Screenplay by Mounir Maasri

Quick Facts

Released in 2009
Duration: 1hr46min
Language: Arabic
Film Location: Lebanon

My name is Nohad, spouse of Semaan el-Chamy, from Mezarib, Jbeil. I am 55 years old. I have 12 children (7 sons and 5 daughters). On the evening of the 9th of January 1993, I suffered from a left hemiplegia, affecting my leg, my arm and my mouth. Thus, I entered Saint Maritime Hospital in Jbeil.

Dr. Joseph Chamy, a cardiologist, received me and referred me to the Intensive Care Unit and to Dr. Antoine Nachakian and Dr. Majid Chamy, my family doctor. After many consultations, X-rays and medical tests, they deduced that the hemiplegia was due to the obstruction of 80% of the left-brain arteries and 70% of the right ones. “In this case, no treatment can cure you. Nevertheless, we still have the possibility to perform later a surgery and replace the obstructed arteries by plastic ones,” said the doctor. They advised me to go home and come back to Hotel Dieu Hospital within three months for new X-rays.

So, my eldest son, Saad, went to Annaya and brought me consecrated oil and soil from Saint Charbel’s tomb. When my daughter applied them on my body, I felt tingles in my hand and my foot. I left the hospital after staying there for 9 days.

At home, I couldn’t leave my bed. My husband had to help me go to the bathroom, and my children had to give me food and water through a straw. This is how I spent the next three days after leaving the hospital. While I was sleeping, I saw myself going up the stairs of the hermitage in Annaya and attending the mass in the presence of monks. During this mass, Saint Charbel was giving me the communion. (more…)

Lord, infinitely Holy and Glorified in Your Saints,
You have inspired Charbel, the saint monk,
to lead the perfect life of a hermit.
We thank You for granting him the blessing
and the strength to detach himself from the world
so that the heroism of the monastic virtues of poverty,
obedience, and chastity,
could triumph in his hermitage.
We beseech You to grant us the grace of loving and serving You,
following his example.
Almighty God, Who has manifested
the power of St. Charbel’s intercession
through his countless miracles and favours,
grant us…

(State your intention(s) here…)

through his intercession.

Amen.