Homily of Father Simon El Hajj from Saint Sharbel Maronite Catholic Church (Somerset, NJ) on July 23, 2022
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Homily of Fr. Simon El Hajj on the occasion of the blessing of St. Sharbel Statue at Saint Cyril of Jerusalem Catholic Church in Jamison, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 23, 2022.
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Rev. Msgr. Robert Powell, Pastor: My friends, before father Simon gets up to speak to us about St. Sharbel, let me just talk for a couple of minutes about prayer, because that's what the theme of today's readings is all about.
Jesus is asked by his disciple, “Teach us to pray”. This is Luke's Gospel, and what a wonderful Gospel to have when we're installing our statue of St. Sharbel tonight, as a shrine. Because that's what St. Sharbel is, he’s an intercessor in prayer for us. He's a healer, he's a tremendous example of having that special relationship with God that comes from many, many years of growing closer and closer to God. So this is basically what I say in the bulletin – if you want to take it home, you could read the whole thing. And basically what it is, is that the disciple says, “Lord, teach us how to pray.”
And what Jesus does is he asks here, he answers it in three different ways:
First thing he talks about is how to pray. He teaches us the Lord's Prayer. Now, this is St. Luke's version of the Lord prayer. So it's a little shorter than St. Matthew’s version.
And after that, after he teaches us how to pray, what to pray for – “God's will be done, Your kingdom come” – calling God our Father, once he does that.
Then he speaks a little bit about praying through a parable. He says, and he talks about this persistence on the part of the widow going to the neighbor, even in the middle of the night, asking for help. And Jesus says, if that neighbor wouldn't get up from just the fact that he wanted to help the lady, he would definitely get up because she kept banging on the door. And she was persistent. She wanted him to help her.
And what Jesus is saying is basically is, is God will always be there for us. And what we need to do is we need to keep praying to Him, realizing that, that he's going to respond to our care. And he goes even further. And he talks again, about how to approach God.
He says, this is how you approach God. And he says, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock, and the door will be open to you.” What's he saying? Well, he's saying, he's encouraging us to approach God with confidence. When we go to God, and when we come to the saints, to ask them to pray with us, to God, for our intention, or for our issues in life, like, we want to, we want to definitely go with confidence because God has proven already how much he loves us. And God will definitely help us in our efforts to live this life because He's promised to do that. And also, because He has shown us throughout our lives, that his willingness and his effort.
My friends, basically what it comes down to is Jesus is telling us that if you really want to talk to God, if you really want to pray, talk to Him like you talk to your family, the closest people to you in your life; talk to Him, in the intimacy of family. That's why we say Our Father, He is our Father, cultivate in yourselves, and awareness, that during every moment of our lives, the loving presence of God is with us. And it's that loving presence of God, which will nourish us and sustain us, and always prompt us to move deeper and deeper in relationship with him.
You're going to hear about St. Sharbel. You're going to hear how this mystic monk, this great mystic in the church, holy, holy man became so close to God; and through him, so many great things have happened. Because God loves him. And through his intercession for people God has created or performed many, many miracles. I want to welcome father Simon to come up and speak to us now Father Simon, is actually the pastor of St. Sharbel (Maronite) Parish (Somerset, NJ), Father Simon.
Father Simon Hajj: Father Bob, Deacon Joe, brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm honored to be here. First time I entered the church I look at the relics. I was so happy to see all these saints in the church. And the most surprising was to see the relic of St. Sharbel there, it was amazing. And you know what? Maybe one day a relic from you might be there. If you stick with God like St. Sharbel did. And to be a saint, we all have the potential to be like them. But to be like them, first, we need to be like these saints. It's like the steel with the fire, the more the steel connects to the fire, it becomes a liquid fire, takes all the characteristics, and does the same work of the fire. And this is the saint’s work: doing all the work of God, sticking with God.
So this great saint, Saint Sharbel, his name was Joseph. He chose the name, Sharbel, because of a martyr saint of the Valley of Saints in Lebanon. And that he chose to be with God. He knew what it takes. It's not easy. But he lived in simplicity, a simple, simple life. He wanted to be there, his pillow was a piece of stone, and his cover was a cloak, his own cloak.
