Today our parish was visited by the Pilgrim Relic of St. Charbel Makhlouf, a monk and priest from Lebanon.
Truth be told, I really don't know St. Charbel when I first heard that his relic will be coming to our parish. There is a village/subdivision in Mindanao Ave going to NLEx that is named St. Charbel, but for the longest time, I really didn't connect that to any saint. I thought that St. Charbel was just a name, coined by the owner and not really a saint. Well, I'm in for a surprise because St. Charbel is indeed a saint and a miracle worker at that!
I researched him and found out that he has intereceded for many people wanting to get healed and they were! He is the saint attributed with the most miracles, imagine that! After learning about him, I envy his devotion. Living a life of prayer and solitude. I am not a monk, nor a priest (nun) and have no interest to be, but I want to be like St. Charbel, someone who lived a lfie of prayer and silence and solitude. For a time now, after everything I went through, all the betrayal I felt from friends who I held dearly in my heart, I felt alone, like I had no friends, I had no one to talk to, be with, spend time with. I was quite miserable!
But from St. Charbel's life, I learned something, solitude isn't something to be miserable about. That I can benefit from being alone. I don't have to be lonely even when I do not have so called friends. First and foremost, God is always with me. I just need to look for Him more, I just need to seek His presence more. Just like St. Charbel, who spent his life in solitary. Praying and working. I cannot fathom his devotion. But I'm learning and hopefully I can be more like him and live more of my life in prayer and during my alone time, may I find Jesus with me, just like St. Charbel.
Will talk more about him in future posts. Stay tuned 😊
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