December 24th - St. Sharbel

[Weedy]

December 24th - St. Sharbel
Also known as
• Joseph Zaroun Makhlouf
Memorials
• 24 July
• 24 December

(1828-1898)
We have told many stories in this column of ancient hermits who were
wonderworkers. Are there any modern saints who have embraced that
lifestyle? More than you might think. Take St. Sharbel Makhlouf. He
died as recently as 1898. He was a figure from the past who worked
wonders in the present.

Sharbel Makhlouf? “A Middle East name?” you will ask. Yes, he was the
fifth child of a devout farmer in the mountains of Lebanon, north of
Beirut. At baptism into the Catholic Maronite (or West Syrian) Rite,
he was given the name Joseph (Youssef).

Youssef had two uncles who were Maronite monks. Though initially he
tended sheep and worked as a farmhand, he was inspired by his uncles’
vocations to want to be a monk. One day in 1851 a young woman gave
signs of desiring to marry him. The next morning, and without even
telling his widowed mother, Youssef walked the ten-hour journey to the
monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouq, and asked to be admitted into the
Lebanese Maronite religious order.

The monks of Mayfouq welcomed him and gave him the religious name
Sharbel, after a martyr who had died at Antioch in the year 107.
Sharbel made the 2nd year of his novitiate in the monastery of St.
Maron at Annaya, some 15 kilometers south of Mayfouq. Thus, he was 25
in 1853 when he took his solemn vows. He then made his priestly
studies at the monastery at St. Cyprian at Kfifane. Always near the
head of his class, he was ordained a priest on July 23, 1858. He was
then assigned to the monastery of Annaya. There he spent the next 16
years in community life with his fellow monks.

Monastic rules are guides to holiness when diligently observed. Father
Sharbel tried to live up to his rule perfectly. His obedience became
legendary. For humility, he sought out the most menial tasks. His
penances and prayer life were just as rigorous. He had special
devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to Mary.

In Eastern monasticism, life as a hermit is considered superior to
life in a community. Sharbel asked his abbot for permission to
withdraw to the monastery’s nearby hermitage. The abbot refused. Then
in 1875 an odd thing happened. The lamp in Sharbel’s cell kept burning
even though the reservoir contained not oil but water. That same year
the abbot granted his request. For the last 23 years of his life he
lived in the hermitage of SS. Peter and Paul, ever increasing in union
with God. He died at age 70. His body was then buried unembalmed and
coffinless.

It was only after his death that his remains became an attraction. For
45 nights a bright light shone from his tomb. The superiors decided to
exhume his body. Although it had spent 4 months in the earth and was
found floating in mud, it was not corrupted but as natural as on the
day of burial. It was cleaned, reclothed, put into a coffin, and set
in a corner of the chapel.

Now there began to come forth from his body a liquid that seemed a
mixture of perspiration and blood. This liquid, collected on cloths,
started to work cures. The body was examined again in 1927 and 1950,
and found still lifelike and flexible. By now it was an object of
pilgrimage, and from 1950 on there were 2,000 reported miracles. Two
of these were selected by Pope Paul VI in 1965 as a basis for
Sharbel’s beatification.

After his beatification, the body finally decayed, leaving only the
skeleton. Paul VI canonized Blessed Sharbel in 1977.

Still another marvel is narrated of this miracle-working saint.
Apparently nobody had ever painted his portrait or taken his picture
during his life. But, on May 8, 1950, a photographer took a picture of
a group of 5 pilgrims who had come to his shrine. When the picture was
developed, there in the group stood a 6th person, a white-bearded
monk, hooded and with downcast eyes. Everybody was surprised for there
had been no monk on hand when the photographer took the picture. But
those who had known the saint exclaimed, “That’s Father Sharbel!” All
the pictures of the Saint since then have been based on this seemingly
miraculous posthumous portrait. Sharbel must have had great fun that
day!
by Fr Robert


Quote/s of the Day – 24 December – Christmas Eve!

“He was created by a mother whom He created.
He was carried by hands that He formed.
He cried in the manger in wordless infancy.
He, the Word,
without whom all human eloquence is mute.”
--St Augustine (354-430)

“Christ is the Morning Star,
Who, when the night
of this world is past,
gives to His saints,
the promise of the light of life,
and opens everlasting day.”
--St Bede the Venerable (673-735)

Bible Quote:
Is any one of you sad? Let him pray. Is any one in good spirits? Let
him sing a hymn. (James 5:13)


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Prepare for Christ your Saviour!
Stanbrook Abbey

Throughout a world in shadow,
John’s urgent voice we hear;
Prepare for Christ your Saviour!
The Son of God is near.
He gives a new beginning
To those who turn from sin,
Who answer love with loving
By turning back to Him.
His veiled but certain splendour
Begins to shine from far;
He comes, His Saints around Him,
The bright and Morning Star.
With all who wait in longing,
Give thanks that never cease,
For Him Whom God is sending
To visit us in peace.
Amen