Post of the Day - All Saints Day November 1, 2010



Central Russian icon (circa mid-1800's) of selected saints.

All Saints Day is a surprisingly old feast. It arose out of the Christian tradition of celebrating the martyrdom of saints on the anniversary of their martyrdom. When martyrdoms increased during the persecutions of the late Roman Empire, local dioceses instituted a common feast day in order to ensure that all martyrs, known and unknown, were properly honored.

By the late fourth century, this common feast was celebrated in Antioch, and Saint Ephrem the Syrian mentioned it in a sermon in 373. In the early centuries, this feast was celebrated in the Easter season, and the Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, still celebrate it then.
The current date of November 1 was instituted by Pope Gregory III (731-741), when he consecrated a chapel to all the martyrs in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and ordered an annual celebration. This celebration was originally confined to the diocese of Rome, but Pope Gregory IV (827-844) extended the feast to the entire Church and ordered it to be celebrated on November 1.

The vigil or eve of the feast, October 31, is commonly known as All Hallows Eve, or Halloween. Despite concerns among some Christians (including some Catholics) in recent years about the "pagan origins" of Halloween, the vigil was celebrated from the beginning—long before Irish practices, stripped of their pagan origins (just as the Christmas tree was stripped of similar connotations), were incorporated into popular celebrations of the feast.

A Prayer in Praise of Saints

How shining and splendid are your gifts, O Lord
which you give us for our eternal well-being
Your glory shines radiantly in your saints, O God
In the honour and noble victory of the martyrs.
The white-robed company follow you,
bright with their abundant faith;
They scorned the wicked words of those with this world's power.
For you they sustained fierce beatings, chains, and torments,
they were drained by cruel punishments.
They bore their holy witness to you
who were grounded deep within their hearts;
they were sustained by patience and constancy.
Endowed with your everlasting grace,
may we rejoice forever
with the martyrs in our bright fatherland.
O Christ, in your goodness,
grant to us the gracious heavenly realms of eternal life.
Unknown author, 10th century

Post of the Day - St Tabitha the Widow, raised from the dead by the Apostle Peter - October 25, 2010

St Tabitha the Widow, raised from the dead by the Apostle Peter

Saint Tabitha, the widow raised from the dead by the Apostle Peter, was a virtuous and kindly woman, belonged to the Christian community in Joppa. Being grievously ill, she suddenly died. At the time, the Apostle Peter was preaching at Lydda, not far from Joppa. Messengers were sent to him with an urgent request for help. When the Apostle arrived at Joppa, Tabitha was already dead. On bended knee, St Peter made a fervent prayer to the Lord. Then he went to the bed and called out, "Tabitha, get up!" She arose, completely healed (Acts 9:36).

St Tabitha is considered the patron saint of tailors and seamstresses, since she was known for sewing coats and other garments (Acts 9:39).

Acts 9:36-43 (New International Version)

 ³⁶In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which, when translated, is Dorcas^[a]), who was always doing good and helping the poor. ³⁷About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. ³⁸Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, "Please come at once!"
 ³⁹Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
 ⁴⁰Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up. ⁴¹He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the believers and the widows and presented her to them alive. ⁴²This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. ⁴³Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

Footnotes:

1. Acts 9:36 Both Tabitha (Aramaic) and Dorcas (Greek) mean gazelle.

Post of the Day - St. Sharbel October 21, 2010

This image of St. Sharbel is the original prayer card that was issued in 1965 when he was Beatified by Pope Paul IV.  The brown and tan square in the lower right side of the image is a relic that was touched to Saint Sharbel's body.  This card comes from a private collection of the priest and his family who started the Order of St. Sharbel in the United States.

1. The Birth of Saint SHARBEL :Youssef Antoun MAKHLOUF was born on May 8, 1828 in BKAAKAFRA (North Lebanon) from Maronite parents. They are Antoun Zaarour MAKHLOUF and Brigitta CHIDIAC. He has two brothers: John & Beshara, and two sisters: Kawn & Wardeh. Youssef was grown-up on Christian beliefs which made him infatuated with prayers since his childhood. He was inclined to hermit & monk kind of life, following the path of his hermit uncles who were living in solitary in the hermitage of Saint Antonius of Kozhayah, where they handed him the championship torch of   virtues.
   His father passed away on August 8, 1831 in Gherfin, it is a village near AMCHIT, on his way back home after he was working in corvée for the Turkish Army, so his mother raised him as an orphan. Then she was married to Lahoud Ibrahim who became the priest of the parish, choosing the name ABDELAHAD.
   Youssef studied the principals of Arabic & Syriac in the school of the village. He was very pious, to the extent that his co-villagers used to call him the “Saint”. He used to take his small herd daily to the prairies and then he would go to a grotto where he would kneel in front of the Virgin Mary Icon and pray and so this grotto became his alter and his first hermit which became later a chapel for prayer and pilgrimage for believers.        
   
