An Islamic-Christian meeting at Antonine University to celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation

Antonine University commemorated the Feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary with an Islamic-Christian meeting for its students, entitled “Let’s Meet About Mary,” which included interventions, life testimonies, and hymns, in the presence of the University’s President, Father Michel Saghbini, and the Secretary General of the Islamic-Christian Meeting About Our Lady, Sheikh Muhammad Naqri.

The meeting opened with a recitation of the Qur’anic verses that tell of the Annunciation to Mary and Gregory’s singing of the Angelic Hail in Latin according to the Gospel of Luke, performed by the Antonine University’s School of Arabic Classical Music.

Saghbini

Then the university president said: “Our meeting today is a meeting on a holiday. We gathered to celebrate together the feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary’s conception of her son.”

He added: “When we say meeting, we also mean sitting with each other, face to face. We mean confrontation, not confrontation. We mean exchange, frankness, and openness. By direct meeting, we mean seeking to overthrow prejudices and stereotypes. By meeting, we mean trying to erase mutual neglect and generalization. Meeting pushes us to openness, acquaintance, and understanding. To purify the memory, clear the conscience, and purify the heart. Our meeting today is an Eid, and Eid means joy. “We came to share each other’s joy.”

Lustful

In turn, Father Ayoub Shahwan pointed out that “this meeting is fragrant with the scent of Her Holiness Mary, and in the prosperous Antonine University, which has and continues to give remarkable attention to the Lebanese National Day of the Annunciation,” praising “the Antonian University’s step in launching national and other initiatives, until it has become a recognized scientific academic edifice.” “It is a heart that is open to everyone.”

Life certificate

It was a testimony of life for both Rasha Ota Bashi and Father Nima Saliba, who told about their meeting with another person who was different in faith and his positive impact on their lives.

My click

After singing the hymn “The Lord’s soul is magnified” at the Husseini shrine, with Rafqa Rizk, Naqri explained the roots of the Feast of the Annunciation, which “became a national, religious, Islamic, Christian holiday.” The first Christian-Islamic celebration was on the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25, 2007, at Our Lady of Jamhour School. It was a wonderful scene, in which the hands of the priests and sheikhs intertwined and raised in prayer to the Virgin Mary.