Also, he chose to be a hermit. Not because he was an anti-social person, he was a very sociable person. And the Order accepted him to be hermit, to be closer to God, leaving the world because they wanted to pray for the word and for the people. So God will help them. And more than that, he appreciated everything he had. He was so happy in his life, although he owned nothing, he never complained. He always said, God will provide. And this person, the Saint, relied on God alone, not on man. He relied on God because God will never change. He's always there sticking with us being with us.
He believed in the coming Kingdom and he is building his own house, being with God, eager to finish this journey on earth to live with God. This great Saint loved everyone, and everyone around him. And God first. This great saint’s first miracle was the lamp. I’ll talk a little about it. At one point, the abbot of the Order, there wasn't enough oil. You know at that time they used to light the rooms using the lamp with oil in it, and there wasn't enough oil. So the abbot said, well, this night nobody is lighting their lamps. St. Sharbel wasn't there, he was out picking some stuff. And when he came, he asked the workers to give him some oil, to fill his lamp with. So the workers there wanted to trick him. Because the abbot had said, no oil this night. They put water and he took the lamp, closed the door, lighted the lamp, and it lit. They were all surprised looking from the door. How come water gives light. And since then, saint Sharbel became the symbol of that lamp, giving light to the people.
Jesus is the light and St. Sharbel became the lamp, the guide that with him we journey toward the Kingdom of God. And yes, he performed 1000’s of miracles, as Pope Francis said so far. But that's not… what's really important is we can choose St. Sharbel to be our model in faith. And we can know more about him. There's some booklets out there to learn more about the faith. There's a picture of St. Sharbel with a prayer in the back. And nobody knows. Being like St. Sharbel, of course, at one day, we might have a relic from you out there. Amen.
Rev. Msgr. Robert Powell, Pastor: Thank you Father. You know, today (July 23) in the Maronite community, is St. Sharbel’s feast day; and tomorrow in our community in the Roman Rite is St. Sharbel’s feast day. So this is a great time for us to be enshrining him here at our parish, and I will bet you that many, many people will come to seek his intercession as we continue to live our lives. Let's pray.
Jesus is asked by his disciple, “Teach us to pray”. This is Luke's Gospel, and what a wonderful Gospel to have when we're installing our statue of St. Sharbel tonight, as a shrine. Because that's what St. Sharbel is, he’s an intercessor in prayer for us. He's a healer, he's a tremendous example of having that special relationship with God that comes from many, many years of growing closer and closer to God. So this is basically what I say in the bulletin – if you want to take it home, you could read the whole thing. And basically what it is, is that the disciple says, “Lord, teach us how to pray.”
And what Jesus does is he asks here, he answers it in three different ways:
First thing he talks about is how to pray. He teaches us the Lord's Prayer. Now, this is St. Luke's version of the Lord prayer. So it's a little shorter than St. Matthew’s version.
And after that, after he teaches us how to pray, what to pray for – “God's will be done, Your kingdom come” – calling God our Father, once he does that.
Then he speaks a little bit about praying through a parable. He says, and he talks about this persistence on the part of the widow going to the neighbor, even in the middle of the night, asking for help. And Jesus says, if that neighbor wouldn't get up from just the fact that he wanted to help the lady, he would definitely get up because she kept banging on the door. And she was persistent. She wanted him to help her.
And what Jesus is saying is basically is, is God will always be there for us. And what we need to do is we need to keep praying to Him, realizing that, that he's going to respond to our care. And he goes even further. And he talks again, about how to approach God.
He says, this is how you approach God. And he says, “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock, and the door will be open to you.” What's he saying? Well, he's saying, he's encouraging us to approach God with confidence. When we go to God, and when we come to the saints, to ask them to pray with us, to God, for our intention, or for our issues in life, like, we want to, we want to definitely go with confidence because God has proven already how much he loves us. And God will definitely help us in our efforts to live this life because He's promised to do that. And also, because He has shown us throughout our lives, that his willingness and his effort.
