July 24, non-binding monument |
|
Position: |
priest, hermit |
Deaths: |
1898 |
BIOGRAPHY
He came from Lebanon. He became a humble and ascetic religious figure in Anna. In 1859, he received priestly ordination in Berne. He excelled in hard work and adoration and proved himself very well in serving people. He later lived as a hermit. Since he was always perfectly obedient to his superior, he performed many wonders. These continued at his grave even after death.
BIOGRAPHY FOR MEDITATION
A WILDERNESS FROM LEBANON
He was born on the 8th. 5. 1828 in the Lebanese village of Beka’kafra and was baptized according to a Maronite rite named Youssef. He had five older siblings. At the age of three, their father died, and Uncle Tonios took over the care of their poor peasant family. The other two uncles were hermits at Kouzhaya and begged their family for the necessary graces.
Despite the hardships that befell the family, Youssef grew up in a peaceful environment where one lived according to one’s faith. He attended Mass daily and soon began to engage in private, inner prayer with his Lord. As he gained more knowledge, he liked to express his thoughts in verse. At the age of sixteen, he began to see this life as a dream from which he would wake up at death.
Once he met a monk in pasture, from whom he learned about religious life, and who finally told him: “By prayer, you will soon win the peace you desire. But you have to bring it to other people, too, and you have to heal them out of despair and delusion.” Youssef then took those words to heart as a task from God.
At the age of 23, one Sunday evening, he secretly left his native house. He went barefoot to the monastery of Our Lady of Manifold in Anna ya, where, after a conversation with the superior, he was accepted and became a novice. The family that sought him out in the monastery attempted to dissuade him from his spiritual vocation without success.
Youssef was given the religious name Sharbel. He excelled in humility; he did not justify himself for the wrong in the stress tests, but he even offered everything painful to God with the excuse that he could give him so little. He sought an ascetic life, and therefore asked the superior for the most challenging work possible. Due to his good health, he was granted. He was taller, with a thin figure, and wore the same clothing, sandals on his feet, in both summer and winter. He draped his scrounged fur over the kutna only at the behest of his superiors. Likewise, he was attentive to unconditional obedience, extremely modest in his eating habits, and wished others well. Furthermore, he renounced meat permanently and slept little, as he spent a considerable part of the night in prayer.
About a year or two after the end of his novitiate, Sharbel was sent to study theology at the monastery of St. Cyprian in Klan. He took the task of education very seriously, saying, “It must all serve my brethren.” He became a connoisseur of morality and is said to have excelled teachers in many subjects.
In April 1859, he received priestly ordination in Bkerke. After returning to the monastery, he zealously continued his unusually ascetic life. He also hid the symptoms of kidney disease. One way of his penitence was by wearing a wire shirt. The reason he still offered sacrifices to God was love. He was very persistent in adoration, after joint midnight prayers he stayed daily before the tabernacle.
At the age of 36, he applied for permission to live a hermit life in solitude. However, the superior did not comply with him and instead entrusted him with visits to families and serving the sick by administering the sacraments.
Sharbel thus became a wandering monk, bringing the most important thing – peace, love, healing. God’s providence crossed his path with those who were despairing and seeking. In the region, converts increased and piety deepened. Sharbel’s speech was very simple, but often urgent and warm.
In the evening, Sharbel went to the kitchen to beg for lamp oil so that he could continue his activities. There, once a servant tried to make a joke out of him and poured water into his lamp instead of oil. Unsuspectingly, Sharbel lit the lamp in his cell and continued to work. Before midnight, the superior came to reprimand him for wrongdoing against the order, of which he was not aware. Due to the need to save oil, all the lamps should have been extinguished a long time ago. Priest Sharbel humbly accepted the rebuke, but later the servant confessed what he had done. It was discovered that the priest had been shining plain water for over four hours, and the wick was soaked with water; there was still water in the lamp.
The superior then gave a message to the patriarch. After this incident, Sharbel received the desired permission to visit the hermitage of St. Peter and Paul, located about half an hour from the monastery. He called his hermitage a “country residence” and converted part of the surrounding land into a garden. He slept on a straw bale of oak leaves and bark, with part of the trunk under his head.
Once there was a locust raid, and the monastery garden was in danger of significant damage. At that time, Superior called on Sharbel to protect the garden from imminent harm. He obediently went, prayed in front of the chapel, and then walked through the garden and the field, sprinkling it with a boxwood twig and a container of holy water. And the locusts flew away.
At the insistence of the people, the superiors were again sent to wander among them and offer blessings. It happened then that Shebrail Saba of Ihm esh went mad and became a sadist. Sharbel approached him and spoke softly to him: “Sebrail, why did you do evil? It is so easy to have God as a friend. You suffered and people thought you were evil! They don’t understand your behavior! Remember your first Holy Communion, the prayers and the love that burned your heart at that time. You seek your pleasure too far away, but you have it with you in prayer.” Then he uttered a verse from the gospel, and the young man rose transformed entirely. At other times, during periods of shortage, Superior ordered Sharbel to provide sufficient food for everyone, and the reservoirs were then replenished mysteriously.
Wonders around Sharbel Machlúf increased. As he grew older, others worked around the hermitage, and he had an assistant since 1896. Two years later, in mid-December, he contracted a cold and then passed out at the altar after being transformed. Makarius took him to the cell, and then he managed to get up and finish the liturgy. He suffered greatly, but he sacrificed his whole life for it. Shortly before Christmas Day, he received the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. His last words included prayer: “Father of truth, Your Son is a propitiatory sacrifice. His blood pours out for me. Accept my sacrifice.” During a subsequent stroke 24. 12. 1898 died.
After his funeral, some people stayed at the grave until nightfall and saw a bright glow emerge from it. In the following days, people learned that a kind friend who had gone into God’s arms continued to help them.
After 23 years, the downpours ravaged the monastery cemetery, and therefore it was decided to raise the remains of Father Šarbel. His body was discovered in the mud, covered with a thick layer of mold. After its removal, the body appeared completely intact, even without signs of rigor mortis. When they put him in a coffin in one of the cells, he looked asleep. In the morning, however, they said they found a polluted corpse again, squealing with sweat. After a new wash, the sweat was repeated, but the body’s defiance against the law of nature persisted.
The burial in the monastery crypt took place on the 24th of [month]. 7. 1927. In February 1950, a monk noticed a thick pale red liquid seeping between the stones. After opening the tomb, it was found that the reddish myro flowed out of the body, undisturbed by decomposition. Miracle healings of pilgrims then began to take place in the place. It is reported that the blind saw, the deaf heard, and the paralyzed walked. Sinners turned and believers left strengthened in faith. The grave became a place of pilgrimage not only for Catholics, but also for Orthodox and Mohammedans.
In June 1950, a religious figure from Lebanon, accompanied by four of his students, was photographed at Šarbel’s hermitage. In the developed picture, the figure of Father Šarbel, who was said to have never been photographed during his lifetime, was seen standing in front of the group.
Šarbel Machlúf was Pope Paul VI. beatified on 5. 12.1965 and 9. 10. 1977 canonized.
RESOLUTION, PRAYER
