Charbel Makhlouf

Charbel Makhlouf, (also known as Saint Charbel Makhlouf or Charbel Maklouf), (May 8, 1828 to December 24, 1898) was a Maronite monk and priest from Lebanon. He spent his last 23 years living as a solitary hermit and was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1977. He was known among Lebanese Christians for his miraculous healings in answer to prayers said at his tomb and for his ability to unite Christians and Muslims.

Quotes

 * I have come to operate on you.
 * St Charbel to the rescue; Miracles are on the rise in Lebanon, The Economist, (15 Dec 2018)


 * No, you're not dreaming... Now you are conscious. You have never been so conscious as you are now.
 * Lebanese man finds hand of Providence in mystical experience, Catholic News Agency,   (28 Jan 2019)


 * Guard your families and keep them from the schemes of the evil one through the presence of God in them. Protect and keep them through prayer and dialog, through mutual understanding and forgiveness, through honesty and faithfulness, and most importantly, through listening. Listen to one another with your ears, eyes, hearts, mouths and the palms of your hands, and keep the roaring of the noise of the world away from your homes because it is like raging storms and violent waves; once it enters the home, it will sweep away everything and disperse everyone. Preserve the warmth of the family, because the warmth of the whole world cannot make up for it.
 * Quoted in  How to protect your family from the devil, according to St. Charbel Makhlouf, by Philip Kosloski, Aletia | (24 Jul 2019)

Love is a Radiant Light: The Life & Words of Saint Charbel (2019)

 * A man who prays lives out the mystery of existence, and a man who does not pray scarcely exists.
 * Success in life consists of standing without shame before God.
 * Their buildings rise, their morality sinks. Their worldly goods increase, their values diminish. Their speeches multiply, their prayers grow scarce.... An edifice based on man may well rise, but it ends up crushing him.
 * Persevere in prayer without ceasing.. to understand and live according to his will, not to change it.
 * The Father's will is always for your good.
 * Pray to soften hardened hearts, to open darkened minds.
 * By your prayers you can bring down the rain of mercy.
 * Pray in your beds.


 * The family is the basis of the Lord’s plan; and all forces of evil are focusing all their evil on destroying the family because they know that by destroying the family, the foundations of the plan of God will be shaken. The war of the Evil One against the Lord is his war against the family, and the war of the Evil One against the family is the core of his war against the Lord. Because the family is the image of God, from the beginning of the creation of this universe, The Evil one is focusing on destroying the family, the foundation of God’s plan.


 * One does not have to look far to see evidence of Satan’s plan in our world today, as the family is further fragmented and divided in modern culture.


 * Guard your families and keep them from the schemes of the evil one through the presence of God in them. Protect and keep them through prayer and dialog, through mutual understanding and forgiveness, through honesty and faithfulness, and most importantly, through listening. Listen to one another with your ears, eyes, hearts, mouths and the palms of your hands, and keep the roaring of the noise of the world away from your homes because it is like raging storms and violent waves; once it enters the home, it will sweep away everything and disperse everyone. Preserve the warmth of the family, because the warmth of the whole world cannot make up for it.

About

 * On Christmas Eve in 1898, Father Charbel died. His body was interred in the ground without a coffin and without embalming, according to the monk's custom, dressed in the full habit of the order.
 * For the next 45 nights, a most unusual event occurred: According to many local townspeople, an extraordinarily bright light appeared above his tomb, lighting the night sky. Finally, after the mysterious light persisted, officials at the monastery petitioned the ecclesiastical authorities for permission to exhume Charbel's body. When the grave was opened four months after Charbel's death, his body was found to be incorrupt.
 * Phoenix mother: St. Charbel cured my blindness, National Catholic Register,  Kathy Schiffer (29 March 2017)


 * Strange things happen to Nohad al-Shami. In 1993 her painting of St Charbel began oozing oil. Around the same time the long-dead saint appeared in her dreams. 'I have come to operate on you,' he said. And so he did, curing her of hemiplegia (paralysis of half of the body), she claims. At the mountain-top monastery of Annaya, in north-west Lebanon, a mass is said every month to mark the miracle and to pray for new ones.
 * St Charbel to the rescue; Miracles are on the rise in Lebanon, The Economist, (15 Dec 2018)


 * The priest-monk lived and served in the monastery for 19 years, showing great devotion to the life of prayer, manual work, and contemplative silence. Charbel's superiors observed God's 'supernatural power' at work in his life, and he became known as a wonder-worker even among some Muslims. In 1875, he was granted permission to live as a solitary monk in a nearby hermitage dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. Rigorous asceticism, and a profound union with God, continued to characterise the monk's life for the next 23 years.
 * St. Charbel Makhlouf, Catholic News Agency, (24 Jul 2019)