Friday, August 12, 2016

St. Charbel At Work

The Roman Church knows little of the popular hermit and Miracle Worker, St. Charnel, who has been venerated in the Maronite Rite since his death in the late 19th century. A simple monk, ascetic, spiritual guide who left his monastery for a cave, but returned as the result of a stroke and continued to minister through prayer and presence until his death. A strange light appeared in his tomb after his burial, and an even stranger liquid oozed from his incorrupt body for 50 years. Hundreds of miracles have been attributed to him. Here is the tale of two of them:
My Godson, Marcellin, who is seven years old and lives in Pittsburgh suffered rather sudden and truly deadly attack of influenza, causing his heart to stop while in the care of several cardio specialists at Children's Hospital there. They were able to get the heart beating again, though feebly while machines circulated the blood and enabled him to breathe. A priest brought in a holy card of St. Charbel that he had touched to the reliquary from Lebanon that was making a pilgrimage in the US and Canada. The family prayed the prayer for healing on the card, and the next day, there was noticeable improvement in the heart. This continued at such a fast pace that even the doctors and nurses cried, "Miracle!" Marcellin has no brain damage and continues to regain his strength.
After the family told me this story, told them that earlier in May, that reliquary had been in Methuen, MA, and I had prayed for the healing of a cyst that was pressing on my spinal column. On the third day, the cyst was gone and I was spared surgery, recovery and therapy. We marveled at how St. Charbel took care of Godfather and Godson in the same month. Readers might want to learn more about this humble man and come to him with confidence for healing not only for themselves but for the moral decay, increasing addiction and suicide rates as well as the violence that plague our world. St. Charbel, pray for us.
Bro. Rene

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