May Mary Protect the World 

Christians and Muslims Pray Together on the Feast of the Annunciation  

This year, Lebanese Christians and Muslims will not be able to meet in squares and churches to venerate the Virgin Mary together on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord due to the Coronavirus pandemic according to Agenzia Fides (3/25/2020).  

Rather, Christians and Muslims, in their own home, recited an Islamic-Christian prayer dedicated to the Virgin from their balconies, with candles lit at 7 pm. The prayer invoked God the Lord of Creation and of humanity, who "chose the Virgin Mary" and "preferred her among all the women of the world." The prayer implores God "almighty and merciful", who loves "all the people" and gave everyone "the gift of life" to save us "from the risk of this pandemic" and to help everyone find in the Virgin "a model for our lives, to be followed in order to nourish sharing in times of tribulation, relying on her providence so as not to "give in to fear or one's own presumption." In the prayer, God is invoked as "He who helps" (one of the hundred names of God present in the Koran), imploring him to help the sick, doctors and health operators who treat the victims of the pandemic. 

The first Islamic-Christian celebration of the Feast of the Annunciation was hosted in the Lebanese sanctuary of Our Lady of Jamhour, in 2007. Political leaders were impressed by the initiative, and in 2010 Prime Minister Saad Hariri, proclaimed March 25 a national holiday, the day on which the Annunciation is celebrated.