Why is Saint Charbel Makhlouf depicted with his eyes closed?
His image is literally going around the world these days, as Pope Leo XIV is visiting the Annaya Monastery in Lebanon, during his first apostolic journey outside Italy.
Saint Charbel is known as the Lebanese "Padre Pio," venerated by the Maronite Church, the only Eastern Church to have always remained in communion with the Holy See.
Born on May 8, 1828, in Lebanon to a peasant family, at the age of 23 he entered the Maronite Order, becoming a monk at the monastery of Annaya, where he took the name Charbel in honor of an ancient Christian martyr.
After several years of community life, he decided to retreat into a hermit's life, living in complete solitude in a small cell near the monastery. Here he lived a life of complete austerity, prayer, fasting, and meditation, seeking a deep and intimate relationship with God.
Saint Charbel died on December 24, 1898, on Christmas Eve, leaving a reputation for sanctity and total dedication to the spiritual life.
After his death, numerous miracles attributed to his intercession began to occur: healings and testimonies of spiritual consolation. These phenomena contributed to his fame as a miracle-worker, and in 1977 Pope Paul VI canonized him, recognizing him as a saint of the Catholic Church.
Since then, he has been a symbol of silent contemplation, venerated even outside Lebanon, so much so that his tomb is a place of pilgrimage and his figure is a source of inspiration for those seeking an intense spirituality, far from the din of the world.
Leo XIV emphasized the paradox of "a man who wrote nothing, who lived hidden and taciturn, yet whose fame spread throughout the world."
And what is his legacy?
"The Holy Spirit shaped him," the Pope explained,
"so that he would
teach prayer to those who live without God,
silence to those who live in noise,
modesty to those who live for appearances, poverty to those who seek riches.
These are all counter-current behaviors, but precisely for this reason we are drawn to them, like fresh, pure water to those who walk in the desert."
And why are his eyes closed?
Samer Nassif, Maronite bishop of the Diocese of Sidon, Lebanon, explained that "Saint Charbel is in the world, to the extent that he suffers with his people and prays for them, but he does not belong to them. His eyes are closed because he is turned toward God, not the world.
A suggestive and coherent image of a spirituality that seeks not visibility, but intimacy with God. All the more urgent in an age thirsty for visibility, distractions, and noise.
A very Holy and very Humble Saint. And why I am drawn to him so much. Two more Maronite Saints I am drawn to are. Saint Hardini - Nimatullah Kassab, also known as "Al-Hardini" and Saint Rafqa.