The Maronite Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Rai’s Prayer to the Great Saint Charbel
For the feast of Saint Charbel, a solemn Mass was celebrated in Bekaa Kafra, the village where this great saint was born and raised. After the Gospel reading, Patriarch Rai, who presided over the Eucharistic sacrifice, gave a spiritual homily in which he recited this prayer to Saint Charbel:
“Saint Charbel, light shining upon the universe, we ask you tonight to draw us into the light of God, so that we may be children of the light, living as sons and daughters of light, with no darkness or gloom in us.
You, through your great love for God and your firm and steadfast faith,
like the rocks of this Holy Valley,
took root here in faith and rose to the heights of heaven. You who shine like the sun in the heavenly Kingdom, ask Christ the Redeemer to pour out His light upon us, so that we may understand anew that our nature is a nature of light, and that we are called to be light in every place, at every time and in every circumstance, and to raise with you and all the saints the hymn of glory and praise to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.
Amen.”
Prepared by Rita of the Sawt el Rab team
