Today we celebrate the memorial of our Virgin Mother under the title of "Our Lady of Lebanon". The Maronite Church has always had a special devotion to the Virgin, as is evidenced by the great number of churches which are didicated to her both in Lebanon and in our own country. Mary, morever, plays a special role in the Churhc's liturgy: There and numerous hoosoyeh dedicated to her, qoley and hymns which extoll her vitues, and constant petitions which beg her intercession. And yet Maryis always seen in the Maronite liturgy as the Mother of the Lord, the Theotokos, in whose womb the Word took flesh.

Hail Mary! In your virginity, you became the mother
of the mighty One who fills heaaven and earth.
Hail Mary! In your virginity, you became the mother
of the ancient One whose name was before the sun was created.

Hail Mary! In your virginity, you became the mother
of the Creator who formed Eve and gave her to Adam.
Blessed are you, Mary in whose womb dwelled in holiness
the only begotten Son who is one in nature and in splendor
with the Father.

O Mother of the Life, petition your devine Son
to keep away from us all the affects of evil,
to preserve us from all animosity
and to strengthen us on our way.

As we honor the Virgin Mother of the Lord under her title of "Our Lady of Lebanon," we pray for the land of our ancestors in the faith, for the whole Maronite Church, and for those parishes which are dedicated under her patronage.