       
2. His joining the Lebanese Maronite Order :On the morning of one day in the year 1851, Youssef left his parents and his village. He headed for Lady of Mayfouk monastery in the aim of becoming a monk where he spent his first preparatory year and then he went to St. Maroun’s monastery-Annaya, where he joined the Corps of the Lebanese Maronite Order, choosing the name Charbel, one of the martyrs of the second century in the Antioch Church. On the first of November in the year 1853, he revealed his monastic vows in the same monastery. He was then well informed of the precise obligations of these vows: obeying, chastity & poverty.
   He continued his theological studies in the Monastery of saint Kouberyanous & Justina, Kfifan-Batroun, under the care of his teacher the saint Nehemtallah Kassab Elhardiny, who was the ideal for the monks and a living image of the great Sanctified Monks in his private & public life.
   On July 23, 1859 Brother Charbel MAKHLOUF was ordained a priest in BKERKY, by putting the hand of the triple-merciful Archbishop Youssef ElMarid, Vicar of the Maronite Patriarchy.
   
3. His life in Saint Maroun’s Monastery-Annaya and in St Peter & Paul hermitage :
   Father Charbel lived in St. Maroun’s Monastery-Annaya for a period of sixteen years. He was obedient to his superiors, sticking to his monkhood law precisely. He was ruthless on himself by living strict austerity and mortification. He denounced all worldly materials in the earthly life, to go to serve his Lord and the salvation of his soul. 
   During the year 1875 God inspired father Charbel to live in hermitage in St. Peter & Paul which belongs to St. Maroun’s Monastery-Annaya, in spite of the fact that the superiors usually, do not allow seclusion in the hermit easily. While the father superior was hesitating, he received a sign from heaven visualized by the miracle of the lamp. As one night, Priest Charbel asked the servant to fill the lamp with oil, but instead of oil he filled it with water. But the lamp gave light ordinarily. This miracle opened the sequence of the Charbelite’s miracles, and approached the day destined for the hermit to go to his desired secluded home.
   On Feb. 15, 1875 priest Charbel moved definitively to the Hermit, where he was the ideal as a saint and a hermit, spending his time in silence, prayer, worship and manual labor in the fields. He never left the Hermit except in a permission of his superior. He followed the life path of the Saints hermit fathers, kneeling on a dish of canes in front of the Eucharist, whispering to it and inebriate by it throughout the nights.
   He spent 23 years in the hermit, dedicating himself to the service of his Lord, applying the rules of hermits with precision and full consciousness.
   During the holy ceremony on December 16, 1898 he was struck by hemiplegia, and entered in a duel with the illness which remained for 8 days, during which he endured the terrible pains of struggle with death calmly, silently in spite of the severe aches. In his struggle Father Charbel continued his prayers which he could not finish in the mass: “Father of righteousness, here is Your son a pleasing sacrifice!...” he would repeat as well the names of Jesus & Mary St Joseph and Peter & Paul the Patron Saints of the hermit
   The spirit of St Charbel flew free, liberated going back to the dwelling of the Lord, just like the return of the drop of dew to the wider ocean, on the 24th of December 1898, on Christmas Eve. He was buried in the burial area of St Maroun’s Monastery- Annaya.
   
        
4. The mysterious light radiating from his tomb :
   After his death spiritual lights radiated from his tomb the reason for which his corpse which was perspiring sweat & blood; was transferred into a special coffin, after the permission of the Maronite patriarchate, and he was placed in a new tomb, inside the monastery. At that point groups of Pilgrims flocked soliciting his intercession. God blessed many of these by healing them and endowing them by other spiritual blessings.
   In the year 1925, a petition was raised to canonize him and declare his sanctity before his Beatitude Pope Bios XI, by father superior Ighnatious Dagher Tannoury, & his Vicar father Martinous Tarabay, where his plea was accepted as well as father Nehemtallah Kassab Elhardidni and Sister Rafca Elrayess in the year 1927. In 1950 the grave of St. Charbel was opened, in the presence of the Official Committee & Certified Doctors. They verified the wholeness of the corpse, and they wrote a medical report and put it in a box inside the coffin.
   All of a sudden, the healing happenings increased numerously & in an amazing way. Tens of thousands of pilgrims of different sects and rites flocked Annaya monastery requesting the intercession of the Saint.
   
