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SATURDAY, JULY 24
FEAST OF SHARBEL MAKHLÛF, PRIEST

A cedar of Lebanon

Saint Sharbel (or Charbel), born in northern Lebanon in 1828, was a Maronite Catholic monk and priest. His reputation for holiness and simplicity led to his canonization in 1977. Descended from the ancient church at Antioch, Maronite Catholics spent centuries isolated from other Christian communities and appointed their own patriarch. Unique among Eastern Catholics, however, Maronites have always remained in full communion with the Church of Rome. When Sharbel was canonized, Bishop Francis Zayek, head the U.S. Diocese of St. Maron, noted that Sharbel’s canonization and other Maronite beatifications prove “that the Aramaic Maronite Antiochian Church is indeed a living branch of the Catholic Church.”


TODAY’S READINGS: Jeremiah 7:1-11; Matthew 13:24-30

“Let both of them grow together until the harvest.”


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