Members of our team were privileged to be in Lebanon for a Solidarity Visit with our partners and projects – all at the same time when Pope Leo journeyed through the politically challenged Middle Eastern nation.
In his stop at Harissa, and in speaking to bishops, priests, religious, pastoral workers and our team, Pope Leo returned to a theme that’s already become a signature of his pontificate: peace being spiritual before political. He described prayer as being an “invisible bridge that unites hearts”. Reminding those in attendance of Pope Francis’ words from his General Audience in April of 2017, Pope Leo reiterated that prayer is an “invisible bridge that unites hearts,” and reminded us that faith is “an anchor that lets the Church move forward even amidst weapons and scarcity.” From that anchoring, he said, grow “concrete and lasting works of solidarity.”
The Eastern churches we support overseas in places like Lebanon anchor themselves in faith because they are anchored in worship and translated into service. CNEWA’s role involves helping local churches form priests, sustaining religious communities, rebuilding schools and clinics, and providing emergency relief when conflict or collapse steals the promise of tomorrow. Solidarity becomes “concrete” through the hands of the local Church, supported by the wider one from other corners of the world.
We saw up close and in person how Pope Leo came as a pastor, insisting that “hope is realistic when love is organized.” His kind-hearted smile at the Hospital of the Cross in Jal el-Dib, his words to the young people at the Patriarchate, call for coexistence, anchor-faith spirituality, and solidarity with the grieving, all converged into one profound invitation for us all: do not leave the story unfinished.
With our organization being an extension of the Holy Father’s support in many troubling hotspots in today’s world, that invitation was incredibly personal for us at CNEWA. Why? Because we become part of Lebanon’s story when we fund a scholarship, sustain a hospital, school and community care program, or help a diocese like the Melkite Greek Catholic Church offer physical support to the poor in the form of a soup kitchen. We become “co-builders of peace” not by grand gestures, but by faithful partnership with the Eastern churches who live this reality every day.
The Holy Father concluded his pastoral visit by saying that Lebanon can flourish again “like the cedar” – not one branch at a time, but the whole living tree.
With those words taken to heart, CNEWA will continue to help water those roots, even from the comforts of Canada. With support from our many donors across our great land, the hope that Pope Leo preached to the Lebanese people will keep taking flesh – in the projects in Lebanon we support and the awareness we will continue raising.
All until the cedars stand tall again.
