Your Face, Mary

This speech was delivered by the Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) Professor Michel Abs at the symposium organized on the occasion of the Feast of the Annunciation, by the Middle East Council of Churches and the Episcopal Committee for Christian-Muslim Dialogue, emanating from the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon, under the title "The Face of Mary". It was held on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at the Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Mathaf - Beirut.

Professor Michel Abs

The Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC)

I browse the icons, read them attentively, gaze at the paintings, examine the sculptures, trying to see how all these people have interpreted your face, Mary!
I try to imagine your features, your expressions, the light in your eyes, the joy of the Annunciation, the pain of the Crucifixion and separation. I find myself projecting my feelings onto you, hoping to understand you, O Queen of mountains and seas. Yet I realize I cannot confine your spirit and the beauty of your soul within any human form of expression, neither writing, nor painting, nor sculpture, nor even singing or music.

What kind of being are you, chosen by the Lord as the temple of Incarnation?
How noble are you, who carried the Savior in your womb?
How patient are you, who witnessed the Savior hanging on the cross, bleeding water and blood, pierced by a spear, given bitter drink, calling out to the mighty God, Creator of the universe, and forgiving those who shed His blood on the land of Incarnation, the Antiochian Levant, where the Gospel began to spread moments later!

How great are you, the one whom all creation agrees to revere and honor above all women!
What a symbol you are, what a message, what a lesson you preach to humanity?

Your face, Mary, I see it in the faces of the tormented women of the world, victims of gender-based violence, victims of relentless patriarchy, victims of human trafficking, victims of modern slavery, victims of ignorance, victims of suppression, repression, and silencing.

Your face, Mary, is worthy of divine light bestowed by the Eternal King. It is worthy of a smile, worthy of joy, radiating endless tenderness, love, and mercy.

Your face, Mary, I turn to in hardship. From it I draw resolve and unshakable patience. From it I draw a vision that sees beyond worldly possessions and perishable things.

Your face, Mary, is part of a whole. It is a mirror of your soul, a reflection of your willpower and endurance. And it is also, despite all it bears, a source of peaceful light flowing from your serene, calm, and peaceful spirit.

O great among women, O surpassing all humankind, do you realize how much emotion and value you’ve inspired in women around the world?
Do you realize how many theologians, researchers, writers, and poets you’ve inspired in their cultural creations?

Mary, do you realize how powerful your silence is? How does it silence voices of hatred, hypocrisy, and widespread resentment among people, and rises above the sounds of wars sweeping the globe?

No praise written for you is excessive.
No virtue attributed to you is undeserved.
No description of your traits is overstated.

Your face, Mary, shall remain, as long as the world exists, a symbol of motherhood in all its dimensions, from the Annunciation of life to the care, upbringing, and nurturing of every human being created in God's image, to caring for them even in old age, to offering your final counsel before departure.

Your face, Mary, unifies people and lands, for around you is a consensus no one else has achieved.

In Lebanon, we made the Feast of the Annunciation a national holiday, where citizens gather around you across their religious and cultural differences, overcoming divisions in belief and interpretation, united in the symbolism of your presence in this world.

We at the Middle East Council of Churches, being ecumenical, and our ecumenism going beyond intrafaith to include all of humanity, have made your Annunciation a national holiday inclusive of all, considering it a shared spiritual space among the people of Lebanon.
And as we are Antiochian Levantines and Middle Easterners, we shall extend this culture of shared sacred space to all countries of the Antiochian Levant and the Nile Valley.
We will include in this path the site of the Lord’s appearance to Saul at Tal Kokab on the outskirts of Damascus, the place of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River, and the Holy Family’s refuge in Egypt.
Blessed are these communities, blessed are these nations that support, or will support, these unifying societal efforts.

This year, we celebrated the Annunciation with the Episcopal Committee for Christian-Muslim Dialogue of the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon. It is a blessed beginning that will be followed by similar initiatives across the region. Thanks to those who launched, organized, and executed this idea.

Special thanks also to the esteemed lecturers-ladies, our colleagues, who accepted this mission with the love and volunteer spirit befitting the women of our homeland, whom we are proud of.

Finally, we thank you, O Mother of the Lord, for your presence, for who you are, for what you represent, and for the role you continue to fulfil two thousand years after your time on earth.
You shall remain, O Blessed One, a source of inspiration and radiance until the end of time.