“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:21).
When I was a young bride, I visited the hermitage of Saint Charbel in Lebanon.
Inside that place, the rooms have been preserved as Saint Charbel used them during his life.
This Saint slept on a plank of wood. He rested his head on a timber log. He had no furniture and no comforts. There was a small table for eating and a chair to sit on.
The rooms were stark and cold without insulation. And the Saint lived – during his lifetime – in those rooms on the top of a Mountain in Lebanon wearing a thin robe on his back and sandals on his feet in temperatures that dropped well below freezing in the wintertime.
He worked in the garden and ate simple meals of potato and herbs. He did not eat meat or fish. When he travelled (as he very occasionally did) if he were passing his family village and family home, he restrained himself from visiting there – even stopping himself from seeing his mother – as an additional sacrifice.
He lived – in short – a life of suffering and sacrifice – living alone in the Monastery of Saints Peter and Paul for twenty-three years until his death!
Saint Charbel died, on Christmas Eve in 1898. He had a stroke while performing the Consecration, and in that moment, he died…
And I have been thinking about that today, because that Saint had nothing – not even the comfort of his family or the food in his belly or a soft pillow to rest his head on – he had nothing at all… And yet he died in the odour of Holiness, during the Consecration of Our Blessed Lord, on the eve of His birth into the world…
“Jesus told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13-21).
And I have been thinking about that today, because it seems to me that Saint Charbel is a soul who understood that this life is a journey. When I am travelling on holiday, I do not take my things with me. I leave behind my comfortable furniture, and the food in my fridge. I do not bring the pillows from my couches or the rugs that I snuggle up with. And I do this intentionally because I am on a journey.
And today, I am wondering if I will ever realise that I am supposed to do this with the whole of my life as well…
After all, this lifetime is a mere journey to the next life… And knowing that I think I could live without an awful lot more than I am living without right now!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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