Good day brothers and sisters and may the peace of Christ be with you.

As we continue our journey in this Season of the Resurrection and live through this pandemic with all the restrictions we listen to the words of Jesus from today’s Gospel who quotes the Prophet Isaiah saying “he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they may not look with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn” (Jn 12:40).

In the midst of this pandemic and with the easing of restrictions on many services other than our Churches, we find that these words resound strongly for us as we feel that the authorities are have blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts towards our spiritual needs which for us is the most essential part of our life. As such together with our Maronite Eparchy under the guidance of our Bishop and in solidarity with all the Catholic Churches, we urge to sign the attached petition prepared by the Archdiocese if Sydney, so that the government can ease restrictions on our churches as soon as possible from 10 to 50 in line with other community services.

Please find the link below.
https://www.sydneycatholic.org/petition/

Let us continue to pray so that this pandemic can be over and that all restrictions may be lifted so that we can gather together as one community of faith and glorify the Lord in the Eucharist.

Yours in Christ,
Fr Tony Sarkis