I write this time from the United States of America, and though the body is here, the heart is there, particularly in Gaza, which has been tormented for about a year, yet the suffering is escalating nowadays in fraternal Lebanon. It is Lebanon that recently marked two great ecclesiastical figures, namely the beatification of Patriarch Estephan El-Douaihy, who led the Maronite Church between 1672 and 1704, and Armenian Patriarch Cardinal Gregory Peter XV Agaganian, who was one of the most prominent religious figures in the world and whose body was returned to Beirut in a grand official and popular celebration.
But nowadays, holy Lebanon is increasingly suffering, bleeding, and thirsty to return to the term "it is the Switzerland of the East”, at a time when its streets are crowded with displaced people from their beautiful southern Lebanese towns.
We are grieved for the situation prevailing these days, with the circle of violence extending from Gaza to the West Bank and to Lebanon. We cry out with those who cry out on while seeing the ruins of demolished homes, in cemeteries, in the streets, and in the churches and mosques of the world. O dear peace, where are you? Isn’t it time for you to visit the East from which religions emerged?
In the streets and public parks of the United States, in its churches, schools and restaurants, the minds are always preoccupied: How can this great country accept that those people live in such luxury and security, while it prevents that feeling from the suffering countries of the world? As the Palestinian ambassador to the UK once said, “Are their children the children of another God and less dignified, God forbid?"
In the United States nowadays, I feel a great need in our world for sagacious and courageous leaders, as well as peacemakers. This is what I prayed for as I left a meeting near Capitol Hill, namely the US congress, where I raised my hands and said: Lord, may all those who gather here fulfill the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Blessed are the peacemakers."
At this very moment, His Majesty Abdullah II stands as a true man of peace on the UN global platform to speak about the wisdom of his father, King Hussein Ibn Talal, may his soulrest in peace, who repeatedly stood at this platform and delivered speeches of wisdom which call for a just and comprehensive peace. In his 25th address at the United Nations, His Majesty the King spoke about the “status quo” that has become a state of killing and terror, while the current status that must be preserved is the state of peace, respect for human dignity, in addition to respect for the Christian and Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem. How impressive are these words as they exude wisdom: “My father was a man who fought for peace to the very end. And, like him, I refuse to leave my children, or your children, a future we have given up on."
Thank you, Your Majesty, for your wise words, which our East and our world need. We plead with God to turn listening ears, so that these people may strive to spread a new climate for future generations, governed by peace and tranquility, rather than capitulation and hatred.
