On the last day of his Apostolic Journey to Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV presided at Mass for the thousands of Lebanese faithful who have accompanied his long-awaited visit to their country.

As the Mass began, Patriarch Youssef Absi, Greek Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, recalled that the vast majority of Lebanon’s Catholics belong to the Eastern Churches.

He thanked the Pope for his care for Eastern-rite Catholics and for bringing a message of joy and peace to Lebanon.

In his homily, Pope Leo expressed his gratitude for the joyful welcome he received in Lebanon, praising God for allowing him to visit.

Despite the difficult situations many people face in their daily lives, he said, Christians must always cultivate an attitude of praise and gratitude.

The Pope marveled at the beauty of Lebanon sung about in Sacred Scripture, but lamented that this beauty has been “overshadowed by poverty and suffering, the wounds that have marked your history.”

“The beauty of your country,” he added, “is also overshadowed by the many problems that afflict you, the fragile and often unstable political context, the dramatic economic crisis that weighs heavily upon you and the violence and conflicts that have reawakened ancient fears.”

Amid these worries and issues, we can let disillusionment overcome our gratitude and uncertainty overwhelm our hope.

“The word of the Lord, however, invites us to find the small shining lights in the heart of the night, both to open ourselves to gratitude and to spur us on to a common commitment for the sake of this land,” he said.

Pope Leo XIV went on to note that Jesus does not give thanks to the Father for His extraordinary works but for revealing Himself to “the little ones and the humble.”

The Kingdom of God, he recalled, is described by the Prophet Isaiah as “a small branch sprouting from a trunk,” representing a small sign of hope that promises rebirth amid death.

“It is also an indication for us, so that we may have eyes capable of recognizing the smallness of the shoot that emerges and grows even in the midst of a painful period.”

Even now, said the Pope, small lights begin to shine in Lebanon’s night, especially the Lebanese people’s “sincere and genuine faith, rooted in your families and nourished by Christian schools.”

He pointed to the Church’s many parishes and movements that seek to meet people’s material and spiritual needs, as well as the numerous priests and consecrated religious who carry out charitable works and promote the Gospel in Lebanese society.

At the same time, gratitude cannot remain an introspective and self-focused consolation, he said. Rather, it must lead us to convert and live in the promise of hope and charity.

“We are all called to cultivate these shoots, to not be discouraged, to not give in to the logic of violence and the idolatry of money, and to not resign ourselves in the face of the spreading evil,” said the Pope.

Pope Leo called on the people of Lebanon to do their part to return the country to its former glory.

“Disarming our hearts is the only way to do this,” he said. “Let us cast off the armor of our ethnic and political divisions, open our religious confessions to mutual encounter and reawaken in our hearts the dream of a united Lebanon, where peace and justice reign, where all recognize each other as brothers and sisters.”

In conclusion, Pope Leo encouraged the Lebanese people to nurture the dream that God has placed in their hands, praying that they may carry their sufferings and persevere in hope.

“Lebanon, stand up!” he concluded. “Be a home of justice and fraternity! Be a prophetic sign of peace for the whole of the Levant!”