Why did Moses give the Israelites water to drink that contained dust from a crushed golden calf? It wasn’t out of vindictiveness. Rather, he wanted to destroy their sin and lead them to redemption. But how? By giving the Israelites water with gold dust in it to drink, Moses ensured that they would never again worship idols. Using gold dust as an additive to drinking water destroyed the false belief that idols had power.

By giving them this water, Moses also instructed them in an unforgettable way about the consequences of their sin so they could truly repent. We condemn the Israelites for their lack of faith, yet we are no different. Our trust in God also wavers when we encounter difficulties or wait for him to answer our prayers. We, too, apparently turn to our “idols” to fill the void instead of waiting patiently for God.

However, we don’t need to drink water with gold dust to free ourselves! Instead, we can rely on the grace of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and see the idols that occupy the Lord’s place—property, status, comfort, and pleasure—which can lead us to sin. Let us ask him to show us that these idols have no real power over us. Jesus overcame all sin and gave us the power to overcome the desires of the flesh (see Galatians 5:19-21).

Finally, let us ask the Spirit to lead us to repentance whenever we sin. Through repentance, we experience the Spirit’s power to transform and heal us in ways we could never have done on our own. Brothers and sisters, our God is a God of mercy. Just as he did with the Israelites, he can lead us on the path of forgiveness and redemption whenever we call on Him.

Today, we’re going to talk about what a man should do to live relatively happily after a divorce. A person is sinful and makes mistakes, and this makes life more difficult. Life is difficult for us, due to our sins, and also because of the sins of others. There are mistakes that we can correct in life, and there are mistakes that become almost irreparable. Christianity requires a person to enter into a marriage for the duration of their life. It is no secret that many marriages end in divorce. Many believe that after divorce, such a paradise will begin. Cease the tension of the fault quarrel. But after a divorce, new difficulties arise. Divorce does not enter one’s paradise. Marriage also includes children. A man can have children with multiple women. But a child can only have one parent. The divorce of parents will mar children forever. Divorce can be a person’s survival. Divorce always takes something away. A person who has gone through a divorce must come to terms with it. A person who has divorced must come to terms with their former partner and must come to terms with the church. A person who has divorced suffers in various ways and often does not admit their mistake and blames others. But it leads nowhere.

Since childhood, I was fascinated by the feast of St. Anne, united with forgiveness, as he is called in my neighboring village of Erudite, today Oravská Lesná; and they celebrate it for at least two days. Many experience it as a rare occasion when they must not be absent from their birthplace. Therefore, they do not regret crossing hundreds of kilometers to spend days of true understanding, peace and quiet happiness with their loved ones. In the circle of those closest to life, but also at the graves of their loved ones, they return to the values inherent in Christians. The locals enjoy the arrival of dear relatives and friends, because „guests are like God’s messengers who come to worship our happiness“, as the poet Valentín Beniak says.

In the worship of St. Joachim and Anna can be seen in the admirable plan of the Lord God, who for generations prepared the work of salvation in order to fulfill it in Jesus Christ. The beginnings of respect for St. Anne in the West dates back to the 8th century, in the East to an even earlier time. Feast of St. Joachim in the Eastern Church is also ancient. The new liturgical calendar combined St. John’s Day. Joachim with a memory of St. Anna on July 26.

St. Anna worships herself as the patron saint of miners and boatmen, and is a popular saint in many pilgrimage sites. There are many mountains dedicated to her. In a certain sense, St. Anna was Mother’s Day in the Church, centuries before modern Mother’s Day. On one altar, the artist presented St. Joachim and Anna and Maria as a child on their mother’s hands. At their feet, little John the Baptist can be seen pointing to the lamb with his hand, a symbol of sacrifice. Love, in order to be deep, lasting and faithful, needs to draw on the sacrifice of God’s Lamb. Love needs the grace of the sacraments, as well as the sacrifice of spouses. Marital love comes from the sacrifice of the cross, lives from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

From the point of view of social knowledge, the family today has no other alternative. Where else can one learn responsibility? Where can he mature better than in a family based on a loving, stable and equal relationship between a man and a woman? All other educational establishments are successful only to the extent that they can imitate a functioning family.

