Catholic Maronite Readings

In almost every passage of Scripture the spiritual meaning plays an important part. But in this passage especially we must look for spiritual depth within the thread of its meaning… How is it that he himself can say: “Peace I leave with you, my own peace I give you” (Jn 14,27) if he has come to divide fathers from their sons, sons from their fathers, breaking their connection? How can we be called “cursed if you dishonor your father” (Dt 27,16) yet fervent if we abandon him? If we understand that religion comes first and filial devotion second then we will understand this question to be clarified: for we have to pass on to the human after the divine. For if we have duties towards our parents, how much more to the Father of our parents to whom we owe thanksgiving for our parents?… He doesn’t say, then, that we must give up those we love but that we must prefer God before all else. Besides, do we not find in another book: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10,37). What is forbidden is not to love your parents but to prefer them to God. For our blood relations are among God’s blessings and no one is to love the good things they have received more than the God who conserves the blessings he has given.
maronite readings – rosary,team

We have no right to judge the rich. For our part, what we desire is not a class struggle but a class encounter, in which the rich save the poor and the poor save the rich. With regard to God, our poverty is our humble recognition and acceptance of our sinfulness, helplessness, and utter nothingness, and the acknowledgment of our neediness before Him, which expresses itself as hope in Him, as an openness to receive all things from Him as from our Father. Our poverty should be true gospel poverty: gentle, tender, glad, and open-hearted, always ready to give an expression of love. Poverty is love before it is renunciation. To love, it is necessary to give. To give, it is necessary to be free from selfishness.
maronite readings – rosary,team

The Shepherd showed me a mountain on which there were luxuriant green plants; the whole mountain was flourishing and all kinds of cattle and wild birds were feeding on the plants on this mountain. He said to me: “Believers from this place have always been sincere and without guile, blessed and holding nothing against one another but always rejoicing in the servants of God. Clad in the holy spirit of young virgins, always feeling compassion for all, they have provided for the needs of their fellows out of the sweat of their own brows. So the Lord, seeing their sincerity and perfect innocence, prospered them in the labors of their hands and showed them favor in all that they did… All those of you who so act, continue to be such, and your descendants will never be botted out…” The he showed me a very beautiful mountain, all white: “Here believers are like veritable babes into whose minds no evil comes. They do not know what wickedness is but have always continued in innocence. Such people, therefore, will undoubtedly live in the Kingdom of God for they have not by any act profaned God’s commands but have continued in innocence all the days of their lives in the same attitude of mind. All those of you, then, who will continue like babes, with no wickedness, will be more glorious than those who have been mentioned before, for all babes are glorious in the sight of God and are foremost in his sight. So blessed are you who have put off wickedness from yourselves and put on innocence; you will be the first of all to live to God.”

maronite readings – rosary,team

What is that container into which grace chooses to pour itself? If trust has been made to receive mercy and patience to garner justice, what is the vessel we might put forward as apt to receive grace? A very pure ointment is concerned here, which requires a very sturdy container. Now what is more pure or more sturdy than humility of heart? That is why God “gives grace to the humble,” (Jas 4,6; cf Prv 3,34; Jb 22,29); that is why it is entirely right he should have “looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness,” (Lk 1,48). Right, because a humble heart does not allow itself to be preoccupied by human worth and because the fullness of grace can be poured into it all the more freely… Did you observe the Pharisee at prayer? He was neither thief, nor dishonest, nor an adulterer. Nor did he neglect to do penance. He fasted twice a week, he gave tithes of all he possessed… But he was not empty of himself; he had not stripped himself of himself (Phil 2,7); he was not humble but, rather, puffed up. That is to say, he was unconcerned to know what it was he still lacked but overestimated his worth; he was not full but puffed up. And so he went away empty for having put on a show of being full. The publican, on the other hand, because he humbled himself and took care to present himself like an empty vessel, could carry away with him an even more abundant grace.

maronite readings – rosary,team