Today is the feast of St Sharbel (we didn't know who he was either until Fr Yousef, who is also Lebanese, celebrated a Maronite-rite Mass for us this morning). He is one of the greatest saints of Lebanon, priest and monk. He lived 23 years in a hermitage. Many miracles have been attributed to him (http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=534)
The Maronite-rite Mass was very beautiful. It's different and yet the same.
 |
| Passing the peace is done person to person |
After a quick breakfast we left to pick up four Missionaries of Charity sisters and headed to a barrio (neighborhood) about 20 minutes away. We started with Mass and confession for the local people and then split into two groups to bless the houses.
The first house we went to, Fr Yousef brought communion for a woman who has breast cancer. He blessed her with a relic of St Sharbel and then blessed her home. Many of the people had tears (including some of us).
 |
| Fr Yousef |
The love of neighbor that the Hondurans have is striking. It's not like anything we've seen in USA. All of the people walked from house to house to have their house blessed.
 |
| One group |
It's a beautiful country and a blessing to just walk around going house to house.
No comments:
Post a Comment