In line with the long-held Antonine University (UA) tradition at the start of every academic year, the deans, heads of departments, chairpeople, faculty members, administrative staff, and students gathered on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, at 11:30 AM at Our Lady of the Seeds Church on the Hadat–Baabda Main Campus, to celebrate the Inauguration Mass and invoke divine assistance in these times of trouble to embrace all new challenges. The aim was to encourage the people of God to stay rooted in prayer, live up to their ethical mission, keep serving one another, and grow together.
The Rector, Fr. Michel Jalakh, presided over the Divine Liturgy, assisted by Fr. Jean Al Alam, Vice Rector for Integral Human Development, and Fr. Fadi Taouk, Director of the Antonine School of Music. The gospel’s reading provided insight into what is needed to ride out the storm of life in a God-honoring way. In his homily about the impressive story of Jesus calming the storm, Fr. Jalakh highlighted that we are called to grow in faith and live in this world as Christ's disciples. He added that the storms which hit the lives of believers erupt to teach them how to rely on God’s strength rather than their own to fight the battles and find peace within the chaos. In truth, despite the fact that God’s faithful people sail with and against the tides, they remain strong enough to choose the virtue of humility, compassion, goodness, generosity, kindness, trust over arrogance, anger, bitterness, selfishness, jealousy, and doubt.
Just before the liturgy of the Eucharist, pieces of paper were given out to the attendees who were invited by Fr. Al Alam to write down their pain and reflect upon it. They were then warmly invited to make them into paper boats and bring them to the altar. This sacred gesture is therapeutic and powerful enough to release the toxic emotions associated with painful circumstances, especially since the perilous journey of life was portrayed as a boat afloat on the sea of life, the reason why the church was also decorated with a symbolic boat.
Upon leaving the church, participants were offered paper boats as tokens of remembrance of this unifying moment, with the following verse written on them: "Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40) The key takeaways were to learn how to navigate the messy world of emotions and remember that God redeems our suffering and mends our hearts.