The goodness and love with which today breathes can be an inspiration for us to notice even the grandparents whom these saints symbolize to us and to be grateful to them for everything. Poet Milan Rúfus prays with the children as follows: „Mother of God, you are twice as nice to the children! Listen to what I’m going to tell you now. Leave us the old woman. To live for me for a long time. The old woman has as much time as I want for me. The old woman is kind. He has God’s life in his soul. The old woman does not share us with anyone. He has time to love us. And nothing disturbs her. He has a week of seven Sundays with her. Mother of God, you whom we do not know, but we know about you, speak to my voice. Leave us the old woman. We have something together. No one has that anymore except us.“

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

Today, I will reflect on what my task is from God, with what attitude, and how satisfactorily I fulfill it.

God, You called Your holy priest Sharbel to extraordinary discipline amid the desert’s austerity, and You filled his heart with all virtue. Please give us that we too may follow Christ in His suffering on the cross and attain His eternal kingdom. We ask this through Your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, for he lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit throughout the ages of ages.

I’m Marie. They call me Mary Magdalene. I know, I’ve made many mistakes in my life. I insulted God with my sins. I was weak, fragile, and troubled. I couldn’t get out of it. I thought no one would help me anymore. And then He came. Jesus entered my life. I had the grace to live at that time when the „Word became the Body“, when God came into the world in the Son, in Jesus. He set me free and banished seven evil spirits from me. After this encounter with Jesus, my life changed. Not just for a moment, he changed forever. Since then, I have always wanted to be close to him, to spend time with him, and listen to him. His word reached the heart. His words changed people. His word healed the sick, raised the dead, and cast out evil spirits. His word was Spirit and life.  I accompanied him during his mission in Israel, together with the other women, I helped him as much as I could.

When Jesus was captured, I experienced fear. I didn’t know how it would end. But even then, I wanted to be with him. As the evangelist St. writes about me. John – I was under the cross with the Virgin Mary, and I cried. My heart was very saddened by the sight of Jesus doing the work of redemption, all wounded. I was unaware of it at the time. I thought it was over. I was also at Jesus’ funeral and saw his lifeless body being placed in the grave.

On the first day of the week, I went to the grave to anoint his body with oil. But the stone was rolled away. I ran to Peter and Jan and told them about it. They went there and saw that it was as I told them. That’s when I saw the man I was about to meet at the grave; she thought he was a gardener. I felt so until he addressed me by my name: Marie. That’s when I met him; I knew he was Jesus. That he is my Jesus, whom I love so much. My heart was filled with great joy that the one my soul loves lives. I immediately went to announce this joy to the other disciples: I saw the Lord.  Reflecting on my life now, I can divide it into two distinct parts.

1st life before I met Jesus
2nd life after I met Jesus

I want to tell you all: God never breaks a stick over you. He will not break the broken reed and put out the smoldering wick. Jesus entered my miserable life full of sin and set me free. And so I could start a new life—a new life as a beloved child of God.

I know life is hard, and Jesus wants to help you live it with Him. Obey him in what he tells you through the Holy Scriptures, through your bishops, priests, and deacons. Receive him often in the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is the source and peak of the entire Christian life. Adore him, thank him, ask him for mercy, ask him for forgiveness. Jesus was thinking of you then at Golgotha, nailed to the cross by your sins.

Do the spouses realize that they have a unique power that the priest does not have if he is alone in the rectory? To make the living Christ present in the community. Their family, their household, can become a temple of the living dwelling of God. That their mutual relationship becomes a monstrance in which Jesus himself lives. But representing Christ in the family is a reality so complex that many do not even start it. It is not enough to say Lord Jesus, we are gathered here in your name.  To live in the name of Jesus is to live in his spirit. It means a willingness to live for others. And through this willingness, the precious gift of God’s presence among us is established. Of course, then the apostle can say that where there is love, there is God. Thus, the family becomes a temple. But you can also trade with love. They desecrate God’s temple.

When we talk about marriage as the smallest cell of the Church, the Church is a sacrament of unity and salvation. In the diversity of our abilities, God creates us into one organism, despite our sinfulness. See how it is in politics. If they disagree on the party, they will already split. God holds the church together. That is why it is so essential for us to strive for unity. Sin is what divides. Our task is to live in Unity. And we live this unity in that way; we are learning to recognize our gifts and roles. And of course, the gifts and tasks of others. A cooperative environment is created among us.

We are not perfect, we are bound, we need one another. We are  dependent on each other. The life of God comes to me not through revelations, but through the ministry of brothers and sisters. Let us remember the statement of the Lord Jesus. If you bring a gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go first to be reconciled with your brother. But someone may say he has something against me. I have nothing against him. But if you don’t go, there’s an obstacle between you and God’s life coming to you. If we do not resolve our interpersonal relationships, we will not move forward.