Work And Prayer

From A Life of Hardship

Father Charbel was very strict and disciplined at work, he was always quiet and in a good mood, motivated and ready for any kind of work that he is asked to do. He never chooses the easy task for himself and leaves the difficult one for others, but instead he always picks up the most degraded occupation for himself and does it humbly, and leaves the better one for his brothers. He always took care of the ignoble occupations of the monastery to get rid of the self esteem and pride which are the main reason behind the existence of hell. That is why he did not have any specific job at the monastery except the Holy Eucharist, prayer, and work in the fields.

He never looked around, never took a rest unless he wanted to make the sign of the cross, as if he never stopped praying even when he was at work. When he had no specific task to do, he used to collect stones from the field. He never refused to accomplish any task in the field, even in extreme cold or hot days, and he stayed at work until he was asked to stop or until the bell rang for prayer. He used to ask the permission of his chief to go to the church to pray or knelt down in the field for his due prayer.

Inside the Church of the tomb of Saint Charbel at the
 Monastery of Saint Maron Annaya

Whenever he was ordered to carry bags or provisions, he carried as much as he could never complaining about the quantity, and if anyone asked him to carry the heavy plow, he did it instantly.

Father Afram Nakad witnessed: “most of the responsible monks at the monastery were from the village of “Meshmesh”, he was the only one coming from the region of “Al Jebbe”. They used to order him to do all kinds of works, sometimes without pity, and he was always obedient, silent, never refused or complained about anything, and he never had pity on himself at work.

Brother Francis was the Superior’s brother and he was responsible for the provisions at the monastery, he used to order him to do many tasks merciless, and used to yell at him, but Father Charbel always obeyed him like he obeyed the Superior, even though he outranked him being a priest and Francis a brother. As soon as he used to return to the monastery carrying on his back heavy logs of wood, he ordered him to bring water or something else. At one occasion he was ordered to carry water in a bucket for small purposes, so he used it for the whole day for sprinkling, until his palms were stripped of the flesh”.

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