5. The prevailing of virtues and miracles  of Saint Cahrbel world wide :
   St. Charbel miracles surpassed the boarders of Lebanon, and the Letters and reports kept in St. Maroun’s Monastery – Annaya are lucid evidence on the widespread of his sanctity all over the world. This unique phenomenon induced a comeback to good morals and a return to faith and a revival of virtues in the souls of people, and St Charbel Graveyard the center of attraction to all people of different social class and ages, and all became equal before him by prayers and piety, with no separation in religion or rite or sect. For him they are all called the Sons of God.
   But the curing registered in the records of St Maroun’s Monastery – Annaya achieved by God thru the intercession of Saint Cahrbel exceeds tens of thousands, excluding the healings widespread Worldwide to all colors, religions and sects, and these are not registered in the Monastery records. Ten percent on the curing were done to those not even baptized, and each cure was done in a different way, either by prayer and requesting intercession, or by oil & scent, or by the oak leaves of the hermit, or from the soil taken from his graveyard, or by visiting his grave and just touching the door of his tomb, or through his icon or statue.
   Some of these healings were on the physical level, but the most important is the spiritual healing of how many repentant returned to his God by the intercession of St. Charbel, just by the first step into the threshold of St. Maroun’s  Monestary- Annaya or the hermit of St. Peter & Paul.

Post of the Day - St. Theresa of Lisieux, The Little Flower

"My Little Way"

Thérèse's spiritual journey was a solitary one. The Holy Spirit indeed mapped out a way of truth for her. "I have never looked for anything but the truth" - showing her the depths of the Holy Trinity's love and a "way" of uniting herself with it which had nothing to do with classroom learning; but rather was rooted in everyday life. It was through divine intervention that her prioress (Mother Marie de Gonzague) asked her to record her life in writing and entrusted novices to her care, in turn revealing a spirituality unparalleled in one so young.

At the age of 22, a long period of searching came to an end. The "Way of Spiritual Infancy", which was to symbolize her contribution, was revealed to her. As a young girl, she energetically sought holiness.

"I must become a saint," she wrote in 1888 but was continually frustrated by her own helplessness and weakness. After reading in St. John of the Cross, that "God never inspires a wish that cannot be fulfilled", she found new courage (and this after 7 years of religious life). Conscious of her own weakness, but willingly trusting in God's Merciful Love, which finds its way even to the humble, she came to love her poverty. Her offering of herself to Merciful Love begins with these words; "God is asking me to do something, I cannot do it on my own, so He will do it for me". (June 9, 1895). From this moment on Thérèse lived the daring surrender of herself. A totally dependent child has no choice but to surrender itself completely to its father's merciful love.

Again, Thérèse discovered the truth of Jesus' words, "If you do not become as little children, you shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven" (Mt 18:3). The way of "spiritual infancy" is Jesus' own way as a son - the supreme son, living only for his Father. Who is more fully an adult but Jesus or more fully a child? From this point on Thérèse lost her fear of sin, of falling asleep during prayer or any other imperfection - love had burned everything away. In her autobiography, Story of a Soul, Thérèse writes about this "love".

"The practice of charity, as I have said, dear Mother (Mother Agnes, her sister Pauline, the prioress at the time), was not always so sweet for me, and to prove it to you I am going to recount certain little struggles which will certainly make you smile. For a long time at evening meditation, I was placed in front of a Sister who had a strange habit and I think many lights because she rarely used a book during mediation. This is what I noticed: as soon as this Sister arrived, she began making a strange little noise which resembled the noise one would make when rubbing two shells, one against the other. I was the only one to notice it because I had extremely sensitive hearing (too much so at times). Mother, it would be impossible for me to tell you how much this little noise wearied me. I had a great desire to turn my head and stare at the culprit who was very certainly unaware of her "click". This would be the only way of enlightening her. However, in the bottom of my heart I felt it was much better to suffer this out of love for God and not to cause the Sister any pain. I remained calm, therefore, and tried to unite myself to God and to forget the little noise. Everything was useless. I felt the perspiration inundate me, and I was obliged simply to make a prayer of doing it without annoyance and with peace and joy, at least in the interior of my soul. I tried to love the little noise which was so displeasing, instead of trying not to hear it (impossible). I paid close attention so as to hear it well as though it were a delightful concert, and my prayer (which was not the Prayer of Quiet) was spent in offering this concert to Jesus."

The vision of her own end was revolutionary - not rest but action.

"I will spend my heaven doing good on earth".

By St. Theresa

Post of the Day - Saint Francis of Assisi - October 10, 2010

Saint Francis of Assisi (Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226)

Born to a prosperous family in Assisi, St. Francis realized as a young man that his life was to take a different course than one of earthly wealth and status. At a time when the Church needed a voice and witness to simplicity and total surrender to the generosity of God, Francis became a poor man because of his love for Jesus.

