Catholic Maronite Readings

Our beloved Savior assures us in many places of his Holy Scriptures that he is constantly caring and keeping watch over us, that he carries and will himself always carry us in his breast, his heart, his bowels. Nor is he content to say just once or twice that he will carry us in this way, but he asserts and reasserts it as many as five times in the same place. Furthermore, he assures us that even if a mother were to be found who would go so far as to forget the child she had borne in her womb, yet he will never forget us; that he has written us on his hands so as to have us always under his eyes; that whoever touches us, touches the apple of his eye; that we should never be anxious about what we need to live and to clothe ourselves, that he knows well we need these things and takes care of them for us; that he has numbered the hairs on our head and not one of them will perish; that his Father loves us as he loves him and that he loves us as his Father loves him; that he wills we should be where he is, that is to say that we should be at rest with him in the breast and heart of his Father. (Biblical references : Is 46,3-4; 49,15-17; Zec 2,12; Mt 6,31-3; 10,30; Lc 21,18; Jn 17,26; 15,9; 17,24; 1,2)

maronite readings – rosary,team

It is worthwhile inquiring why the rich man saw Lazarus in Abraham’s arms, and not in the company of some other righteous person. The reason is that Abraham was hospitable, and so the sight of Lazarus with Abraham was meant to reproach the rich man for his own inhospitality. Abraham used to pursue even passers-by and drag them into his home (Gn 18,1f.), whereas the rich man disregarded someone lying in his own doorway. Although he had within his grasp so great a treasure, such an opportunity to win salvation, he ignored the poor man day after day. He could have helped him but he failed to do so. The patriarch was not like that but just the opposite. He would sit in his doorway and catch all who passed by. And just as a fisherman casting a net into the sea hauls up fish, yes, but also quite often gold and pearls, so Abraham whilst catching people in his net finished by catching angels, though strangely enough without knowing it. Even Paul marvels at this and gives the advice: “Remember to welcome strangers into your homes, for some by so doing have entertained angels without knowing it,” (Heb 13,2). And he did well to say “without knowing it”, for if Abraham had welcomed his guests with such kindness because he knew who they were he would have done nothing remarkable. He is praiseworthy only because, without knowing who the passers-by were and taking them to be simply human wayfarers, he yet invited them in with so much good will. And this is true of you also. If you show much eagerness in welcoming some famous and distinguished person you do nothing remarkable… But we do something truly great and admirable when we give a most courteous welcome to all, even the outcasts of society or people of humble condition.
maronite readings – rosary,team

I should like to remind disciples of Christ of God’s goodness: let none among you allow yourselves to be shaken by the heretics if, in controversy, they say that the God of the Law is not good but just and that the Law of Moses does not teach goodness but justice. Let those detractors of both God and the Law take note of how Moses himself and Aaron fulfilled, as precursors, what the Gospel would later teach. Consider how Moses “loves his enemies and prays for those who persecute him” (Mt 5:44)…; see how, “falling prostrate”, they both pray for those who grumbled and wanted to kill them (Nb 17:10f.). Thus we find the Gospel powerfully present in the Law and should understand that the Gospels are supported on the foundation of the Law. As for me, I do not apply the name ‘Old Testament’ to the Law when I consder it spiritually. The Law only becomes an ‘Old Testament’ for those unwilling to understand it according to the spirit. For them, it has necessarily become ‘old’ and has aged because it cannot preserve its strength. But for us who understand and expound it in spirit and according to the sense of the Gospel, it is always new. The two Testaments are one new Testament for us, not according to date but in the newness of their meaning. Doesn’t the apostle John also think of it in this way when he says in his epistle: “Children, I give a new commandment to you, let us love one another”? (cf. 1Jn 2:8; 4:7; Jn 13:34). He knew that the commandment of love had long ago been given in the Law (1Jn 2:7f.; Lv 19:18). But since “love never fails” (1Cor 13:8)…, he asserts the perpetual newness of this precept that never grows old… For sinners, and for those who fail to keep the bond of charity, even the Gospels grow old. There can be no New Testament for anyone who does not “put away the old self and put on the new self, created in God’s way” (Eph 4:22.24).

maronite readings – rosary,team

The Law given to Moses is a collection of various teachings and imperatives, a collection that is useful to everyone as regards what it is good to do in this life, and a mystical reflection of the customs of life in heaven: a torch and a lamp, a fire and a light, replicas of the lamps on high. The Law of Moses is the itinerary of piety, the rule for honest morals, the brake put on the first sin, the outline of the truth to come (Col 2:17)… The Law of Moses is a teacher for piety and a guide for righteousness, a light for the blind and a proof for the foolish, an educator for children and a mooring for the imprudent, a bridle for the stiff-necked, and a constraining yoke for the impatient. The Law of Moses is Christ’s messenger, the precursor of Jesus, the herald and prophet of the great King, a school of wisdom, a necessary preparation and a universal teaching, a doctrine that came at its time and a temporary mystery. The Law of Moses is a symbolic and enigmatic summary of future grace, announcing in images the perfection of truth that is to come. Through the sacrifices, it announces the Victim; through the blood, the Blood; through the lamb, the Lamb; through the dove, the Dove; through the altar, the High Priest; through the Temple, the dwelling place of divinity; through the altar’s fire, the full “light of the world” (Jn 8:12) that comes down from on high.

maronite readings – rosary,team

At first glance a mustard seed appears small, ordinary and unimportant ; it has no taste, gives off no smell, gives no cause for presuming any sweetness. But when it is crushed then it spreads abroad its odor and reveals its strength, it has a taste like flame and burns with such strength that we are astonished to find so great a fire in so little a seed… Christian faith, in the same way, seems at first sight to be small, ordinary and weak; it does not show its power nor display its influence. But when crushed by various trials, it demonstrates its vigor, makes its energy burst forth, breathes out the flames of its faith in the Lord. The divine fire makes it quiver with such ardor that, even as it is burning, it warms those who share it, as Cleophas and his companion said in the holy Gospel while the Lord was conversing with them after his passion: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” (Lk 24:32)… We might compare Saint Lawrence to a mustard seed: crushed with numerous tortures he merited the grace of an outstanding martyr in the sight of all the world. While he was yet dwelling in his body he was humble, ignored, ordinary; after he had been tortured, torn apart and burned, he shed on all the faithful throughout the world the good odor of his nobility of soul… Seen from without, this martyr was burning in the flames of a cruel tyrant, but a greater flame, that of the love of Christ, was consuming him from within. An impious king may well have piled on the wood and lit even larger fires but Saint Lawrence, in the fervor of his love, no longer felt those flames… No earthly suffering had mastery over him any longer: his soul already dwelt in heaven.

maronite readings – rosary,team