by Fady Noun

The year that just ended is full of lights and shadows. Connected to the war in Syria, the darkest one is the attack against Wissam el-Hassan. The pope's message of hope was a moment of "happiness and grace". Lebanon's glory is tied to the "cross" and its suffering. Christians and Muslims must make a joint effort.

Beirut (AsiaNews) - Among the many events that defined the year that just ended, the worst one was the attack against Wissam el-Hassan, linked to the shadowy power struggles and interests that surround the arrest of former Minister Michel Samaha and the on-going war in Syria.

For Lebanon, 2012 was marked by this war, which was experienced more like an internal than a foreign event, since the fate of the two countries has been linked by geography and decades of shared history. However, what might seem as inevitable because of geographical proximity also comes with some political obligations.

In Lebanon, the collapse of one of the Arab world's apparently most solid regimes has shaped our year; its implosion resembling so much our own that we are worried.

Undoubtedly, mad at their own war, many Lebanese have recalled the verses of the prophet Habakkuk (7^th c. BC). "Ah! You who give your neighbours the cup of your wrath to drink, and make them drunk, until their nakedness is seen! You are filled with shame instead of glory; drink, you too, and stagger! The cup from the Lord's right hand shall come around to you, and utter shame shall cover your glory. For the violence done to Lebanon shall cover you, and the destruction of the animals shall terrify you; because of the shedding of human blood, and violence done to the land, to the city and to all who live in it."

Confusing the two situations, someone, like a prophet of old, has tried to apply Habakkuk's invective to Lebanon, a country tormented and victimised by an oppressor many recognise in Syria's collapsing regime. In view of this, we are reminded of John Paul II's dispassionate plea to world powers, accused of attacking smaller nations.

In fact, we are not a model nation; far from it. We distort the Lebanese model every day by virtue of our biases and ignorance. Truth be told, in view of a calling taught to us, we Christians and Muslims live side by side, as part of a cultural community that has a degree of civic equality unequal in the world. However imperfect, this model is still important in our day and age. To quote Michel Eddé, "Lebanon is a response to the world's anxiety": Hello Mahmoud! Thank you Maron.

Surprised and profoundly affected by it, Benedict XVI seemed disappointed that he had not visited the country sooner. Against the dark page of Achrafieh, the pope was the highlight of 2012, a moment of happiness and grace. Indeed, sadly for us, he did not administer his magical anthropological potion before, the one we tasted and drank without much thought when he visited Baabda Palace.

In a very concise speech given the constraints of time, Benedict XVI gave us invaluable and useful advice. This text, which should be carefully re-read given the depth of its meanings, is a bit the theological continuation of his Apostolic Exhortation to the Churches of the Middle East, of which it is an indissoluble part.

Be careful, the pope he told those rebuilding Lebanon, a country still at risk and partly in ruin. In order to build peace, its foundations must be set in stone. What is needed is a healthy and just anthropology that defines what we mean by 'Man', one takes into account all that is in man and the world, the visible and the invisible. When you build, take into account those who want to destroy even if you do not necessarily see them.

 "May political and religious leaders reflect on this!" the pope said in his address. "We need to be very conscious that evil is not some nameless, impersonal and deterministic force at work in the world. Evil, the devil, works in and through human freedom, through the use of our freedom. It seeks an ally in man. Evil needs man in order to act. Having broken the first commandment, love of God, it then goes on to distort the second, love of neighbour. Love of neighbour disappears, yielding to falsehood, envy, hatred and death. But it is possible for us not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good (cf Rom, 12:21). It is to this conversion of heart that we are called. Without it, all our coveted human "liberations" prove disappointing, for they are curtailed by our human narrowness, harshness, intolerance, favouritism and desire for revenge."

With these warning in mind, we must read Benedict XVI's address again. "Wherever the truth of human nature is ignored or denied, it becomes impossible to respect that grammar which is the natural law inscribed in the human heart [. . .] We must combine our efforts, then, to develop a sound vision of man, respectful of the unity and integrity of the human person. Without this, it is impossible to build true peace."

On 11 October 2010, when the first General Congregation of the Synod on the Middle East opened in Rome, Benedict XVI came up with a prophetic meditation about the 'twilight of the gods' and the painful birth of a new world.

The pope saw in the mystery of Bethlehem and the Church, which we are celebrating at present, "a cosmic mystery". For him, "Christ is always reborn in every generation and thus he assumes the gathering of humanity within Himself. And this cosmic birth is achieved in the cry of the Cross, in the suffering of the Passion. And the blood of the martyrs belongs to this cry of the Cross."

In other, more modest words, peace in Lebanon and the Middle East cannot be based on the "violence of the peacemakers", whatever their community. "Lebanon's glory", which some speak of lightly, is and shall be inseparable from the cross. Through it, Lebanon will finally enter the promised but somewhat absent land of political and human maturity everyone praises.

• lebanon
• pope
• benedict
• xvi
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• east