Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church 950 North Grace Street, Lombard, IL 60148 Tel: 630-932-9640 / Fax: 630-932-9463 Rev
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Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church 950 North Grace Street, Lombard, IL 60148 Tel: 630-932-9640 / Fax: 630-932-9463 Rev. Fr. Pierre El Khoury Cell: 713-972-2990 www.ollchicago.org Renewal of the Church Sunday November 8, 2015 Saint Sharbel Relics Visit On behalf of all the members of Our Lady of Lebanon Parish in Lombard, I would like to extend a warm welcome to our visiting clergy, family, friends and guests on this blessed occasion. Through the intercession of St. Sharbel, may God The Father touch our hearts by His Spirit and transform us into the likeness of His Son Jesus. Tuesday, November 10 7:30 PM – 9:00 P.M. Rosary and Healing Mass Wednesday, November 11 9:00 A.M. – 7:00 P.M. Perpetual Adoration and Veneration of Relics 7:30 PM – 9:00 P.M. Meditation and Eucharistic Adoration Friday, November 13 2:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M. Perpetual Adoration and Veneration of Relics 7:30 PM – 9:00 P.M. Healing Mass and Procession Page 1 of 9 Saint Sharbel Makhlouf Youssef (Sharbel) Makhlouf was born on May 8, 1828, in the small village of Bikaa-Kafra in the high mountains of Northern Lebanon. His parents were poor but very religious. He had a true Christian upbringing, which had given him a passion for prayer and solitude. Joining the Lebanese Maronite Order In 1851, Youssef left home at the age of twenty-three and entered the Monastery of St. Maroun at a place called Annaya in the mountain district of Jbeil (Byblos). In the monastery, Youssef chose the name “Sharbel”; and Sharbel is an Aramaic name, which means “the story of God”, and it was the name of one of the Antioch church martyrs of the second century. He was ordained priest in Bkerke July 23, 1859. Father Sharbel lived in St. Maroun’s Monastery for a period of sixteen years. In 1875, his religious superiors gave him permission to retire to the nearby hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul, where he lived for 23 years until his death. During those twenty-three years, Sharbel lived an extremely hard life, one of severe mortification. He wore a hair shirt, slept on a straw mattress with a plank for a pillow, and for his one meal of the day was content to eat the meagre left-overs from the monastery. Sharbel was an extraordinary man of prayer, hard work, meekness and prudent silence. He displayed a remarkable devotion to the Eucharist, spending hours in preparation for Mass and hours in thanksgiving afterwards. He endured fatigue, hunger, poverty and cold with the courage of a martyr in a total gift of self. The Miraculous Light On December 16, 1898, Sharbel suffered a massive stroke while saying Mass and died just eight days later on Christmas Eve. He was seventy years old and was buried in the monastery cemetery. For the next forty-five nights his tomb was surrounded by a dazzlingly bright light. This was witnessed by an increasingly large number of people. His Holy Remains Are Found Incorrupt Eventually permission was given by the church authorities for the tomb to be opened in order to examine the body. To everyone’s surprise his body was found to be perfectly preserved, in spite of the fact that the grave had been flooded by heavy rains, leaving the body floating on a sea of mud. Sharbel was lifted out and given fresh clothing before being placed in a wooden coffin in a corner of the monastery’s private chapel. However, it was found necessary to change his clothing twice per week because his body was perspiring sweat & blood. Page 2 of 9 In 1927, more than twenty-eight years after his death, Sharbel’s body still incorrupt and was examined by two physicians of the French Medical Institute at Beirut, then transferred to another coffin lined with zinc. In the Holy Year 1950, pilgrims to his shrine reported seeing liquid oozing from a corner of the tomb. Two months later, the seal on the coffin was broken and the body was examined again. Once again it was found to be free of any trace of corruption and the fluid continued to issue from its pores. Miraculous Cures and the Road to Canonization In 1950, the monastery started keeping records of miracles attributed to Saint Sharbel. In less than two years it accumulated more than twelve hundred such claims. Two miraculous cures were selected for the purpose of his Beatification: The first miracle occurred with a nun by the name of Sister Maria Abel Kawary. She had suffered serious intestinal problems for fourteen years and had been given up by doctors as a hopeless case, but after praying all night beside Sharbel’s grave, she was cured instantaneously. The doctor who examined her at the time recorded her cure as ‘a supernatural happening which is beyond man’s power to explain.’ The second miracle accepted by the Sacred Congregation was the restoration of sight to a blacksmith named Iskandar Obeid. He had lost the sight in one eye after suffering a blow to it while at work. Eminent eye specialists announced that the damage to the iris was so severe that he would never see through it again. Thirteen years later he took the advice of friends to visit the tomb of Father Sharbel. On returning home he had a dream in which a monk appeared, promising to cure him. The next morning he found he could see perfectly out of both eyes. And no medical explanation could be found. On 9th October, 1977, just twelve years after his beatification, Pope Paul VI presided over the canonization proceedings and announced to the world that Blessed Sharbel had joined the ranks of saints in heaven. The saint’s body, however, did not remain incorrupt. By 1965 it was found to have succumbed to the laws of nature, leaving only bones of a reddish color. Although miracles attributed to his intervention have continued to this day. Saint Sharbel is an “admirable flower of sanctity blooming on the stem of the ancient monastic traditions of the East.” Pope Paul VI Saint Sharbel pray for us! Page 3 of 9 WHY DO WE VENERATE RELICS? A relic is something connected with a saint or blessed, including a part of their body (e.g. hair or a piece of bone), their clothing, or an object that the person used or touched. Many people have reported outstanding blessings and conversions through contact with relics, and many have reported healings. Similar are the cases of the woman cured of a hemorrhage by touching the hem of Christ’s cloak (Matthew 9:20-22) and the sick who were healed when Peter’s shadow passed over them (Acts 5:14-16). "And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them" (Acts 19:11-12). Keep in mind what the Church says about relics. It doesn’t say there is some magical power in them, whether a bone of the apostle Peter or water from Lourdes. The Church just says that God is the one who works miracles through the saints and their relics. The relics are one of many instruments in the hand of God and God use it to bring conversion and healing, physical and spiritual. The fact that God chooses to use the relics of saints to work healing and miracles tells us that He wants to draw our attention to the saints as “models and intercessors.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 828). The Church strived to keep the use of relics in perspective. St. Jerome (420 A.D.) wrote in defense of relics: "We do not worship, we do not adore, , but we venerate the relics of the saints in order to praise and adore God whose martyrs they are." In all, relics remind us of the holiness of a saint and his cooperation in God's work. At the same time, relics inspire us to ask for the prayers of that saint and to beg the grace of God to live the same kind of faith-filled live. The relics brings a moral revolution, the return to faith and the reviving of the virtues of the soul. Saint Sharbel relics, which is visiting our parish, contains a bone fragment. Page 4 of 9 الرسالة إلى العبرانيّين .11:9-15 يا إِخ َوتِي، أَ َّما ال َم ِسي ُح َف َق ْد َظ َه َر َع ِظي َم أَ ْحبَا ِر ال َخ ْي َرا ِت اﻵتِيَة، وٱ ْجتَا َز ال َم ْس ِك َن اﻷَ ْع َظ َم واﻷَ ْك َم ل، َغي َر َ َ َ ال َم ْصنُوعِ بِاﻷ ْي ِدي، أ ْي َل ْي َس ِمن ه ِذ ِه ال َخلي َقة، َفدَ َخ َل إِلى قُ ْد ِس اﻷ ْقدَا ِس َم َّرةً وا ِحدَة، ﻻ بِدَ ِم التُّيُو ِس والعُ ُجول، بَ ْل بِدَ ِم ِه ُه َو، َف َحقَّ َق لنَا فِدَا ًء أَبَ ِديًّا. فإِذا كا َن َر ُّش دَ ِم التُّيُو ِس والثِ ْي َرا ِن و َر َما ِد ال ِع ْج َل ِة على ال ُمنَ َّج ِسين، يُ َق ِد ُس أَ ْج َسادَ ُهم َفيُ َط ِ ه ُر ُهم، َف َكم بِاﻷَ ْح َرى دَ ُم ا ْل َم ِسيح، الَّذي َق َّر َب نَ ْف َسهُ هللِ بِال ُّروحِ اﻷَ َز ِل يِ قُ ْربَانًا ﻻ َع ْي َب فِيه، يُ َط ِ ه ُر َض ِمي َرنَا م َن اﻷَ ْع َما ِل ال َم ْيتَة، ِلنَ ْعبُدَ هللاَ ال َح ي ! و ِلذ ِل َك َف ُه َو ال َو ِسي ُط ِل َع ْه ٍد َج ِديد، و َق ْد َصا َر َموتُهُ فِدَا ًء ِلتَعَ ِد يَا ِت العَ ْه ِد اﻷَ َّول، َحتَّى يَنَا َل بِ ِه ال َم ْد ُع ُّوو َن َو ْعدَ ا ْل ِم ْي َرا ِث اﻷَبَ ِد ي .