From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Never Tire of Trying   
      
      "Be assured that you can never be perfect in this world unless you realize   
   that it is impossible for you to be perfect here. Therefore, your aim in life   
   should be as follows.   
      Always try your best in doing what you have to do, so that you may reach   
   perfection. Never get tired of trying, because there is always room for   
   improvement."   
   --St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 33, 14   
      
   Prayer: How do I seek you, O Lord? For when I seek you, it is happiness I   
   seek. Let me seek you that my soul may live; as my body lives by my soul, so   
   my soul lives by you.   
   --St. Augustine--Confessions 10, 20   
      
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   July 24th - Saint Charbel Makhlouf, "Wonderworker of the East"   
   (also known as Sharbel )   
      
   Saint Charbel Makhlouf “Hermit of Lebanon,” Maronite Catholic monk,   
   and “Wonderworker of the East.” Pope Paul VI said of him, “a hermit of   
   the Lebanese mountain is inscribed in the number of the blessed, a new   
   eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching, by his example and   
   his intercession, the entire Christian people. May he make us   
   understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the   
   paramount value of poverty, penance and asceticism, to liberate the   
   soul in its ascent to God..."   
      
   Youssef Makhlouf was born in 1828 in Bika’Kafra, the highest village   
   of Lebanon, near the grove of the still-conserved famous cedars of   
   Lebanon. He was the youngest of 5 children born to a pious mother, who   
   lived the life of a religious within their home. Youssef worked as a   
   shepherd in the fields for most of his childhood, especially following   
   the death of his equally pious father. Following his father’s death,   
   the family was supported by a kind and generous uncle. Youseff was   
   profoundly affected by the example of his two other maternal uncles,   
   who were both monks of the Maronite Lebanese Order. These monks lived   
   in a hermitage approximately 3 miles away, and young Youssef would   
   often visit them--first with his mother, and late on his own. They   
   would tell him repeatedly: “All here below is nothing, the world is   
   vanity, life is short. The true beauty is God, near Him there is true   
   happiness. Wisdom is to not find oneself with empty hands at the   
   supreme hour.”   
      
   Youssef grew in maturity and piety. He spent hours each day praying   
   and reading Holy Scriptures and Christian literature. His favorite   
   book was Thomas a Kempis's “The Imitation of Christ,” which he began   
   in earnest attempting to follow. Youssef served Mass every morning,   
   and in that function, on the alter, he discovered the true purpose of   
   his existence: to be, like his Savior, a victim to be offered, with   
   Christ, to His Father.   
      
   At the age of 23, Youssef left home one morning without warning, and   
   walked to the monastery of the Maronite Order. There, he entered the   
   order, with the support of his mother, and received the habit only one   
   week later. He chose the name of Saint Charbel, a martyr of the church   
   of Antioch. At the monastery of Annaya, Charbel served his community   
   for two years, as a novice. He was then sent to prepare for ordination   
   to the priesthood at Saint Cyprian of Kfifan. Six years later, at the   
   age of 31, he was ordained. For 16 years her served the members of his   
   congregation and community, a model of Christian humility, obedience,   
   patience, and love. He dedicated himself totally to Christ to live,   
   work and pray in silence   
      
   At 47, he returned to the hermitage near Annaya, where he would remain   
   until his death. There, he lived a life of contemplation, penance, and   
   mortification. During the extreme cold of the winters, he refused to   
   put on additional clothes, shivering through his prayers in simple   
   robes. Following his death, the monks who trembled with cold during   
   the night when they kept vigil at his coffin before his funeral, said:   
   “See how we find ourselves unable to endure for a single night, the   
   rude cold of this chapel! How could this priest live here for 23   
   years, on his knees, like a statue before the altar, every night from   
   midnight until eleven in the morning, when he rose to say his Mass?   
   Blessed is he, for he undoubtedly receives at present his reward with   
   God!” Saint Charbel also gained a reputation for holiness, and despite   
   his wish to live in isolation, was much sought for counsel and   
   blessing. He had a great personal devotion to the Blessed Sacrament,   
   and was known to levitate during his prayers. He reportedly never   
   raised his eyes from the ground, his face shrouded by his cloak,   
   unless his gaze was fixed on the tabernacle during the Eucharist.   
      
   The week before Christmas, while Saint Charbel was offering Mass,   
   paralysis struck him suddenly as he elevated the Eucharist during the   
   consecration. For one week, he suffered in agony, repeating the prayer   
   he was unable to complete during the Mass: “O Father of truth, behold   
   Your Son, victim to please You; condescend to approve [this offering],   
   because for me He endured death, to give me life...”   
      
   On the evening of his funeral, his superior wrote: “Because of what he   
   will do after his death, I need not talk about his behavior.” A few   
   months later, a bright light was seen surrounding his tomb. The   
   superiors ordered the tomb to be opened, and they found his body   
   perfectly preserved, incorrupt (as it remains today). Scientific   
   experts and doctors have been unable to explain this phenomenon. Since   
   his death, thousands of miracles have been attributed to his   
   intercession, giving him the title “Wonderworker of the East.” Sick   
   and infirm people of every religion and nationality have been healed:   
   deaf, dumb, blind, paralytic, those with cancer, mental illness, and   
   many others. God worked these wonders either when people touched the   
   body of the holy saint, were anointed with the oily liquid that sweats   
   miraculously from his precious remains, or when they touched cloth   
   soaked with this liquid or which had belonged to him.   
      
   At the closing of the Vatican II in 1965, Charbel was beatified by   
   Pope Paul VI who said: "Great is the gladness in heaven and earth   
   today for the beatification of Sharbel Makhlouf, monk and hermit of   
   the Lebanese Maronite Order. Great is the joy of the East and West for   
   this son of Lebanon, admirable flower of sanctity blooming on the stem   
   of the ancient monastic traditions of the East, and venerated today by   
   the Church of Rome.”   
      
   Bishop Zayek wrote: “Saint Charbel is called the 2nd Saint Anthony of   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)