Maronite Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay has called on all faithful to pray for peace, as Israel began a “targeted ground operation” in southern Lebanon yesterday. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
The ground operation followed Israeli airstrikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other senior commanders in a Beirut bunker on September 27.
“The Lebanese people find themselves plunged into an unprecedented war that they did not choose, and their daily life is already full of concerns and challenges and we cannot but feel their pain,” Bishop Tarabay wrote in a statement on September 27.
“In the absence of any solution for their social and living problems, today, a very painful cross has been imposed upon their shoulders, a new war which has fetched a lot of terror and horror.”
Bishop Tarabay asked the parishes of the Maronite Eparchy to hold Eucharistic Adoration, and to dedicate Masses on October 7, the Feast of the Holy Rosary, to peace in Lebanon and the Holy Land.
He also pledged to give this weekend’s second collection across all his parishes to meet the basic humanitarian needs of Lebanese citizens fleeing violence in the south.
“My prayers are joined to yours, in beseeching God that justice may prevail, war cease, and peace return, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the Queen of Peace and Our Lady of Lebanon,” Bishop Tarabay said.
The Israel Defence Forces announced yesterday they had begun a “targeted and limited” incursion focused on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, after days of airstrikes across the country and an attack on militants’ pagers that caused 1500 casualties.
Australia’s large Lebanese diaspora of about 250,000 has been rocked by Israel’s attacks.
Protests in Sydney and Melbourne last weekend, at which Hezbollah flags were flown, have drawn the ire of politicians, who have stressed the need for unity and calm in response to the escalation.
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Bishop Tarabay: Pray for peace amid “painful cross” of Lebanon escalation (The Catholic Weekly)
