Help for Families from St. Charbel and Our Lady of Fatima
We need a miracle worker. Always. Of course the power behind every miracle is God, but in his mercy, we can pray for one another so that our prayers expand and grow stronger. “The prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective” (James 5:16). The saints, our cloud of witnesses, will pray for us if we ask.
Although intentions of every sort emerge daily, praying for conversions and for families is at the heart of our mission on earth. It boils down to heaven or hell? We can pray to any saint, but those who were united to families while they walked the earth, speak the language of a praying parent in a personal way.
St. Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898) is one of those saints. The humble Maronite hermit and priest from Lebanon left behind advice and inspiration for families. He lived in obscurity, but after his death, the extraordinary phenomena of light coming from his corpse brought multitudes to his tomb. According to the Saint Charbel website, he performed hundreds of thousands of miracles as a Catholic Maronite monk and hermit and it continued after his death. His miracles have reached across denominational lines and been reported in over 133 countries. St. Maroun’s Monastery in Annaya, Mount Lebanon, where his body is entombed, receives hundreds of thousands of letters every year from people who want to share stories of miracles and wonders.
The fifth child of a mule driver and his wife, he was orphaned at an early age and raised by an uncle. He entered the monastery at the age of 23. After 16 years, St. Charbel felt called to become a hermit. He moved into a hermitage attached to the monastery. After his death at the age of 70, for 45 days, witnesses claimed a white light radiated from his body. He was canonized in 1977.
During his life, St. Charbel warned us that the devil is bent on the destruction of families. By coming to us through the Holy Family, God reinforced the importance of all families. Even among those that are broken up or never even fully formed, they carry the pieces and charism of God’s mission to be lived out and prayed about
