel, the shepherd delivered a sermon in which he said: “You are the rock, and upon this rock I will build my church, and it came in it: The Lord Jesus named Simon’s faith in the rock, following he declared his faith in Christ a distinct faith. He lived on the rock and on it he built his church and we who believe in Christ are called so that our faith may be lived in deeds and deeds, so we deserve to be called the rock.In fact, Peter the Apostle calls the believers who are committed to the stones of God’s house. Building the kingdom of God, that is, the church.
He added: “We are pleased, at the invitation of Bishop Youssef Soueif, to consecrate the church of St. Simon Al-Amoudi today. This saint who rose from the earth to be the closest to God through his prayers and faith and teaches us to rise from the wreckage of the world towards God and get out of our daily problems and the problems of small accounts. Saint Simon rose to God and in Lebanon We are in dire need to rise with a living faith in prayer so that we derive values from God. I remember each of you because you will be living stones in building the house of God in this world, the church is not just a house but the place where God’s family gathers. And a beautiful soul built on faith. I remember everyone who had a favor from near or far in building this church, and we remember everyone who delivered the love of faith to us. A faith area is this area and you protect it, and today we are on a pilgrimage journey with this faithful and praying people and the land that gave believing families We pray that we get a blessing and on the rock of faith in God and in values Lebanon is built.Despite everything there is faith in the hearts of the people, it is faith in God and there are moral, national and spiritual values, so we do not fear for Lebanon, it rises and is born once more and like an eagle renews its youth.This is our faith we proclaim with the owner a for Eid”.
Khoury Maroun
In turn, the parish priest, Syed Maroun, gave a speech in which he thanked the pastor for his presence, and stressed that “the families are amazed by the work of the Divine Providence that accompanied the parish in various circumstances.” Priests and all official shrines attend.
After the mass, a word of thanks was given on behalf of the donors for the restoration of the church, delivered by the journalist Joseph Mahfoud. Then the shepherd visited the Church of St. Rita in the town.