One day, during prayer at the church of St. Damian, Francis heard God speak to him through the cross of this beautiful, though neglected building. He heard the words, “Francis, go and repair My house.” He immediately began to restore the structure itself, only later to understand that God had called Francis to restore the Church in spirit and truth.

In 1224 Francis received the Stigmata, the wounds of Christ, through which he grew in great holiness and closeness to the sufferings of the Lord. Francis was known for his gentle manner and humble heart, preaching the Good News even to the birds of the forest and fellowshipping with the wild animals living in the surrounding lands. Indeed, Francis considered all creation his family.

The founder of the Friars Minor, Francis made significant contributions to the growth of Christianity and the medieval Church.

In this icon Francis is shown with a symbol of the Cross of Santo Damiano and a dove of light. The forty-five main feathers comprising the dove’s tail and wings is equal to the number of years Francis walked this earth as a symbol of peace and purity in a troubled world

Saints Sarkis & Bacchus

Sts. SARKIS & BAKHOS
(St. Sergius & Bacchus)
Martyrs, c.-303

Saints Sergius and Bacchus were third century Roman soldiers. They were Roman citizens and high-ranking officers of the roman army. Sergius was an officer in the roman army, Bacchus an officer under him and both were serving under Maximian, the emperor, on the Syrian frontier. They died in 303 AD, Bacchus in Syria, Sergius at Resafa, Syria. They were commemorated as martyrs by the catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches. They were a secret Christians. Their feast day is October 7. They were one of the most famous examples of paired Saints. The popularity of the cult of Sergius and Bacchus grew rappidly during the early 5th century, in accordance with the growth of the cult of martyrs, especially military martyrs. They were venerated as protectors of the army. A large monastery church, the little Hagia Sophia, was dedicated to them in Constantinople by Justinian I, probably in 527. Sergius was a very popular saint in Syria and Christian Arabia.
Legend
According to the greek text “The Passion of Sergius and Bacchus”, one day, Sergius and his Lieutenant Bacchus were with the emperor when he entered the temple of Jupiter to offer sacrifice. They remained outside and refused to sacrifice to Zeus. The emperor ordered them to come in and worship. After they refused and their covert Christianity was discovered, they were publicly humiliated.The emperor Maximian ordered that the officers be stripped of their arms, dressed in woman’s clothes, and paraded through the streets. Then he sent them to be tried by the governor, who had them severly beaten that Bacchus died under the lash. The next day, he appeared to Sergius and encouraged him to remain strong. Over the next days, Sergius was also brutally tortured and finally executed at Resafa, where his death was marked by miraculous happenings.
Saint Sarkis and Bacchus parishes
These two Saints are still popular in the East, where their names are common baptismal name. Some parishes in Northern Lebanon:

• Aslout
• Basloukit
• Amioun
• Kousba
• Zgharta
• Kobayat
• Kfifen
• Qnat
• Tourza
• Hadsheet
• Kafaraabida
• Miziara
• Bcharre

Prayer

---

Saints Sarkis & Bakhos, the martyrs who knew the Christianity with the grace of the Lord, and believed in his Son Jesus Christ. You were the commanders in the Roman army, where you prayed to the Lord and your friends worshiping the pagan gods.
And when they discovered that you were Christians, you were ordered to deny Jesus, you refused and you declared that you worship Jesus only and him only you adore, you died as martyrs for your love for Jesus.
We ask you to intercede for us with God our Lord.
Be an example of courage and obedience, and teach us to long for the heaven similar to you.
And as you loved Jesus and bear witness to him in front of kings and governors, bestowing your lives because of your love for him, we ask you to pray for us that we also love Jesus and bear witnesses to him with our acts in front of everyone. Renew our Christian people in the East, and sow the seeds of faith in their hearts.
Let your blood that was shed on the lake of Forat, be a pledge for a new covenant and new peace for the Church , so we can glorify God our Lord with you forever and ever.


Amen.

Post of the Day October 6, 2010

Did you know that God is near you every day?

God is in the thick of things in your world. He has not taken up a home far away from you. He has not chosen to seclude Himself on a throne in a beautiful castle far away in another country.
He has drawn near. He has involved Himself in your work, your family and every part of our day. He is as near to us on Monday as He is on Sunday. As near in the schoolroom or in our home as he is in the sanctuary.

“He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”  Isaiah 53:12

Read About St. Cyprian and St. Justina

http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2009/10/sts-cyprian-and-justina-martyrs-of.html