A firm Resolution

From Estephan’s Young Days.

In 1905, Youssef left his home quietly and secretly to the monastery of Kfifane to become a monk. His brothers were very surprised as they used to see in him the perfect youth, the monk at home, so they were saddened by his leave. They followed him to the monastery and tried to convince him to return back but he wouldn’t accept and told them:” I came here, I’ll die here”.

The Monastery Of Kfifane

Youssef began his novitiate with Priest Aghnatios Al Tannouri who was the novice’s teacher at that time, the righteous man who sowed in him the seed of Sainthood and Youssef was very content with his monastic call. According to his “Saint Teacher” he was memorizing all the rules with great motivation and love, giving the good example to his fellow brothers, evolving in the scale of monastic perfection, taking the name of Estephan after his father, and the first Christian martyr to whom the church of his village is consecrated.

Father Matthew Zan witnessed upon a formal visit of the Superior, father Youssef Raffoul saying: the situation of the novices is satisfactory on all levels, nothing impeaches their spiritual journey, their teacher father Aghnatios Al Tannouri is doing his best to promote them to perfection…All residents of this monastery are performing their spiritual duties in all aspects, praying by tongue and mind, going to confession most of the days, taking the Holy Communion, and the holy spiritual state available within the residents of this monastery is hard to find anywhere else, they seem not to be humans!

During his continuous prayers and meditations in his two years of novitiate, brother Estephan understood that God created us on his image and pattern, for us to be holy. He often heard his teacher Aghnatios Al Tannouri saying that Sainthood does not come by chance, it is a choice and a decision, and it is a grace and a will: the grace from God and the will from us. Based on all of this, brother Estephan made a firm resolution to take the path of Sainthood, and a definitive commitment to God by taking his monastic vows on the 23^rd of August 1907. He pursued his holy journey through the voluntary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and by continuous prayer, according to the rules of the Maronite Order.

At School and in The Fields

From Estephan's Young Days.

At the village school, under the trees and not far from the Church of Saint Estephan, Youssef learned how to read and write, as well as the basics of catechism and arithmetics. He used to participate to the Holy Mass with piety and read fluently the readings. Every evening he proceeded to the Church of Saint Estephan for the evening prayer in Syriac language, as Maronites of that time spoke Syriac and they would take part in the prayer with the priests.

Church of Saint Estephan, Lehfed

When he grew up his parents sent him to the school of Our Lady of Graces in Saki Reshmayya which was founded by Father Emmanuel El Jaji in 1899. At school, he met several monks from the Lebanese Maronite Order. Whether he was at school, at home or at church, he was very polite and had a soft temper, he was obedient to his parents and superiors, respectful to his brothers, friends and to the elderly people. He never let a bad word come out of his mouth.

He was used to take his family's cattle to the field of Mar Saba, where he would leave the cattle graze under a tree and went to the old sanctuary of Mar Saba to pray. He was a zealous boy at work, liked to be alone for prayer, always carrying in his pocket a book of prayer even when in the fields.

One of his friends from childhood witnessed and said:" As we used to go after the cattle, he always fascinated me with his conversations, often told me stories about martyrs especially monks, I used to feel that I was in the presence of a monk myself, he always repeated: God can see me!  God can see me! We used to pray at the sanctuary of Mar saba, ornament it with flowers especially on his blessed feastday. There at the old sanctuary he used to fly in the atmosphere of meditation that made him later on leave the world behind and join the Lebanese Maronite Order, the fertile ground of Saints".

His father passed away as he was fifteen years old. He kept on helping his brothers in the fields and he had a strong skeleton. After work he used to stay at home avoiding going out to gatherings, never went to sleep before finishing his long prayer.

One day he found in the field a small animal called "Ghoreir" which sneaked in under a rock, he followed it and caught it and found out a water stream, so he let the water out, and this is what is called today the "Ghoreir source", which he transformed with the surrounding area to a small paradise, and believers consider it a blessed water since that time.

A Holy Family

From Estephan's Young Days.

Blessed brother Estephan Nehme was born on the 7th of March 1889 in Lehfed, and his parents named him Youssef. He was baptized on the 15th of March 1889. His parents are: Estephan Bou Haykal Nehme and Christina Nehme. His brothers are: Nehmetallah, Sarkis and Haykal, his sisters: Toufiqa and Christina. He was the youngest of the family.

The Village of Lehfed

His father Estephan knew very well that the human family on earth was a picture of the divine family in heaven, and he also knew that family is the carrier of God's love and word through times. So every family is a holy one since it is a picture of the Holy Trinity. That's why he used to gather all his family every evening to pray the rosary.

His mother Christina used to teach her children catechesis and good ethics. She also knew that family is the foundation of God's plan for salvation, and if families were destroyed, the foundations of God's plan would be shaken. All evil forces aim to destroy the family because family is the image of God. In fact the book of Genesis teaches us that "God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them" father and mother, God blessed them. And since the beginning of times, evil has been working to destroy the family, the foundation of God's plan.

On the other hand, the priest of the parish in the village of Lehfed was never tired of inciting believers to preserve their families and to protect them from evil by having God's presence in them, and he taught them saying: protect your families by prayer, dialogue, understanding, forgiveness, honesty, faithfulness and the most important thing: listen carefully to each other with your ears, your eyes, your hearts, your mouths and even with the palms of your hands! Keep the world's noise away from your homes because it is like a violent storm and a strong wave which can destroy and disperse once it strikes. Preserve the warmth of your families because all the warmth of the world cannot replace it if it's lost.