"What does the Lord save us from? Sickness, problems, daily life concerns, difficult circumstances that each of us face! These all are part of the salvation because salvation is ultimate and comprehensive. It touches upon the inner self."

"Locals have the right to live in peace. Let these young outlaws who abandoned God come to their senses."

"Their homeland is the land of their ancestors. The homeland is not a hotel."

"Our conscience cannot be quiet when we hear and see around us the pragmatic situation of the poor. It is not enough to give advice, or to make strategies which are useful but the essential is to share what we are and what we have with them. They are poor yet rich, because when we encounter them we discover our neediness. We become rich in our humanity when we welcome them with love and walk with them on the path of life."

"Whenever the judge is weak politically and militarily speaking he goes to persecute the minorities to cover his own weakness."

"There may be no other Lebanese but you who wants civil war in Lebanon. Do not threaten us with war."

"I think the addict has a bad opinion of himself and of others. When he sees that somebody loves him and appreciates him, he begins to love life. Then, slowly, he can go forward in life. This needs time."

"May God bless this World Youth Day, so that each person, beginning with myself, will become younger and younger in our faith so we always live the joy of the Resurrection of our Lord."

"Many new martyrs have been added during this heavy crisis that has torn Syria apart since 2011. Silent prayers filled with tears find refuge in the ultimate meaning of Christian witness, the First Martyr, our ultimate Wall of Lamentation, our only Hope."

"You have to plant hope, but you have to have hope for it to be planted. Optimism and hope, sometimes we don't have it."

"We have to change the situation. Everybody is closing his country against the neighbor. We have to open these frontiers to each other and live in one community, one fraternity of people. This is the meaning of Christian life, this the meaning of our religion."

"Since Vatican II, the Church tries to find a regulating matrix between the Truth of the Word and the values of freedom. The means used in this sense remain the actions undertaken by the institutions of the Churches in Lebanon, especially those that educate and dispense social and humanitarian actions. Education and assisting others being the cornerstone of all reinforcing of freedom of religion and conscience. To promote and strengthen these two parameters will be the challenge that our Churches will have to face, because all dialogue and all freedom cannot exist unless the intellectual bases it on the basic and the reflex; freedom of religion and conscience cannot proliferate unless in an educated atmosphere and without great social and financial disparities."

"It would be great if Christians in the West would petition their government so that, for example, the US government take account of the importance of Christians in the Middle East. It seems that sometimes that economic considerations have precedence, as has been the case in Iraq, for example. Western policy should ensure that Christians remain in the Middle East – their presence is vital. The Lebanese example shows why: Lebanese Muslims are very much influenced by Christians – they are different than Muslims in Syria or Iraq, because they have lived side by side with many Christians and have been exposed to Christian values, including their support for democracy, and tolerance. That is a vital, indispensable gift Christians have to offer the region."

"Throughout this ordeal, Jesus is with us and He will not leave us. We pray and hope to soon see the light at the end of this dark tunnel."

"Don't forget that our ultimate goal is to glorify the name of God and the good of the Church."

"I think that behind everything in life there is a wisdom: God has his own plans."

"No, you're not dreaming... Now you are conscious. You have never been so conscious as you are now."

"The priest-monk lived and served in the monastery for 19 years, showing great devotion to the life of prayer, manual work, and contemplative silence. Charbel's superiors observed God's 'supernatural power' at work in his life, and he became known as a wonder-worker even among some Muslims. In 1875, he was granted permission to live as a solitary monk in a nearby hermitage dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. Rigorous asceticism, and a profound union with God, continued to characterise the monk's life for the next 23 years."

"Strange things happen to Nohad al-Shami. In 1993 her painting of St Charbel began oozing oil. Around the same time the long-dead saint appeared in her dreams. 'I have come to operate on you,' he said. And so he did, curing her of hemiplegia (paralysis of half of the body), she claims. At the mountain-top monastery of Annaya, in north-west Lebanon, a mass is said every month to mark the miracle and to pray for new ones."

"For the next 45 nights, a most unusual event occurred: According to many local townspeople, an extraordinarily bright light appeared above his tomb, lighting the night sky. Finally, after the mysterious light persisted, officials at the monastery petitioned the ecclesiastical authorities for permission to exhume Charbel's body. When the grave was opened four months after Charbel's death, his body was found to be incorrupt."

"On Christmas Eve in 1898, Father Charbel died. His body was interred in the ground without a coffin and without embalming, according to the monk's custom, dressed in the full habit of the order."

"One does not have to look far to see evidence of Satan’s plan in our world today, as the family is further fragmented and divided in modern culture."

"The family is the basis of the Lord’s plan; and all forces of evil are focusing all their evil on destroying the family because they know that by destroying the family, the foundations of the plan of God will be shaken. The war of the Evil One against the Lord is his war against the family, and the war of the Evil One against the family is the core of his war against the Lord. Because the family is the image of God, from the beginning of the creation of this universe, The Evil one is focusing on destroying the family, the foundation of God’s plan."

"Pray in your beds."

"By your prayers you can bring down the rain of mercy."

"Pray to soften hardened hearts, to open darkened minds."

"The Father's will is always for your good."

"Persevere in prayer without ceasing.. to understand and live according to his will, not to change it."

"Their buildings rise, their morality sinks. Their worldly goods increase, their values diminish. Their speeches multiply, their prayers grow scarce.... An edifice based on man may well rise, but it ends up crushing him."

"Success in life consists of standing without shame before God."

"A man who prays lives out the mystery of existence, and a man who does not pray scarcely exists."

"Guard your families and keep them from the schemes of the evil one through the presence of God in them. Protect and keep them through prayer and dialog, through mutual understanding and forgiveness, through honesty and faithfulness, and most importantly, through listening. Listen to one another with your ears, eyes, hearts, mouths and the palms of your hands, and keep the roaring of the noise of the world away from your homes because it is like raging storms and violent waves; once it enters the home, it will sweep away everything and disperse everyone. Preserve the warmth of the family, because the warmth of the whole world cannot make up for it."

"I have come to operate on you."