St. Charbel, Marian Devotion, and the Rise of Young Catholic Men with Fr. Charbel (Franciscans of the Immaculate)
The Catholic Man Show
The Catholic Man Show
4.8 • 768 Ratings
🗓️ 29 November 2025
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode is packed — saints, miracles, Marian devotion, vocations, fatherhood, fasting, silence, and the rise of a new generation of men hungry for God.
Fr. Charbel, a Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate, joins Adam and David in Tulsa along with first-class relics of St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Charbel, sharing powerful stories of faith, mission, intercession, and what young Catholic men are longing for today.
IN THIS EPISODE
1. Meet Fr. Charbel — his order, his mission, and why Marian consecration is central
Fr. Charbel introduces the Franciscans of the Immaculate, an order founded to continue the Marian mission of St. Maximilian Kolbe:
- Total consecration to Mary as a fourth vow
- A spirituality built on St. Francis + St. Maximilian
- Missionary availability (“Send me anywhere in the world”)
- Heavy emphasis on prayer, poverty, obedience, and Marian devotion
He explains how Our Lady’s presence has shaped every major moment in salvation history — from Nazareth to the Cross — and why consecration gives Mary “permission” to form us the way she formed Christ.
2. A surge of young men seeking God
As the newly appointed vocations director, Fr. Charbel reveals something astonishing:
40+ serious vocation inquiries in just two months.
Why the sudden surge?
- Men want something real
- They crave mission and purpose
- They want orthodoxy and reverence
- They want a spirituality that demands something of them
- Marian devotion draws them in a unique way
“It’s inspiring,” he says. “Young men want authenticity.”
3. Stories of Divine Providence and the adventure of religious life
The guys talk about:
- The Franciscan blend of active + contemplative
- The thrill of trusting God with everything
- Poverty that becomes a doorway to providence
- Why Franciscans never seem to fundraise (“God just provides”)
Religious life, he says, is more adventurous than most men realize.
4. Deep dive: Who is St. Charbel? Why is he exploding in popularity?
St. Charbel Makhlouf, a Lebanese hermit, is becoming one of the most beloved saints of the century.
Father explains why:
- Lived a hidden, humble, ascetic life
- 23 years in community + 23 years as a hermit
- Entire life centered on the Holy Eucharist
- Body discovered incorrupt with supernatural light rising from his tomb
- Over 29,000 documented miracles since 1950
- Miracles among Muslims, Druze, Orthodox, and nonbelievers
- Global pilgrims: 2 million+ per year
One stunning story:
A Muslim sheikh publicly visited St. Charbel’s shrine to thank him for healing his mother of cancer.
“Why would God confirm the life of a hermit who spent his life before the Eucharist,” Father asks, “unless the Eucharist is truly what the Church says it is?”
5. Lessons from St. Charbel for modern men + fathers
What does a hermit from Lebanon have to teach us? A lot.
Fr. Charbel lays out practical takeaways:
- Faithfulness in the small things
- Silence — making space for God’s voice
- Daily prayer even without consolations
- Obedience and humility
- Eucharistic devotion
- Marian devotion as a way of being formed
- Asceticism and fasting: dying to self in small ways
- Doing your duty with love
As he says: “God doesn’t call you to be successful. He calls you to be faithful.”
6. Mary, her titles, and how she draws men to Christ
The guys discuss:
- Why we must be unashamed of Marian devotion
- The richness of her many titles:
- Mother of God
- Cause of Our Joy
- Mother of Good Counsel
- Undoer of Knots
- Seat of Wisdom
- Why Marian consecration doesn’t distract from Jesus — it leads to Him
- Why she is the “surest and quickest way” to holiness
Fr. Charbel emphasizes “You can never love her as much as Jesus already does.”
7. Books, Resources, and Where to Find More
Fr. Charbel’s order publishes incredibly practical Marian books:
- “Preparation for Total Consecration” (33 days in the spirit of Maximilian Kolbe)
- “Beloved Disciple” — how to live your consecration daily
- “Rule of Life: St. Maximilian Kolbe’s personal spiritual notes” (brand new)
Visit: AcademyOfTheImmaculate.com
Learn about the order: MaryMediatrix.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Catholic Man Show. We're on the Lord's team, the winning side. So raise your glass. Father Sherbel, it's great to have you here in Tulsa. |
| 0:24.4 | It's great to have you here on the Catholic Man Show. |
| 0:26.1 | It's great to just be in your presence. |
| 0:28.3 | Thank you. |
| 0:28.8 | It's my pleasure. |
| 0:29.5 | Very happy to be here with you guys. |
| 0:31.4 | I was, so you just did a conference with, we had a retreat for altar servers, which was fantastic. Two of my boys were there. And he, my oldest, Luke, when I was asking him about us, I said, and like, so how did it go? And he goes, oh, there's a priest there, there's a monk there. And he spoke Australian, and he was awesome. That was the first thing he said about the retreat. He said about the Australian yeah that's how he said it |
| 0:55.4 | he spoke Australian I was like okay |
| 0:57.7 | very cool it is his first time |
| 0:59.9 | to ever hear an Australian accent so |
| 1:01.8 | he thought it was awesome |
| 1:03.3 | oh that's always good to have the good feedback |
| 1:05.8 | I guess yeah yeah did I say |
| 1:07.9 | did I say anything memorable |
| 1:09.6 | or is it just accent It was mainly the accent. |
| 1:11.6 | I'm not going to lie yet, father. |
| 1:14.6 | That was what he loved. |
| 1:16.6 | Yeah. |
| 1:17.6 | But it's great to have you. |
| 1:18.6 | So you are a Franciscan of the Immaculate, which is part of, in love with, say, Maximilian Colby. |
| 1:25.6 | And then your father, Charbel, which we actually have a kind of a devotion to St. Charbel here at the Catholic Manch show. Yes, yeah, we don't have it up now, but in our previous studio, we had a picture of him right in the background for, yeah, for years, right there on camera because there's just something, you know, I think there's just |
| 1:44.5 | something about some saints, in fact, Maximum Colby is one of those, you know, that sort of |
... |
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