WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:11.679 If I were to ask you to name one of the greatest saints of the nineteenth century, most Catholics would probably mention Saint John Bieni, Saint Therese of Lisu, or maybe even Saint John Bosco. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:14.800 Very few would think of today's saint. 00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:21.440 Yet around the world millions of Christians know his name and have experienced his intercession. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:33.200 Today the church celebrates the feast of Saint Charbel Makluf, a humble Lebanese monk whose life reminds us that the greatest miracles are born from hidden holiness. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:39.039 Charbell was born in Lebanon in eighteen twenty eight into a simple Maronite Catholic family. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:44.240 His father died when he was still very young, and his mother raised him in the faith. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:49.920 As a boy he would often leave his village and climb into the hills to pray alone. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:57.520 While other children were playing, he sought silence, even that his heart belonged completely to God. 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:04.079 At the age of twenty three he quietly left his home and entered the Lebanese Maronite order. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:07.120 He did not even tell his family beforehand. 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:11.280 He knew that if he did they would beg him to stay. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:14.079 Instead he entrusted everything to God. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:25.200 He took the name Charbell, and after a second century Christian martyr, he took the name as a sign that his life would belong entirely to Christ. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:29.280 His fellow monks quietly noticed something unusual about him. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:30.959 He loved silence. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:36.079 He avoided attention, yet he was never interested in recognition or honors. 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.799 He simply wanted to pray and be with God. 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:45.599 After his ordination he spent sixteen years in the monastery before asking permission to become a hermit. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:52.959 For the next twenty three years he lived in a tiny stone hermitage overlooking the mountains of Lebanon. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.840 Imagine that, twenty three years. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:02:04.239 No social media, no travel, no conferences, no books written, no interviews, no public ministry as we would normally think of it. 00:02:04.480 --> 00:02:11.759 His days were filled with the Eucharist, manual labor, fasting, silence, and long, long hours of prayer. 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:19.759 So the world as life looked almost ignis insignificant, but heaven saw something entirely different. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:26.719 When Saint Charbell died while celebrating Mass in eighteen ninety eight, extraordinary things began to happen. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:29.199 Pilgrims reported healings. 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:31.120 The sick recovered. 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.159 People experienced profound conversions. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:42.000 Even more astonishing, witnesses observed an unexplained light surrounding his tomb for months after his burial. 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:51.120 When his tomb was opened, his body was found to be remarkably preserved, and for years a mysterious fluid continued to flow from it. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:57.680 These events drew thousands of people and led to careful investigation by church authorities. 00:02:58.159 --> 00:03:10.879 To this day, countless medical documents has documented healings and have been attributed to his intercession, making him one of the most renowned miracle workers ever in this modern era. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:14.080 But here's what I find most beautiful. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:18.639 The greatest miracle of Saint Charbell was not what happened after his death. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:21.360 It was the life he lived before it. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:26.000 He spent decades allowing God to cultivate the soil of his heart. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:28.879 And that brings us to today's gospel. 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:33.199 Once again Jesus explains the parable of the sower. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:41.919 Some seeds fell on the path, some fell on rocky ground, some seeds fell among the thorns, and some seeds fell on rich soil. 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:45.919 But notice something the seed is always the same. 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:48.319 The sower is always the same. 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:50.719 The difference is the soil. 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:54.240 Saint Charbell became rich in soil. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:04:02.080 Every day through prayer, silence, fasting, confession, the Eucharist and obedience, he removed the rocks of pride. 00:04:02.319 --> 00:04:04.800 He pulled out the weeds of distraction. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:14.240 He refused to let anxieties of the world choke the Word of God, and little by little, year after year his heart became completely available to grace. 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:19.199 We often want extraordinary holiness without ordinary faithfulness. 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:21.279 We want dramatic conversions. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:23.040 We want visible miracles. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:26.319 We want, we want, we want, we want instant sanctity. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:30.160 But saints are not made in dramatic moments. 00:04:30.399 --> 00:04:35.920 They're made in thousands and thousands of hidden small acts of fidelity that no one can see. 00:04:36.639 --> 00:04:45.120 Saint Charbell teaches us something about this noisy world, world that's desperately wanting our attention. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:47.759 Silence is not empty. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:50.079 Silence is where God speaks. 00:04:50.399 --> 00:04:52.639 Our culture fears silence. 00:04:52.959 --> 00:05:00.079 We fill every empty space with noise, with music, with podcasts, television, emails, notifications. 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:03.360 We're constantly connected to everyone except God. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:11.040 Charbell reminds us that if we never become silent, we may never hear the voice that matters most. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:13.439 The irony is remarkable. 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:21.279 A man who spent most of his life hidden in a mountain hermitage now inspires millions of people throughout the world. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:23.360 That's how God works. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.480 The world measures greatness by visibility. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:29.519 God measures greatness by holiness. 00:05:30.079 --> 00:05:33.839 So perhaps today we should ask ourselves that question. 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.720 Same question Jesus asks through the parable. 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:39.120 What kind of soil am I? 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:41.360 Has my heart become hard? 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:42.560 Is it shallow? 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:46.879 Is it crowded with worries, ambition, distraction, and noise? 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:50.800 Or is it open enough for the Word of God to take deep root? 00:05:51.040 --> 00:06:04.720 Because you see, if we cultivate our hearts as faithfully as Saint Charbell cultivated his, then the same exact word of God that transformed a quiet monk in the mountains of Lebanon can also transform you as well. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:18.560 Because in every age God continues to do his greatest miracles, his greatest work, not through those who seek to be noticed, but through those who quietly allow him to make their hearts into rich soil. 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:19.600 Amen.