The following day, I met him in the grocery store, and he told me that the doctors from St. John’s called him and told him that there was NO problem with his liver. It is perfectly well. An hour after this call, the doctors from the local hospital called him and said that the blood work that was done lately shows that his kidneys are perfectly alright. They concluded that he has nothing to worry about. He shared the news with me, and I began to cry with joy and thankfulness. I told him to wear the medal of St. Sharbel all the time possible.
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Simon believes in the power of St. Sharbel to heal.  He has not made a public testimony, but I have shared the story with the parishioners, who are encouraged in their faith. 

There were many people who have experienced healing after receiving the anointing with the holy oil of Saint Sharbel. That happens only by the mercy and love of God through the intercession of St. Sharbel. Glory to God. Amen.
 
On Wednesday, January 13, 2021, the community will be screening a movie about Saint Sharbel. The next day Fr. Joe will start the novena to Saint Sharbel, followed by prayer for healing. The novena ends on the 22nd of January. You can check the announcement HERE.

The Family of Saint Sharbel contributed to Fr. Joe’s efforts to acquire a 52-inch statue of Saint Sharbel. Fr. Joe’s hope was that he could install this statue in his church on December 24 which is Christmas eve and the memorial of the death of Saint Sharbel. The statue was delivered on December 21 and installed on December 24; thanks be to God.
 
[1]. Sheshatshiu is an Innu federal reserve in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located approximately 30 kilometers north of Goose Bay.
[2]. Our Lady of Snows-Sheshatshiu: https://www.facebook.com/Our-Lady-of-Snows-Sheshatshiu-1053670304790206/

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.