2) Two thousand years since the coming of Christ to the world and there are still many who have not yet heard of Him. Many others have known Him, but as if they had not, they deafened themselves to His words, and closed their eyes to His lights as He said : "He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him". To them apply the words of the prophet Jeremea speaking in the name of God, "Two evils have my people done : they have forsaken me, the source of living waters , they have dug themselves broken cisterns that hold no water". It is to this that goes the crisis from which is suffering today’s world. That is why sects and heresies flourished making people believe that they can fill their hearts and fulfil their craving for rest , tranquillity and felicity Instead, they find unrest, anxiety and perdition. That is why selfishness has prevailed , the strong tyrannized the weak, injustice and darkness ruled, human rights were violated and poverty and famine spread in several places in the world. there are many rich countries whose citizens, in high proportion, suffer from need and lack the necessities for a decent life
3) The thing that frightens people most at the beginning of the third millenium after Christ, is this new International organization which features are not yet completed, and which threatens to eliminate the weak, be it individuals, groups and countries, for their inability to keep up with the strong, the big producers and those monopolizing science and knowledge, specially in the field of advanced arms. any ask how can small countries and poor people preserve their identity, roots, patrimony, history and particularities under the sovereignty of internationalization? Nothing can limit its tyranny but religion, fear of God and brotherly solidarity among people, this is what our Lord Jesus Christ has been appealing for since two thousand years. His teachings seem , before what we see and witness, to be the only medicine to cure humanity from its frightening diseases.
In that respect, St. Ephrem called the Divine son: "A treasure of medicines was your great day, it was then that appeared over the sick the balsam of life. A storage of help was that day, it was then that shone the light on our blindness. As if a bearer has come to us, with a bean of rays which satisfied our hunger".
Dear brothers and sons:
4) On Christmas eve we shall open the great jubilee, the jubilee of the year two thousand,
with an ecumenical prayer where the representatives of all the Christian churches in
Lebanon will meat as well as an important number of their faithful. We shall ask the Lord
Christ , lord of time and universe, to grant us, our churches, our Country Lebanon and the
other countries in the region and the world, tranquillity, stability and peace we are
wishing for.
5) Before the challenge and the dangers surrounding us we have no one to rely upon but Him, ourselves and our united ranks and positions, this to refute what is being rumored about us and what we are accused of; a people who does not know what he wants, has no national feeling and whose children are always in disagreement among themselves. History is there to witness that conflicts have always been caused by external incitement to realize objectives strange to us and attain aims far away from ours. The difficult period facing us require that we curb our greed for private interests and pour efforts to search for the high national interest . Only through this that private interests can be achieved. If our existence is dismantled, God forbid, no interests will remain, neither private nor public.
6) but it is a solid existence, with God help and the firm will of the Lebanese, it has challenged, for more than one thousand years all kinds of difficulties. With time it has crystallized to bear the fruit of a common life in an atmosphere of understanding and harmony in spite of the history transient downturns. this has allowed us to remain in this land, Moslem and Christians, since the dawn of Christianity and Islam, witnessing each of us for his religion and civilization, a witness of truth and sincerity.
7) There is no doubt that the stage we are going through is very difficult and dangerous . It is the result of wars. It is true as it was said, that it was the wars of others on our land , but we were wrong to let others make of us tools in their hands It is high time to close these dark pages, make a total reconciliation and make all the Lebanese , without exception ,share in the salvation of the homeland and in rebuilding it , its society and institutions. Overlooking this truth has made a large part of the Lebanese lose their confidence in their homeland. they refrained from helping it , after that they were denied the right to do so. Their withdrawal from their homeland caused an economical stagnation in the country, the emigration among the young , and an atmosphere which does not show that the institutions are made more efficient. There are still people arrested for judicial inquiry who are neither questioned nor released , moreover , suspicions have started to hover over the deputy electoral law and its implementation . All these shortages are of the importance of our destiny in the light of the peace talks which should be led by someone with a great experience to preserve the rights of the homeland, its sovereignty, independence, free decision and assure its liberation from all restrictions. While we greet you in this feast, we ask God for many returns for you all, residents and emigrants, with you and Lebanon at your best.