Ibrahim in the message of fasting: I invite you to pray for Lebanon

The sponsor of the diocese of Al -Farzal, Zahle and Al -Baqaa directed the royal Roman Catholics, Bishop Ibrahim Makhael Ibrahim, the message of fasting to the priests, deacons, monks, nuns, believers, believers and friends, and it came in it:

“Fasting is a spiritual march aimed at renewing a person from the inside and his willingness to resurrect with Christ. It is not just a formal practice, but rather a profound transformation, transit from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom, and from the customs that restrict the soul to a new lifestyle that leads to salvation and the real company with God. It is the map of the way of learning a person how to starve to God and frees himself from the restrictions of sin and lives the resurrection as a daily reality. Fasting is the key to real freedom, as a person reveals its depths and realizes the weaknesses in it and prepares for renewal, spiritual maturity and true commitment to faith. Fasting calls on a person to get out of the spiritual routine and formal practices to restore passion and vitality in his connection with God. It is an opportunity for every believer to realize the truth in his life and reveal to him what he withholds about the divine light. Fasting means listening to the Holy Spirit and re -directing life towards what deserves commitment and consecration. It is the time of forgiveness, reconciliation and giving, and it is the time to reveal the depths hidden in the heart so that a person can present himself a pure offering before God. Fasting is an entry into a journey of transformation, where the self is cleansed and everything that hinders spiritual growth and the division occurs between man and his Creator. It is the time when the believer realizes that the grave is not an end, but rather the starting point for a new life. For that, fasting calls on each of us to allow the light of Christ to enter the citizenship of darkness in himself and turn it into light, strength and life. Are we ready to walk on this journey and resurrection with Christ?

He added: “Fasting is not merely an apparent practice, but rather a spiritual journey towards depth, where we meet God in the deepest depths of our hearts. “But now, the Lord says, return to me with all your hearts, fasting, crying and below.” (Yo 2: 12). Fasting is an invitation to rearrange our priorities, to search for God, not in external appearances, but in the essence of life. In a world full of noise, we need silence to hear the voice of God. Christ himself was withdrawing to prayer in retreat, so how do we? Saint John the cross says: “God speaks silence.” Let us allocate a daily time to prayer, to silence, to meditate on the word of God, to give our hearts space for divine grace, and to train ourselves to listen to the word of God and apply it in our daily life. Fasting is an opportunity to explore ourselves and achieve a real change in ourselves, as it is the time of renewal and return to God, a time when we hold our souls accountable and purify our hearts from all the impurities of sins and weakness. Each of us has internal “graves”, weaknesses, pain and habits that weigh the soul and keep us away from God and make us prisoners of material and personal whims. Fasting invites us to confront these restrictions and get out of them with the power of the Holy Spirit, to remove the stones that close the entrances to our hearts and open them to the light of Christ in order to shine and revive them again. How many times do we feel that we are handcuffed with the weights of life and that our hearts are closed with the stones of distress, fear and doubt? But if we allow Christ to touch our souls, then he will reside with us with a new life, a life that is dominated by love, peace and hope. Will we be ready for this sacred journey, and let us let us lead us from the graves of weakness to the light of the resurrection? ”

He continued: “This fasting is a sacred opportunity that God gives us to approach more, to determine our positions and renew our commitment to the path of truth and righteousness, to test the true change in our depths, so our fast is not only formal fast or physical practice, but it is a fast that cleanses our souls and turns our hearts into a living structure of the Holy Spirit. It is the time of renewal and consecration, the time of dealing with love and humility, the time of return to God with all the heart, soul and thought. Are we ready to get out of the darkness of sins and the weight of life to the light of the resurrection and the freedom of God? Can we remove the barriers that separate us from it, and repent sincere repentance that changes our entity and returns us to the path of truth? To make this fasting a road map for a deeper Christian life, to live in faith as a living reality, so our fasting is a living offering that rises before God, and brings us back to the joy and grace of the resurrection.

He said: “In this holy time, where we enter with Christ the path of fasting, prayer and repentance, we invite you all, individuals and families, monks and nuns, priests and secularists, to circumvent the massacres of the Lord and raise hearts sincerely and pray for the sake of Lebanon, this country that God carries in his heart despite his pain. Our land is suffering, and our people are suffering under many weights, but our faith in God remains our hope and steadfastness. Let us meet with prayer, asking for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, the lady of Zahle, the Bekaa and the Lady of the Lavance, and our righteous, so that peace will be resolved in our homeland, and God gives his sons the wisdom, his consolation, his strengths, the power of power, and his oppression of justice.

He added: “Let us be a prayer, and our prayers are hope, and our hope is a love, so we will be a light that radiates in the dark. We meet together in the churches, monasteries, and homes, to unite our prayers on the intention of Lebanon, asking the Lord to bless and preserve it, and restore it to him his glory and mission. “If the Lord does not build the house, then he is void, the builders are tired” (Psalm 127: 1). Let us pray to him with faith, because alone is able to make a resurrection for us after the cross. Lebanon deserves our prayers … Let the fast let our prayers be, and let our faith be its salvation.

He concluded: “May God bless you, and prepare us all this holy time, and we are in union, success, health and safety.”