Benediction for Lebanon

As Peter came along our shore two thousand years ago
With apostle’s zeal to see the Churches grow,
Now successor Popes in our dear land are seen
Paul Six, John Paul Two and Benedict Sixteen,
With pastoral staff they’ve come and dressed in purest white;
While angel choirs sing melodies on every mountain height
Playing on their instruments for the heavens all delight,
‘Twixt Mary and the Trinity all is glory bright.
Love embraces all the world and creation does rejoice
For this Illustrious Messenger speaks with heaven’s voice.
To plant the Christian Church our East was God’s own choice.
Sent with heaven’s message from a West turned every way,
He comes to our Levant where Infant Jesus lay,
To springs of living water, and Grace that he can find
Where came Our Lord in person, giving joy to humankind.
He comes to bless a land where holy saints abound,
Where in simple people deep piety is found.
Our horizons and our mountains, to eternity they reach,
And our many thousand years do love and giving teach.
On this feast of Jesus’ Cross, he comes where Grace has been,
Heights holy of the Cedars, of Hermon and Sannine,
Holy Scripture sang their praises, men came from every place
To the home of written letters passed on to ancient Greece.
Mountains, plains and valleys, and villages that smile,
With monasteries and churches whose bells ring every while,
Recalling holy people, as beati they were named,
Hardini, Haddad, Rafqa, and Sharbel saint proclaimed.
To the fountain source of light, the Pontiff now has come,
By the Spirit he is guided and now he has begun
To think about the West that Christian once became
But now has almost lost the brilliance of its flame.
O West, you lose your bearings and fall back into night,
Come back to your origins, know Christ is your true Light.
Our Lebanon of El, a garden by Him blessed,
Bows to Benedictus, with a welcome to his quest.
Lebanon is here, born in the womb of time,
A hymn to God Almighty, with melody sublime.
Primus inter pares comes this man with halo white
On pilgrimage of peace with radiant features bright.
Four Patriarchs are welcoming His Holiness the Pope,
Near Our Lady of Harissa, whose arms outspread give hope.
The patriarchal houses and the Embassy of Rome
Open wide their doors for the Pope comes not alone.
If the world around is troubled, the Pope says not to fear,
There is a Lord who loves us and we are in his care.
The Pope has come to Lebanon, where all the sects are free;
The parties often quarrel but on this they all agree,
They respect each other and this way they will be
Sharing common happiness beneath the Cedar tree.
For Lebanon means dialogue, a place where currents meet,
Where cultures come together and make broad minds complete.
Your arrival, Holy Father, makes every heart to beat
Europe born of Tyre has come with hastening feet,
With its music and its arts and the science it did bear,
But more than this the common faith that all of us do share,
Faith of saints and martyrs and many we could name,
Whom all of us do love, so now we you acclaim.
You come not here on visit, here is the papal seat,
In Lebanon it is the Church that loves us and safeguards,
Church of saints and martyrs, of heroes and of bards;
Church and land together, the two are closely bound,
In Jesus, Mary, and our Land our trinity is found.
Bless this country, light for nations, in peace that they should live,
Bless this country’s peoples for the example that they give.
Bless this mountain country, which John Paul called very clear
Not a land but a Message for all the world to hear.
May this be always true in these times of deep unrest,
Your words have come to guide us, with this guidance we are blessed!
Ahlan wa Sahlan! Your Eastern children cry,
On the mount of Virgin Mary shouts of welcome reach the sky.
The Church is strong for it is built upon a solid Rock,
One who journeyed onto Rome after founding Antioch.
In two cities of Phoenicia the holy feet once trod,
So in this blessed land of ours was manifested God.
Here the light of Christ has fostered culture bright
With poetry and with legends to give us all delight.
There is a heavenly image which clearly can be seen,
Of Mary guarding Lebanon, of which she is the Queen.
All roads lead to Rome, but only one comes here,
That of love and understanding which drive away all fear.
As we kept faith with God, with our saints and Peter’s Rome,
In sacrifice and prayer in struggle we have grown.
Bless’d the one who comes in the Lord’s own name,
A meteor across the sky, trailing heavenly flame.
Families of every faith to greet you have all come,
Your radiant figure white shows all faith in God is one.
Son of the Old World born with youth that’s ever new,
Europe and the East have one faith in God that’s true.

French by Joseph Matar – Translation: K.J. Mortimer