Massabki brothers

July 10th is the feast of the 3 Massabki brothers.

Massabki Brothers

I will not go into the story of the Massabki brothers as they can be found throughout the internet including the following site:

Massabki Brothers Biography

What I do want to point out... other than the actually martyrdom of these saints... is the little details of each of the brother's lives.

One... Francis Ne'meh Massabki... was married and had a total of 8 children (three boys and five girls). Although he had a fabulous wealth, Francis knew what was more important in life and that was the spiritual health and wellbeing of his family. Francis would say morning prayers, attend Liturgy and received communion every day before going off to work. This is something we all can learn from Francis. Before we all go about our business in life... we must offer up our day to the Lord and as much as possible seek communion with Him, whom we love.

The 2nd brother, Abdel Mohti Ne'meh Massabki, had another important devotion that we should consider taking up and that was visiting the Blessed Sacrament each day and observing the days of fasting (especially during Lent). These days, we all have cars or we have Catholic churches nearby so there really is no good excuse to not go see our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. It is also important to observe the fasts during the year as it will help you grow in self-control and ties our denial of self to the death of our Lord.

As for Raphael Ne’meh Massabki, what sticks out to me is his devotion to Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary. He would pray to Our Lady even in his business dealings of the day. I strongly encourage you to always keep the Virgin Mary near you and in your prayers because as we see in the wedding at Cana, she will bring the petitions directly to her Son in a pure fashion that we weak creatures just cannot do without her help.

After reading about the lives of these lay men, I was so sad to see the lack of devotion to these saints.

I never knew about these Maronite saints until I met Abouna Charbel.

For me, I can only pray to these wonderful brothers in hope that I can be more like them.

The Massabki Brothers, pray for all of us.
- Elie

Are you suppose to be a saint?

One of the biggest problems I find in today's life is that we think in order to be a saint we need to do heroic things like St. Charbel (become a priest, pray constantly and live away from the world), or like St. Rafqa (become a nun, be celibate, and suffer much).

Many of my family and friends have constantly asked me if I will be joining the priesthood; as if the only way to be holy and to follow Christ is to be a priest. This mentality has affected many minds both in Lebanon and in Canada BUT this is not truly the case.



Abouna Yaacoub

All-be-it, being a priest and a nun are holy and important in their own way but most of us will not be priests or nuns.

Does that mean that us, lay people, will not be saints?

Well, I guess the first thing is to define saint... the Merriam-Webster's dictionary has many definitions for it but I will use only two for my case:

1: one officially recognized especially through canonization as preeminent for holiness

2: one of the spirits of the departed in heaven

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The first defines the St. Rafqa's and the St. Charbel's of the world and the second is and should be US!

A saint is a spirit that has departed to heaven... so the question to us is, do we want to be in heaven?



Heaven!



I certainly want to be that soul on the left that is hugging our Lord.

Pope Benedict XVI says,

"Saintliness, the fullness of Christian life, does not consist in the achievement of extraordinary feats, but in uniting oneself with Christ… in making His disposition … His behaviour … our own.

Not infrequently we tend to think that holiness is a goal reserved for a select few but it's not as the Second Vatican council reminds us.

We are all called to follow this path which is rooted in the baptismal grace and being imparted in the Paschal mystery of Christ.

God always respects our freedom and asks to accept this gift and to live with the demands it brings and Christian Holiness is none other than charity fully experienced, a seed that must be cultivated by participating frequently in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and the Holy Liturgy.

Christians must constantly apply themselves in prayer and in the act of service to their brothers and the exercise of every virtue."

The Pope continues... "For my personal faith, it is not just some of the great saints that I know and love who show the way but also simple saints, that is good people who I see in my life and who will never be canonized. They are ordinary people without visible heroism but in their goodness of every day, I see the truth of the faith."

Personally, Opus Dei has helped me grow closer to God by serving others, frequenting the sacraments and improving society. Here is a link to their site: Opus Dei or feel free to talk to me at church before or after the Divine Liturgy.

So, the question is, do you want to be a saint?

God Bless,
Elie

St. Charbel, pray for us

Welcome to the new St. Charbel Maronite Church Blog

St. Charbel Maronite Church of Mississauga now has a Blog!

This blog will showcase the many aspects of our Maronite faith including (and not limited to):

• Liturgy
• Christian Life
• Devotions
• Maronite History
• Prayer

Father Charbel, myself and others will contribute to the blog. If anyone feels like writing something that you feel would be beneficial for the community, feel free to contact Fr. Charbel or Me @ ewehbe@live.ca.

God Bless,
Elie

St. Charbel, pray for us