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Hear my voice, for it is the voice of all children who suffer and will suffer when people put their faith in weapons and war. Hear my voice when I beg You to install into the hearts of all human beings the wisdom of peace, the strength of justice, and the joy of fellowship. Hear my voice, for I speak for the multitudes in every country and in every period of history who do not want war and are ready to walk the road of peace. Hear my voice and grant insight and strength so that we may always respond to hatred with love, to injustice with total dedication to justice, to need with the sharing of self, to war with peace. O God, hear my voice and grant unto the world Your everlasting peace. Amen St Pope John Paul II

Come Holy Spirit of this great South Land of flaming bottlebrush and roaring gum. Inspire our first Maronite Diocesan Assembly in Australia Let us speak boldly And listen humbly!

10 April - The Commemoration the Miracle of the Icon of Beirut. At the fourth session of the Ecumenical Council in 787, Saint Peter (Bishop of Nicomedia) presented a miraculous account of a miracle that took place in the city of Beirut, Phoenicia. His account was to defend the importance of icon veneration. The recount of the miracle varies, in the city of Beirut, a Christian had rented out a house to a non Christian and left behind an icon of Our Lord. The non Christians and some of his acquaintances began mocking the icon and the crucifixion. They pierced the side of the Jesus Icon and it began to bleed, just as Christ did on the cross. Many witnessed this miracle and converted to Christianity. They took the icon to the bishop of Beirut at the time to show him the miracle they had witnessed. Later in 975 the Icon was taken from Beirut to Constantinople, its whereabouts today are unknown. Icons inspire us to prayer. It is important to understand that as Maronites we venerate icons and statues - we don’t pray to them. This is a common misconception among non Christians and sometimes Christians who don’t entirely understand our relationship with Christ and the saints. These are not new misconceptions - there have been previous accusations of idolatry in history. Many of the Church Father defended icons. St John Damascene explained that the use of sacred images in architecture and worship was not idolatry, but rather a recognition that God uses the physical to make known the intelligible. God the Son clothed himself in humanity so we may come to know God. In a similar way, icons raise the mind to spiritual realities by means of the physical. Like the incarnation in which the invisible Word of God became visible, and the Father took to Himself a human nature, icons inspire us to deepen the spiritual dimensions of our lives. The icon in this post is one of the earliest surviving icons of the crucifixion and is contained in the Syriac Rabbula Gospels, c 586 which remained in the care of the Maronites for centuries. Depicted with Jesus are the two thieves. St. Longinus is piercing side of Christ with the spear.

The Maronite Church is truly a Church whose roots have spread far and wide. Recently Pope Francis announced a new Maronite eparchy in West and Central Africa. Yesterday, Bishop Rev. Simon Faddoul was ordained as the head of the Eparchy, known as the “Annunciation Eparchy”. Bishop Faddoul is no stranger to many of us and was previously the President of Caritas Lebanon. The Eparchy covers West and Central Africa, and is mainly concentrated in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Cameroon. The area was previously united under an apostolic exarchate, a subdivision of an Eastern Patriarchal Church in a territory that is not its own. Ibadan in Nigeria will be the seat of the Annunciation Eparchy. The Eparchy already includes 12 parishes, 10 priests, six religious and five seminarians. We thank God for this wonderful news and congratulate Bishop Simon Faddoul on his ordination. The Maronite Church is a Church with unique treasures and we encourage the people of Africa to discover our beauty and find the Risen Lord through the uniqueness of our traditions. Article in the link in our bio

In the Maronite Church the Second Sunday of the Season of the Resurrection is known as New Sunday. In John 20:26 we learn that a week later Jesus appeared to his disciples who were hidden away in the Upper Room. Learn more at livingmaronite.com

To all our sisters and brothers in Christ celebrating Easter this weekend we say Christ is Risen! We look forward to the day when united in the bonds of love we sing the Easter proclamation together on the same day. A special shout out to an honorary member of the Living Maronite Team, our Antiochian Orthodox sister Monica Ibrahim. She constantly provides support and ideas for our initiative. The photos are of her arrangement of Australian natives she gathered from trees around her for her home altar.

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