Catholic Maronite Readings

Andrew had heard these words of Moses : “A prophet like myself will the Lord your God raise up for you from among your own kinsmen ; to him you shall listen” (Dt 18,15). Now he hears John the Baptist exclaim : “Behold, the Lamb of God !” (Jn 1,29). As soon as he saw him, he went over to him spontaneously. He recognised the prophet foretold by prophecy and led his brother by the hand towards him whom he had found. He showed Peter the treasure he did not know: “We have found the Messiah we were longing for. We were waiting for his coming; see him now! We have found him whom the resounding voice of the prophets bid us expect. This present time has brought the one whom grace foretold, the one whom love was hoping to see.” So Andrew went to find his brother Simon and share the riches of his contemplation with him. He led Peter to the Lord. What an astonishing wonder! Andrew is not yet a disciple and he is already a guide of men. It was while he was teaching that he began both to learn and to win the dignity of an apostle: “We have found the Messiah! After spending so many sleepless nights on the bank of the Jordan, now we have found what we were longing for.” Peter was quick to follow this call. He was Andrew’s brother and eagerly stepped forward, all ears… Later on, when Peter acted in an admirable way, he would owe it to what Andrew had sown. But the praise addressed to one redounds just as much on the other. For the good qualities of the one belong to the other and the former takes pleasure in the latter’s advantages.
maronite readings – rosary,team

Turning around, the Lord looked at Peter. And Peter, become aware of what he had just said, he repented and wept…; he broke into tears and remained mute… (cf. Lk 22:61-62) Words can not be successful in expressing a prayer, and they can never succeed in expressing tears. Tears always express what we are feeling, but words can be powerless. That is why Peter did not have recourse to words. Words had pushed him to betray, to sin, to deny his faith. He preferred admitting his sin by means of tears, since he had denied through words… Let us imitate him in what he said elsewhere, when the Lord asked him three times: “Simon, do you love me?” (Jn 21:17) Three times he answered: “Lord, you know that I love you.” Then the Lord said to him: “Feed my sheep,” and he said it three times. That word made up for his previous aberration. The one who had denied the Lord three times, confessed him three times; he had become guilty three times, three times he obtained grace through his love. See therefore what benefit Peter drew from his tears!… Before shedding tears, he was a traitor; once he had shed tears, he was chosen as pastor, and he who had behaved badly received the responsibility to lead the others.

maronite readings – rosary,team

When we have stood firm during the long watches of the dark night that rules over our time of testing; after we have struggled as best we may…, then let us be assured that towards night’s close, “when the night is advanced and the day is at hand” (Rom 13,12), the Son of God will come to us, walking on the waves. When we see him appearing like this, we will be seized with doubt until at last we clearly understand that it is the Lord who has thus come among us. Still thinking we are seeing a ghost, we will cry out in fear, but at once he will say to us: “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” It is possible that these reassuring words will cause a Peter aiming at perfection to rise up within us, who will get out of the boat, sure he has escaped the trial that was tossing him about. To begin with, his wish to meet up with Jesus will enable him to walk on the water. But since his faith is still shaky and he himself is unsure, he notices “how strong the wind was”, becomes frightened, and begins to sink. Still, he escapes this misfortune because he directs this great cry towards Jesus: “Lord, save me!” And scarcely has this other Peter finished saying “Lord, save me!” than the Word stretches out his hand to help him. He catches him just as he begins to drown, reproaching him for his little faith and doubt. However, take note that he did not say: “Unbelieving” but “man of little faith”, and that it is written: “Why did you doubt?”, which is to say: “It is true you have a little faith, but you let yourself be pulled in the opposite direction.” And immediately, Jesus and Peter will get into the boat again, the wind will die down, and the others in the boat will do him homage, saying: “Truly, you are the Son of God.” But only those disciples close to Jesus in the boat spoke such words as these.
maronite readings – rosary,team

In his hour of trial Peter denied his Lord three times. And so his voice was trembling when he answered: “Lord, you know that I love you.” Yet he did not say: “All the same, Lord, I let you down”, but: “Lord, you know that I love you.” When he said that, he already knew that Christ is the cornerstone (Acts 4,11) on which, despite his human frailty, there might grow in him, Peter, that building whose form would be love. Through every situation, every trial, to the end. This is why there would come a time when he would write…: “like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1Pt 2,5). This means nothing else than that we should always and at all times be responding, tenaciously and consistently, to that single question: “Do you love? Do you love me? Do you love me more than these?” For in fact it is this answer, that is to say this love, that makes of us “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people whom God has chosen for his own”. It is this that causes us to proclaim the wonderful works of him who “has called us out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1Pt 2,9). And Peter knew all this in the absolute certainty of his faith, and he knows and continues to confess it also in those who succeed him.

maronite readings – rosary,team