MEDITATIO

“You have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the castle of the insolent is a city no more, nor ever to be rebuilt. Therefore a strong people will honor you” (Is 25,2-3). It pertains to Almighty God’s “faithful plan” (v.1) and blameless counsels that the “fortified cities” should be overthrown and “reduced to a heap of rubble”, that they should be shaken “to their foundations” and without hope of being able to rise again. “It shall never be rebuilt,” the text says. In our opinion these overturned cities are not those we can perceive by our senses nor are they the people living in them. But, it seems to us, it is rather a question of each evil, hostile power and, above all, of Satan, here called a city and a “strong city”… When Emmanuel appeared and shone upon the world, the impious troop of enemy powers was brought to ruin and Satan was overthrown “to his foundations”. He has fallen and is weakened for evermore and can no longer expect to stand again nor raise up his head. Hence the “poor and the city of the needy in distress will bless you” (LXX). Israel has been summoned to knowledge of God through the instructions of the Law; it has been filled by God with all good things. Yes, it has been saved and has acquired the land of promise as an inheritance. But the great multitude of other nations under heaven were deprived of these spiritual goods… When Christ appeared in person and, driving out the devil’s tyranny, led them to his God and Father, then they were enriched by the light of truth, by participation in the divine glory and by the nobility of an evangelical life. That is why they broke forth into hymns of thanksgiving to God our Father: “Yes, Lord, you have fulfilled your wonderful plans of old” (v.1) by recapitulating all things in Christ. You have “shone on those who sat in darkness” (Lk 1,79) by overturning the powers ruling the world (Eph 6,12) as one overturns the fortified cities. “Therefore a poor people will bless you, all the cities will honor you.”

maronite readings – rosary,team

One of the robbers crucified with Jesus cried out: “Lord, remember me ; it is to you I now turn… Remember not my works, for of these I am afraid. Every man has a feeling for his fellow-traveller; I am travelling with you towards death; remember me, your fellow-wayfarer. I do not say, Remember me now, but, “when You come in Your kingdom” (Lk 23,42). What power, O robber, led you to the light? Who taught you to worship that despised man, your companion on the cross? O Light Eternal, which gives light to them that are in darkness! (Lk 1,79) “Take courage! Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” because “Today you have heard my voice, and have not hardened your heart”(Ps 95[94],8). Very speedily I passed sentence upon Adam… but you, who today have obeyed the faith, today is your salvation. By the tree Adam fell away; by the tree you are brought into paradise… O mighty and ineffable grace! The faithful Abraham had not yet entered, but the robber enters! Paul also wondered at this before you, saying, “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rom 5,20). They who had borne the heat of the day had not yet entered; and he of the eleventh hour entered. Let none murmur against the master of the house, for he says, “My friend, I am not cheating you. Am I not free to do as I wish with what is my own?” The robber has a will to work righteousness…I accept his faith… I, the shepherd, have “found the sheep that was lost”; I lay it on My shoulders (Lk 15,5); since he himself has said, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; Lord, remember me when You come in Your kingdom.”

maronite readings – rosary,team

      It was no small forwardness that the young man had shown; he was a man with great desires. While others were coming to Jesus to put him to trial or to ask him to cure their diseases, or those of other people, this young man comes to him to talk about eternal life. He was like fertile, rich land, but there were thorns there too, ready to choke the seeds (Mt 13:7). Look how he is ready to obey the commandments: “What must I do,” he says, “to inherit eternal life?”… This was not the feeling of any of the Pharisees; they grew furious when their mouths were stopped. But not so this man; he goes away downcast, which is no little sign that he had come not with an evil will but with one too feeble. He did indeed desire life but was held in subjection by another, most grievous desire…       “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me … At this statement, he went away sorrowful.” After this the evangelist shows why he felt this way by saying, “He had many possessions.” For those who have little are not equally held in subjection by their possessions as those who overflow with affluence, for then the love of it becomes more tyrannical. The increase of acquisitions kindles the flame more, and renders those who possess them poorer; it puts them in greater desire and makes them feel more their “want”. See what strength this passion exhibited here… “How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” Not that Christ blames wealth but those who are held in subjection by it.

maronite readings – rosary,team

“Sow for yourselves righteousness, and reap the hope of life.” These words do not postpone your triumph till the last when the object of your desire will be possessed, not hoped for; they refer to the time now at your disposal. But when eternal life does come, what great gladness there will be, what joy beyond imagining! And can the hope of this great happiness be without happiness? The apostle Paul speaks about “Rejoicing in hope” (Rm 12,12). David, when he expressed the hope of entering the house of God, said that it gave him happiness now, not in the future (Ps 122[121],1). Eternal life was not yet his but his hope reached out to it. In his heart he experienced the Scriptural truth that the just man finds joy not only in the reward but even in the expectation of it (cf. Prv 10,28). The assurance of pardon for sins begets this joy in the heart where the seeds of righteousness are sown… Anyone, therefore, who has the happiness of… breathing freely in the hope of consolation after the early period of conversion with its bitterness and tears, already in this life gathers the fruit of his tears. He has had a vision of God and heard the voice that says: “Give him a share of the fruits of his hands” (Prv 31,31). If he has “tasted and seen that the Lord is sweet” (Ps 34[33],9), has he not seen God? Lord Jesus, how pleasant and sweet must you be to him whom you have not merely blessed with forgiveness of sins but endowed, too, with the gift of holiness, and along with that… the promise of eternal life.Happy the man with all this for a harvest… It bears out the truth in the Prophet’s words: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in jubilation!” (Ps 126[125],5)… The earthly gain or honor it may confer on us is far beneath the hope conceived and the deeply rooted joy in the soul that springs from this hope “does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to US” (Rm 5,5).

maronite readings – rosary,team