Maronite patriarch urges Lebanese to arm themselves with love

Published: 2005-09-22

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Lebanese must arm themselves with love, the Maronite Catholic patriarch said a day after a bomb explosion in Beirut. "How much we need today to be reminded of the necessity to safeguard the duty of love among us and to ... practice it in our daily lives, on the personal and national levels," said Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir, Maronite patriarch, in his homily at the Mass concluding the Maronite Synod of Bishops Sept. 17. "For if love reigns among our ranks, we would not be suffering ... during these days of hardship." Two people were killed and 23 wounded in the Sept. 16 explosion, the latest in a series of attacks that began in February with the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The third and final session of the Maronite synod focused on approving the 24 texts studied and reviewed in the first session, held in October 2004, and the second session, held in June. The final texts will be declared official next June.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .