Nader's curiosity about faith and science first began when he was a child, growing up in a Maronite Catholic family, where he "was always asking questions about God and creation," he told CNA.
He began to look for answers in science, and after high school studied electro-mechanical engineering and nuclear physics in Beirut and London before joining the Christian militia at the start of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975.
Witnessing the violence of war provoked the same deep questions about the meaning of life in the then-lukewarm Christian, who said that at the time he wanted to believe more in his head than in his heart.
Since he failed to find God in science or in war, Nader turned to prayer. He began to visit the former hermitage of St. Charbel in Annaya, Lebanon in 1985, about five years before the end of the country's civil war.
He said that every day for almost 10 years, after he had finished both work and taking care of his family, he would go to the Annaya hermitage to pray in St. Charbel's cell or chapel, spending the nights "praying, meditating, reading the Bible."
One of these nights, Nov. 10, 1994, as he was praying as usual, "something in the air started changing around me," he said. "It was so cold, you know, Annanaya is 1,300 meters above sea level. It's so cold during winter."
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