In the fourth session, Abbot Semaan Abou Abdo explained the sacrament of marriage as a threefold covenant and walked the couples through the crowning rite in the Maronite and Byzantine traditions.
This was the fourth session of the joint marriage preparation course of the Greek Melkite Catholic Diocese of Sidon and Deir El-Qamar and the Maronite Diocese of Sidon, organized by Metanoia Listening Center in cooperation with the Family Committee of the Maronite Diocese of Sidon. It was held on Thursday 7 May, from 7:30 to 9:00 pm, on Zoom, under the title "The Liturgy of the Crowning," with Abbot Semaan Abou Abdo, head of the Office for the Pastoral Care of Marriage and Family at Bkerké, spiritual companion of the Equipes Notre-Dame in Lebanon, university professor, mediator and counselor.
The Abbot described marriage as an adventure and a life journey, founded by the Creator and raised by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament – a sacrament of consecration alongside the priesthood – so that preparing for marriage is a journey of faith. In the first part of the session he explained that the sacrament of marriage is a covenant with three dimensions:
A covenant with God, flowing from Him and leading to Him.
A covenant between the spouses, leading to their happiness.
A covenant with history, continuing the generations.
He also set out the purposes and features of marriage: creating a communion between a man and a woman, the good of the spouses and the good of the children; mutual consent, unity, fidelity and permanence.
And the four characteristics of love: a human love, a total love, an exclusive love and a fruitful love. In the second part of the session, Abbot Abou Abdo explained the meaning and parts of the crowning rite in the Maronite and Byzantine traditions.
The fifth and final session, on Tuesday evening 12 May, featured a couple's life testimony.
