Charbel's friends

SAINT CHARBEL'S "SIGNES":
NOHAD AL CHAMI AND RAYMOND NADER

Charbel is a friend whom everyone would take as a shoulder to cry on. He is the miracle in itself. His life as well as his death is a miracle. His attraction to people is a miracle. The frequency of people’s visits his tomb to Annaya, is a miracle. St Charbel is a great intercessor who knows no obstacle between him and those asking his intercession, and develops a true relationship with them, which, many times, leads to a miracle through God’s will. The Church has confirmed two miracles for the beatification of St Charbel, and the third for canonization.
Charbel miracles are thousands, but the following are particularly famous and amazing.

Nohad Al-Chami

Nohad Al-Chami

In January 1993, Nohad Al-Chami, a Lebanese woman who is now 75 - mother of 12 children - suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. The double blockage of the carotid artery paralyzed the left side of her body.
On 21 January 1993 Nohad had a "dream". "Two monks came towards my bed. One of them, St Charbel, came nearer, uncovered my neck, put his hand on it and said: I have come to operate on you. I turned my head to see his face, but I couldn't, because the light coming from his body and eyes was too blinding and powerful. I was so confused, and asked him: Father, why do you want to operate on me? The doctor didn't say I need an operation. But St Charbel said: Definitely, you need an operation, and I, Father Charbel, have come to do it for you. I looked towards the statue of the Virgin, placed near me, and said: Holy Mary, please help me; how are these monks going to operate without anesthetics or sutures ? Then I realized that the Virgin's statue was standing between the monks. "Suddenly, I felt a terrible pain under Charbel's fingers, which were rubbing my neck. When St Charbel finished the operation, the other monk approached, put me in a sitting position, and placed a pillow behind my back. He reached for a glass of water, put his hand behind my head and said: Drink this water. I cannot drink without a straw, I said. He replied: We have operated on you, and now you will drink this water; then you will stand up and walk.
"I woke up and felt water running down my throat, and found myself sitting in the same position as the Father had placed me in. Suddenly I felt a burning in my neck, and unconsciously put my hand there, to find out what was happening. Then I realized that my paralyzed hand had become normal again; I felt my [paralyzed] foot moving normally under the blanket. I got out of bed in a semi-conscious state and knelt before the picture of St Charbel and the statue of the Virgin, to thank them. I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror; I saw two wounds of twelve centimeters each, at both sides of my neck. "I went to my husband's bedroom and turned on the light. My husband looked at me and shouted: Woman! How did you get here alone? Now you'll stumble and fall and a new catastrophe will be added upon another! I raised my paralyzed hand and told him: "Have no fear, St Charbel operated on me, and now I can walk."
This story, described in a second booklet published by the Monastery in which Charbel lived, has a follow-up to it: after another dream, in which Charbel appeared to her, Nohad discovered that there was oil flowing from a portrait of the Saint. This has continued up to the present moment, as our colleague in Lebanon, Nabil Matraji, was able to verify for himself: "It is an amazing sight," he said. However, it is not only Charbel's portrait in Nohad's home which oozes healing oil. The same phenomenon is happening with oil flowing from the portrait of the founder of the Maronite Order, St Maroun, after whom the order was named. The same Maroun, so Nohad learned in a later dream, was the second monk who had helped in the operation which cured her.
News of the miracle soon spread far and wide and her home became a magnet of attraction. Fearing for her health, Nohad decided to fee to another location, but St Charbel visited her again in a dream and tell her: “I have left the scars in compliance with God’s will so that everyone may see, especially those who have abandoned God, and be converted. Return to monastery on the 22 of each month, the anniversary of your healing, and participate at the Mass there, where I’m always present. Her healing has been examined by several scientists and in 2002, an ultrasound revealed that the woman had indeed received bilateral surgery, that her arteries were in good conditions, and that the cerebral hemorrhage had not damaged her brain.

Raymond Nader

Raymond Nader

Raymond Nader, a Lebanese electro-mechanical engineer, carries with him quite spectacular evidence of Charbel's activities: on one arm he has five fingerprints literally burnt into his skin. The scorched fingerprints have already renewed themselves six times.
Raymond Nader told his story earlier this year, in April 1997, in front of the TV cameras. On 9 November 1994 he spent a night in the hermitage where Charbel had lived for 23 years. He wanted to meditate and had lit five candles. It was a still, cold night. "Suddenly," he told, "I felt warmth around me in the cold night, and a fiery, warm wind began to blow. However, to my great surprise the flames of the candles were steady and still. I tried to reason scientifically, but I thought I might be dreaming or hallucinating. Suddenly I lost my five senses. There was no more warmth or wind or flames. I was in a different world, a world bathed in light. Not the usual light we know, not white, but transparent like crystal water. The light didn't come from a specific direction, but from everywhere. It was a billion times brighter than the light of the Sun... "In that light I felt a Presence, I couldn't see it, but I was aware of it. "No, you are not dreaming, you are more awake than ever. The Voice came from nowhere and yet from everywhere. I heard it in every part of me, not with my physical ears. It expressed itself to me with no words, no sounds. The Presence presented itself to me as a "feeling" of deep peace, and joy and love. At a certain moment I felt that this experience had come to an end. I wanted this joy and peace to last forever, and if the Presence couldn't stay, I wished at least it would take me with it; but He made me understand that He is always here."
Gradually Nader returned to normal consciousness. "I looked at the candles with astonishment: they were totally consumed. My watch indicated that four hours has passed in a blink of an eye. I left the hermitage, and on the way to my car I felt heat in my arm. I thought it might be a scratch, or an animal's sting. But the heat grew stronger. I took off my pullover, and in the light of my car saw five fingerprints on my arm, showing every detail of human fingers, including the wrinkles and the nails. It was very hot, but there was no pain at all, only itching. For five days it oozed blood and water."
Doctor Nabil Hokayem, a plastic surgeon, one of the most famous surgeons in Lebanon, confirmed that it was a second-degree burn. On the occasion of the Feast Day of Charbel on 15 July in 1995, Raymond Nader had a new and extraordinary experience while visiting the Monastery of St Maroun. "On my way to Charbel's hermitage, I saw a procession ahead of me. I recognized the monks of the monastery, but at the end of the procession was a very old priest. I approached him to ask a few questions. As I came closer to him, everything around me changed. All sounds disappeared, but the old priest's voice resounded inside my head." It was then that Nader heard one of six messages which he attributes to Charbel. With each message the fingerprints on his arm were renewed.
The following are quotations from these messages:
"The Lord has created each human being to shine, to enlighten the world; you are the light of the world. Each man is a lantern meant to shine; the Lord has provided a clear and transparent glass to the lantern, to enable that light to shine and illuminate the world; but they are taking care of the glass and forgetting about the light; they are caring about the glass shape, coloring and decorating it, until it becomes thick, opaque, preventing light from shining forth, and thus is the world drowned in darkness. The Lord insists on illuminating the world. Your glass must become transparent again. You should realize the purpose for which you are born in this world."
"Christ knows what is in your hearts, and it is your hearts that he wants. Don't seek for the truth outside the Christ; when you know the Christ, you will know the Truth and you will be free. The Christ wants you to be free. Fear not, and be sure that the Christ has defeated the world."
"The Church of the Christ is a rock upon which are being shattered the waves of evil. Christ is the way. Crosses of light will flood the Earth."