Remembering holy people, like today's saint, helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church. ⛪
July 24, 2024
Hello John,
Today's Saint of the Day features the inspiring story of Saint Sharbel Maklouf, a Lebanese monk whose influence spread widely despite his humble life as a hermit. His devoutness and reputation for holiness led people to seek his blessings and prayers. Sharbel's tomb became a place of pilgrimage and cures after his death, and he was later beatified and canonized by Pope Paul VI.
If you found this content of value and inspiring, please consider supporting Franciscan Media to help us continue sharing stories of faith and inspiration with the world. Donate today!
Although this saint never traveled far from the Lebanese village of Beka-Kafra where he was born, his influence has spread widely.
Joseph Zaroun Maklouf was raised by an uncle because his father, a mule driver, died when Joseph was only three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St. Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel in honor of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853, and was ordained six years later.
Following the example of the fifth-century Saint Maron, Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875, until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly.
He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified Sharbel in 1965, and canonized him 12 years later.
Reflection
John Paul II often said that the Church has two lungs—East and West—and it must learn to breathe using both of them. Remembering saints like Sharbel helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church. Like all the saints, Sharbel points us to God and invites us to cooperate generously with God’s grace, no matter what our situation in life may be. As our prayer life becomes deeper and more honest, we become more ready to make that generous response.
Despite their differences, Francis and Bonaventure shared a deep love of God and a common vision of Christ as the center of creation and goal of spiritual maturity. Both saw the message of Christ as a call to simplicity, in which body, mind, and spirit join with all creation in praising the Creator. Both gave up comfortable lives and financial privilege to serve God. For both, God was found in the interplay of two contrasting but interdependent poles of spiritual formation: withdrawal from the world for times of prayer and contemplation, and immersion in that same world by taking delight in creation as an expression of God’s wise and loving care.
For Bonaventure, God loves the world in all its diversity and, in return, all creation at its depths praises its Creator. Inspired by contemplative prayer and mystical experience, both Francis and Bonaventure believed that we must claim our birthright as God’s companions in healing the earth and its creatures, regardless of our vocations.
In the Parable of the Talents, one of the three servants hides his master’s money because he is afraid. He has heard that the master is a hard man who reaps where he has not sewn and gathers where he has never scattered. And so he fears him. How often is our relationship with God like that? Based on fear? We are afraid of God, because we’ve heard he is out to get us, to judge us, to punish us. But like the servant in the parable, do we really know the one we serve?
Pray
Dear Lord, creator of all things, you knitted me in my mother’s womb, and you died for me upon a cross, all that I have comes from you. There is nowhere you can reap That you have not already sewn. Let me never be afraid of your love or your mercy.
Act
Take out your Bible and read the Parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14-30). Contemplate the servant’s description of the master and ask yourself what it reveals about the servant, and what the parable reveals about the master. Does the servant really know the one he serves? Do we really know God? Only if we truly know the son.
Today's Pause+Pray was written by Herman Sutter. Learn more here!
