Date/Time
Date(s) - 03/11/2016
All Day
Location
Our Lady of Lebanon Church
Category(ies)
People from all over the Lehigh Valley will have an opportunity to learn about a man who Maronite Catholics have venerated since the 19th-century. St. Sharbel Makhlouf was a Lebanese Monk who is credited with miracles claimed from Lebanon to the United States. St. Sharbel’s relics will be on display at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church as part of a nationwide tour commemorating the 50th anniversary of his beatification by Pope Paul VI in 1965. He was canonized a saint by Pope Paul VI in 1977, and Maronites all over the world celebrate his feast day each year on July 24th.
All are invited to attend and join the parish community of Our Lady of Lebanon Church in veneration and fellowship.
Born in 1828 in North Lebanon, Youssef Antoun Makhlouf, inspired by his uncles who were Monks, left his family in 1851 to also pursue a monastic life, and in 1859, Brother Sharbel, the name he chose, was ordained a Priest in the Maronite Catholic church. Fr. Sharbel spent the next several decades living a strict, ascetic life and eventually became a hermit, until his death on Christmas Eve, 1898. After his death, a light began to shine from his tomb. His body was exhumed several times over the next two centuries and found to be intact, bleeding and sweating.
A great number of miracles have been attributed to St. Sharbel since his death, including most recently, a blind woman from Arizona who regained her sight after praying for St. Sharbel’s intercession with the Pastor of a church in Phoenix, where his relics were on display.
SCHEDULE OF RELICS’ VISIT:
Wednesday, March 9th:
3pmET: Arrival
3:30pmET: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
6pmET: Confessions
7pmET: Maronite Liturgy celebrated in English
8:15pmET: Showing of Biopic about the life of St. Sharbel
8:15pmET: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament until 11pmET
Thursday, March 10th:
10amET: Morning Prayer
10amET: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament until 7pmET
12pmET: Liturgy celebrated in Spanish
3pmET: Rosary
3:30pmET: Healing Mass
6pmET: Confessions
7pmET: Maronite Liturgy in Arabic
8:15pmET: Second showing of the Biopic
8:15pmET: Final Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament throughout the night
Friday, March 11th:
8amET: Morning Prayer
8:30amET: Maronite Liturgy
Following the visit to Easton, St. Sharbel’s relics will be on display at St. Maron’s Church in Philadelphia.
For more information, please contact Fr. Simon El Hajj at 610-252-5275. You may also visit our website at: www.ololeaston.org or email us at: ololchurch@yahoo.com.