Lebanese Christians Still Hoping, Says Priest

By Tony Assaf -ROME, FEB. 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Lebanese Christians' cry for peace was heard in Rome with a "Concert of Hope."
Father Daoud Reaidy, superior of the community of the Maronite Antonian Order in Rome, inaugurated the Feb. 8 concert in Rome's Trastevere district.
"Normally we use the voice to speak, to dialogue, to cry and to discuss [...] but this afternoon we will listen to the sublime expression of the human voice that raises the heart to the noblest feelings and especially toward God," he said.
The concert was held on the vigil of the feast of St. Maron, the patron of this Eastern Catholic Church.
Father Reaidy referred to the "problematic situation" of Lebanon, especially noting the power vacuum created when Emile Lahud stepped down from the presidency in November.
But, the priest said, Maronites look to the future with "evangelical hope, following the footsteps of St. Maron. [...] The difficult political situation of our country throughout its history and the difficult tests we have faced have never stopped the creativity of our people."

 
Seeking recovery

Father Reaidy said the choir of the Antonian University is emblematic of the Lebanese peoples desire to re-establish their country and progress along the road of development.

The choir, directed by Toufic Maatouk, presented songs of the eastern Maronite tradition, "which have been transmitted orally through the centuries, but which have their roots in the Church of Syria," the priest explained.

The faculty of the Antonian University since the 1980s, has worked for the renewal of the ancient liturgical song, preserving its Syriac style.

On the following day, a message was read from Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of Antioch.

In the text the patriarch requested prayers "so the Lord will give us through the intercession of the Virgin and St. Maron better days than these disturbing ones we live and that you also live united with the Lebanese, in an environment of anxiety."

"The Lord, who has saved our Church during its long history of so many crises and such evils, will help her to overcome this difficult period through which she is passing," concluded the message.

Maronite Catholics make up the largest percentage of Lebanon's Christian population, which is itself about 39% of the entire population of the nation.