Seventh Sunday After Pentecost
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
7th Sunday after Pentecost
July 27, 2025
Sat 7/26/25 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +Bob Yohe by Marian Luther
Sun 7/27/25 9:30am Divine Liturgy +John Kavchak by Drew Moniot
Fri 8/1/25 7:00pm Moleben to Jesus
Sat 8/2/25 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +Beverly Zavacky by Bob, Betsy, Jenn Sychak
Sun 8/3/25 9:30am Divine Liturgy +Tim Hayes by Marian Luther
Variable Parts Tone 6 - Pages 152 - 153
Epistle Romans 15:1-7
Gospel Matthew 9:27-35
Epistle Readers 26-Jul Mary Troyan 27-Jul Amanda Stavish 2-Aug John Baycura/Mary Motko 3-Aug Hans Bergh
Memorial Candle Request: No Candle Request
Please Pray for: Louie Pocchiari, Lejen Warner, Sharon King, Ole J. Bergh, Erik Bergh, Liz Moyta, Fr. Michael Huszti, Fr. Laska, Susie Curcio, Teresa Milkovich, Robert Saper, Anna Habil, Martha Sapar, Mike Dancisin, Karen Smaretsky Vavro, Diane Sotak, Anna Pocchiari, Larry Hamil, Beverly Jones, Marilyn Book, Maryann Russin Schyvers, Nick Russin and Ken Konchan
Attendance: 7/19— 24 7/20 — 70; Collection: 7/19 & 7/20 - $1,447.00
Student Food Pantry: Our parish will begin collecting food for school age children. Each month will be a different food item. For August, it will be soups, and the donations can be placed in the baskets supplied. Any questions, contact Pam Gagen.
Ladies Guild: The Ladies Guild will have their first meeting for the 2025/2026 Guild Year on Sunday, August 3rd at 11:00am. All women are welcome to join us. We will be discussing buying new tables for the church hall as well as selling the old ones, the polka and the rummage sale.
Shoe Box Kids: Attention back to school shoppers, don't forget to buy extra school supplies for the Shoe Box Kids. The kids need school supplies, clothing, underwear, hats, gloves, toiletry items, etc. No liquid or toothpaste, please. The children are ages 2-14. There will be a box in the vestibule for you to place your items in, which our Religious Education students will pack in distribution boxes in November as part of their social services project.
Thank You: Thank you to all who answered the Ladies Guild's call for help. Our recent pirohi day was our best attended, so far. We enjoyed fun conversation, as we worked, and a light lunch, afterwards. We very much appreciate your time and talents. Please consider a volunteer shift at the polka party, September 6th. Many hands truly do make light work.
Upcoming Event Dates: 1. The Church Picnic will be held on Sunday, August 24th at Connoquenessing Park. 2. The Polka Ball will be held Saturday. September 6th at the Highfield Community Center, which is a new venue for this event.
Saint Sharbel - his civil name - Jousel Antoun Makhlouf: was born in the village of Bekaa Kafra, North Lebanon. The youngest of five children, he was baptized into the Maronite Rite of the Catholic Church. The Makhlouf family lived in the highest mountain village In Lebanon and were peasant farmers. His father, who died when Jousef was only three, was a mule driver. After his father's death, his mother remarried; his stepfather later was ordained a priest where he ministered at the local parish.
From a young age, Jousef lived a holy and devout life. Two of his uncles were hermits, and Jousef was inspired by their example. As a youth, he tended the cattle and often spent long periods of prayer in the wilderness while his cattle grazed. He was especially devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and set up a shrine to her in a nearby cave. From an early age, he knew God was calling him to the priesthood and the monastic life.
In 1851, at the age of 23, Jousef left his family, never to return, and entered the Monastery of Our Lady in Mayfouq, of the Maronite Catholic Church. His mother later wrote to him saying, "If you weren't to be a good religious, I would say to you: Come back home. But I know now that the Lord wants you in His service. And in my pain at being separated from you, I say to him, resigned: May He bless you, my child." As a newly professed monk, Jousef took the name Sharbel, after Saint Charbel the Martyr, a second-century military officer martyred in Antioch during a persecution by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.
As a monk, Brother Sharbel longed to be a hermit and made the request to his superiors many times. For the first twenty-four years of his religious life, his superiors required that he live in community with the other monks: He was first transferred to the Monastery of Saint Maroun in Annaya where he professed his vows, was then sent to the Monastery of Saints Cyprian and Justina where he studied theology and philosophy, was ordained a priest in 1859 at the age of thirty-one, and returned to the Monastery of Saint Maroun where he remained for the next sixteen years.
Though some monks lived as hermits, that vocation was reserved for those who proved themselves capable of such solitude and asceticism. In 1875, at the age of forty-seven, Father Sharbel was given permission to enter the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul to live as a hermit after a miraculous event took place. Some of his fellow monks decided to play a prank on him, filling his oil lamp with water. When he returned to his cell, he took his water-filled lamp, lit it, and it burned. When the superiors heard about this, they inspected the lamp and found it to be filled with water. Unable to explain the miracle, the superiors saw it as a sign of his sanctity and agreed to permit him to become a hermit, according to his desire. He was sent to the Hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul where he spent the next 23 years in solitude, embracing a strict regime of daily prayer, manual work, and severe asceticism. He followed the path of the hermit fathers by kneeling austerely before Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, praying quietly to Him, and immersing himself in Him throughout the night. He came to be known as "the saint inebriated with God." In 1898, at the age of seventy, St Sharbel suffered a stroke while offering Divine Liturgy, and died on Christmas Eve. He was buried in the ground without a coffin.
Though Saint Sharbel lived a life of extraordinary holiness, it wasn't until after his death that his holiness became well known. After his burial, light was seen shining forth from his grave. This phenomenon drew the attention of many villagers who braved the cold and snow to see this mysterious light.
After 4 months, permission was granted to exhume his body. To the wonderment of all, his body was found to be completely incorrupt. His skin and joints were like one who was sleeping. He was cleaned of the dirt and mud from his gravesite and placed in a coffin in the monastery chapel. Then something else began to happen. Blood and sweat appeared to be coming forth from his pores, soaking his habit. His clothing needed to be changed twice a week. Finally, in 1927, his body was carefully examined by two physicians from Beiurut, placed in another coffin, and sealed in a tomb inside the monastery wall. A little more than two decades later, a blood-like liquid was seen coming from the wall behind which Sharbel was buried. In the 1950's, his tomb was opened three times. In 1965 his body was found, once again, to be incorrupt and exuding the same blood and sweat. Finally, in 1976, the year before his canonization, his body was found to have finally decayed, only the bones remaining. Interestingly, the decay of Sharbel's body coincided with the early days of the devastating civil war that broke out in Lebanon in 1975. In 1976, the Damour massacre took place. Palestinians attacked the Maronite Christian town. Many of Damour's residents were killed in battle, massacred, or forced to flee. Ever since Sharbel's burial, those who have visited his grave have attributed many miracles to his intercession. This was especially the case in the 1950's when he was found incorrupt after fifty years. At that time, the monks started to keep track of miraculous cures that were attributed to Father Sharbel's intercession. Within two years, they had a list of more than twelve thousand reported cures. Devotion to him and his incorrupt body spread rapidly. The devotion, coupled with reports of numerous miracles, led to a new evangelization across Lebanon.
