Father Vincent Chirichella, pastor of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church (Astoria, New York) began a monthly healing Mass in honor of Saint Sharbel. The first healing Mass was celebrated on Monday, October 24th at 7:30pm, with the participation of the priests of the house and joined by more than a hundred parishioners.​

After the Gospel reading, Deacon Michael Chirichella shared his powerful testimony. (Read the full testimony HERE.)

The Mass was followed by the blessing with the blessed oil of St. Sharbel and the veneration of the first-class relic of Saint Sharbel. The Family of Saint Sharbel - USA was blessed enough to attend and distribute literature about Saint Sharbel.

I very much enjoy reading about those who lived seemingly normal yet holy lives.  They were simply examples of the Gospel, lived.  However, we can also learn something from the “untouchable” saints, those who for whatever reason seem otherworldly to us.  In the month of July we have one such saint.  On October 9th, 1977, Pope Paul VI canonized a Lebanese Maronite Rite monk, Charbel (or Sharbel)) Makhlouf.  While very few saints are honored with a place on the universal liturgical calendar, St. Charbel is one who is so revered that he does, indeed, have a feast day, which we celebrate on July 24th.

St. Charbel was born in 1828 in Northern Lebanon.  In 1859 he became a priest with particularly strong devotions, both to the Blessed Mother and even more so for the Eucharist.  For the last decades of his life, he was a hermit, living in the mountains in complete poverty. This austere behavior is one of the reasons he seems to be untouchable: how many of us can identify with a Lebanese Maronite monk, living in complete solitude, eating hardly anything, and all the while performing miracles?  Probably not many of us.  Yet it is St. Charbel’s prayer practice that makes him even more unique, while at the same time giving us an incredibly relevant example.

​After the Holy Gospel, Father Trinko, indicated in his Homily, that Saint Sharbel spent 23 years as monk and priest in the monastery and the last 23 years of his life as a hermit; He lived the monastic virtues of poverty, chastity and obedience; He spent hours adoring the Blessed Sacrament and showed a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin; He was venerated and loved by people in Middle East and around the world.
 
Father Trinko pointed out to the multitude of miracles and favors the saint offers to those who ask with faith from all over the world.

​​After the Mass, the priest carried the Relic of Saint Sharbel, processing with it among the faithful and blessing them as he went by. Meanwhile the choir director chanted in English and Arabic the proper traditional Maronite hymns.  At the end, the priest returned to the altar and gave the final blessing with the Relic of Saint Sharbel.