Our reading from the 38th chapter of Isaiah today shows how God can help us when we turn to him in our lowest moments. King Hezekiah faces a terminal illness. He pleads to God to have mercy on him. God hears his sincere prayers, heals him, and extends his life by 15 years. God grants Hezekiah a second chance. God hears the cries of those with sincere and humble hearts.
We celebrate the feast day of a Lebanese priest today named St Charbel Makhluf. We have a lot of Lebanese in our Diocese of Jackson, especially in the Jackson metro area and in the Mississippi Delta, and one of my good friends form seminary is Lebanese, so celebrate St Charbel today resonates with me in a lot of ways. Charbel was born in a small village in Lebanon in 1828 to a very humble family. His father, a mule driver, died when he was 3, so he was raised by an uncle. He entered the Monastery of St Maron in Lebanon and was ordained a priest. For the last 23 years of his life, he lived as a hermit in the desert where he practiced a life of strict fasting and of strong devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. People sought him out for his prayers due to his reputation for holiness. The life of a hermit is challenging, disciplined, and austere; it is not a life that draws everyone. But God calls us different way, just as he calls some to the life of a monk or a hermit. May God's calling, and his life and mercy, call out to us today.
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