My friends, basically what it comes down to is Jesus is telling us that if you really want to talk to God, if you really want to pray, talk to Him like you talk to your family, the closest people to you in your life; talk to Him, in the intimacy of family. That's why we say Our Father, He is our Father, cultivate in yourselves, and awareness, that during every moment of our lives, the loving presence of God is with us. And it's that loving presence of God, which will nourish us and sustain us, and always prompt us to move deeper and deeper in relationship with him.
You're going to hear about St. Sharbel. You're going to hear how this mystic monk, this great mystic in the church, holy, holy man became so close to God; and through him, so many great things have happened. Because God loves him. And through his intercession for people God has created or performed many, many miracles. I want to welcome father Simon to come up and speak to us now Father Simon, is actually the pastor of St. Sharbel (Maronite) Parish (Somerset, NJ), Father Simon.
Father Simon Hajj: Father Bob, Deacon Joe, brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm honored to be here. First time I entered the church I look at the relics. I was so happy to see all these saints in the church. And the most surprising was to see the relic of St. Sharbel there, it was amazing. And you know what? Maybe one day a relic from you might be there. If you stick with God like St. Sharbel did. And to be a saint, we all have the potential to be like them. But to be like them, first, we need to be like these saints. It's like the steel with the fire, the more the steel connects to the fire, it becomes a liquid fire, takes all the characteristics, and does the same work of the fire. And this is the saint’s work: doing all the work of God, sticking with God.
So this great saint, Saint Sharbel, his name was Joseph. He chose the name, Sharbel, because of a martyr saint of the Valley of Saints in Lebanon. And that he chose to be with God. He knew what it takes. It's not easy. But he lived in simplicity, a simple, simple life. He wanted to be there, his pillow was a piece of stone, and his cover was a cloak, his own cloak.
Also, he chose to be a hermit. Not because he was an anti-social person, he was a very sociable person. And the Order accepted him to be hermit, to be closer to God, leaving the world because they wanted to pray for the word and for the people. So God will help them. And more than that, he appreciated everything he had. He was so happy in his life, although he owned nothing, he never complained. He always said, God will provide. And this person, the Saint, relied on God alone, not on man. He relied on God because God will never change. He's always there sticking with us being with us.
He believed in the coming Kingdom and he is building his own house, being with God, eager to finish this journey on earth to live with God. This great Saint loved everyone, and everyone around him. And God first. This great saint’s first miracle was the lamp. I’ll talk a little about it. At one point, the abbot of the Order, there wasn't enough oil. You know at that time they used to light the rooms using the lamp with oil in it, and there wasn't enough oil. So the abbot said, well, this night nobody is lighting their lamps. St. Sharbel wasn't there, he was out picking some stuff. And when he came, he asked the workers to give him some oil, to fill his lamp with. So the workers there wanted to trick him. Because the abbot had said, no oil this night. They put water and he took the lamp, closed the door, lighted the lamp, and it lit. They were all surprised looking from the door. How come water gives light. And since then, saint Sharbel became the symbol of that lamp, giving light to the people.
Jesus is the light and St. Sharbel became the lamp, the guide that with him we journey toward the Kingdom of God. And yes, he performed 1000’s of miracles, as Pope Francis said so far. But that's not… what's really important is we can choose St. Sharbel to be our model in faith. And we can know more about him. There's some booklets out there to learn more about the faith. There's a picture of St. Sharbel with a prayer in the back. And nobody knows. Being like St. Sharbel, of course, at one day, we might have a relic from you out there. Amen.
Rev. Msgr. Robert Powell, Pastor: Thank you Father. You know, today (July 23) in the Maronite community, is St. Sharbel’s feast day; and tomorrow in our community in the Roman Rite is St. Sharbel’s feast day. So this is a great time for us to be enshrining him here at our parish, and I will bet you that many, many people will come to seek his intercession as we continue to live our lives. Let's pray.
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Click HERE for more about the celebration, photos and video.
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