Pilgrims from around the world pray to St. Sharbel in the Lebanese village of Annaya, just north of Beirut, and request his intercession. (photo: Sarah Hunter)
Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims from around the globe visit St. Sharbel?s hermitage and tomb. On the monastery’s grounds, a statue of the saint marks the spot where he was first laid to rest. A few months after his burial, mysterious dazzling lights danced around the grave. Now holes blotch the grassy area around the statue; pilgrims have taken bits of the sacred soil, which they believe to have miraculous powers. As did early Christian pilgrims, many still kiss the ground where Sharbel was once buried.
Learn more about St. Sharbel in the story, A Saint Without Borders, from our July 2009 edition of ONE.
Yesterday the U.N. Security Council extended its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for another year, the Washington Post reported:
U.N. peacekeepers have been charged with monitoring Lebanon’s southern border with Israel since 1978. The force was boosted to almost 12,000 troops after Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah fought a war in 2006.
Read more about the peacekeeping mission on the Washington Post’s web site.