On the eve of the anniversary of St Charbel’s canonisation, 8 October, Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay gathered with the faithful at St Charbel’s Church and Monastery in Punchbowl in thanksgiving for the life and holiness of this humble hermit of Annaya, in Lebanon.
In his homily Bishop Tarabay reflected on the extraordinary life and enduring witness of St Charbel, whose hidden sanctity has illuminated the faith of millions across the world.
Quoting from the Gospel of Matthew, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43), Bishop Tarabay said this verse “perfectly applies to St Charbel, who entered the glory of heaven on 24 December 1898, on the eve of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
On that Christmas Eve, he said, the world witnessed “a marvellous exchange” between heaven and earth: “Heaven sends to earth the Son of God made man, and Fr Charbel Makhlouf, one of the Maronite Church’s most precious pearls, a son of God by grace, is taken to heaven.”
Bishop Tarabay spoke tenderly of St Charbel’s configuration to Christ, especially in his hiddenness and his humility. Like Jesus, who veiled his divine nature in humanity and spent most of his earthly life in the quiet family abode of Nazareth, St Charbel lived a life of hidden sanctity, “behind simplicity and silence… in prayer and sacrifice.”
From his beginnings in the small mountain village of Bekaakafra to his final years in the hermitage of Ss Peter and Paul in Annaya, St Charbel’s life was one of continuous and unconditional surrender. Through solitude, contemplation, and discipline, he entered even more deeply into communion with God. “His life,” Bishop Tarabay said, “was a continual Mass; his prayer a silent praise; his silence a hymn lifted to God.”
In words that carried the weight of both history and hope, the Bishop reminded the faithful that St Charbel’s Church in Punchbowl – the first in the Lebanese diaspora to be dedicated to St Charbel – stood as a living witness to the saint’s universal reach.
“When we speak of holiness and saints in Lebanon and throughout the world, the name of St Charbel always comes first.” No longer simply a monk of the Lebanese Maronite Order, Charbel became “a saint for all peoples, religions, and nations. He was a man of Lebanon, yet his light shines under every sky.”
Describing Charbel as a “saint of God’s time,” Bishop Tarabay captured his timeless relevance: “a man who built day by day the kingdom of God within his heart; a silent man with the silence of mysteries and speaking with the power of miracles; a man Lebanese in body, universal in spirit, and heavenly in calling.”
That universality was evident in the assembly gathered before him: people of many walks of life, with different backgrounds and histories, all united in Christ by a shared devotion to St Charbel.
“The hermit of Annaya inspires the hearts of believers everywhere,” he said, “for he shows how to worship God in humility while serving the world through his intercession and healing.”
St Charbel’s life proclaims that holiness is not only possible but fruitful, even amid suffering: “From the sufferings of Lebanon and the Middle East,” Bishop Tarabay said, “the roses of sanctity still bloom and the fragrance of Christ continues to spread across the world.”
The Bishop then reflected on St Charbel’s total consecration to the Lord through his monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, with each being a facet of complete self-offering. “Through obedience,” he said, “St Charbel renounced his own will to embrace God’s will. Through chastity, he abandoned every inclination, thought, and gaze to fill his eyes, heart, and mind with the light of Christ, consecrating his love, body, and spirit totally to God. Through poverty, he let go of every worldly possession to be enriched by God alone.”
In this way, Bishop Tarabay said, St Charbel continues to reveal what Christian life truly means. “Every time we recall St Charbel, stand before his image, or pray at his tomb, we proclaim that the Christian life is, at its core, a sanctification of time, a consecration of the self, and a continual union with the crucified and risen Christ.”
After the solemn Mass and Eucharistic procession, the church walls came alive with a stunning light show – an artistic expression, that as Bishop Tarabay notes, symbolised the deeper call to discipleship. “These lights remind us,” he said, “that we too are called to radiate the light of Christ in our families, our communities, and our world.”
May St Charbel intercede for us as we strive to live up to this call!
