Recently I wandered down to Our Lady of Lourdes Church as part of my daily outing – indeed one of my very first post-surgery walks.  It was  early afternoon and I was surprised to see the car park full to overflowing with car registrations for all over this part of Ireland.  What was happening?  This was the Syro-Malabar bi-monthly Mass and the Indian Christians were here in throngs.  The church was filled with young parents, children from birth onwards and a great crowd of youth.  I was certainly the oldest member of this enthusiastic congregation!

I stayed for the whole mass prayed in Hindi throughout and with a liturgy that was barely familiar to someone like me used to the Latin rite. It was inspiring with a lot of  singing, wonderfully coloured, sparkling vestments on the priest and his eight altar servers and, of course, the altar was glittering too!

The liturgy honoured “All Saints Day” and at the very end the very youngest children came out one by one dressed as their favourite saint and speaking into a microphone telling us who they were and posing for a photo! As they spoke in English I was able to know which saint I was meeting and there were a great number. I met many familiar and well-known saints but didn’t meet my own favourite or should I say my new best friend?

Let me tell you about Yousef Antoun Makhlouf known as St. Charbel (or Sharbel) (1828-1898). He was a Lebanese Maronite monk, priest and hermit canonised by Paul VI in 1977  &  known as “the miracle monk of Lebanon.”  His  Tomb in the monastery of Saint Maron in Annaya Lebanon was visited by Pope Leo XIV on the first day of his papal visit to Lebanon.  During his life he spoke Arabic and Aramaic (classical Syriac),  the language used by Jesus and was a holy man who unified  Christians, Moslems  and members of the Druze  religion.

I first heard of him about 6 months ago from a neighbour in Templeogue; she was seriously ill for many months during which time she was sent information, holy water and holy oil of St. Charbel – a saint she too had never heard of.  Aware of my own struggle to get health care at the time she shared the knowledge and I became a devotee.  After his death there have been many extraordinary healing miracles attributed to him with all of them  well investigated, proven and documented.  There are St. Charbel prayer groups all over the world including in Ireland and the devotion is spreading.  I am keen to spread it further as this good saint is helping me greatly and is certainly an excellent “go to” intercessor when in any kind of health problem or illness.

I particularly like the story of his very first miracle:  on the day of his burial, which was Christmas eve, it was very cold with snow falling on the mountainous area making the journey both difficult & treacherous.  Suddenly, and out of season, the weather cleared, snow stopped and the sky became bright allowing the funeral procession to go safely.  So here is a saint of ecumenism, unity, healing and ecology – and my new best friend!      St. Charbel pray for us.