Catholic Maronite Readings

Jesus came out of Israel…: “Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre” (Mt 15,21), a name which means “gathering of the nations”. This was so that, from among the people of that territory, those who believed might be saved when they came out from it. Now, pay attention to these words: “And behold, a Canaanite woman, coming out of that district, called out saying: ‘Have pity on me, Lord, son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon’” (v.22). Now in my opinion, if she had not withdrawn from that territory she would not have been able to call out to Jesus with the cries that sprang from “great faith”, as he himself testified (v.28). It is “according to the measure of our faith” (Rm 12,6) that we come out from the territory of the pagan nations… We must certainly believe that each one of us, so long as he is a sinner, finds himself in the region of Tyre or Sidon, of Pharaoh or Egypt, or of some other land alien to God’s inheritance. But when sinners abandon their wrongdoing, turning back to the good, they withdraw from those regions where sin dwells and hasten to the regions that are the portion of God… Notice, too, that sort of journey that Jesus makes to meet the Canaanite woman; for he seems to be going towards the region of Tyre and Sidon… The righteous are directed towards the kingdom of heaven and elevation into the Kingdom of God, but sinners are directed towards the outcome of their evildoing… The Canaanite woman, by leaving these territories, also left that tendency towards decadence, when she cried out and said: “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David”… All the healings accomplished by Jesus, as the evangelists have told them, took place, then, so those who saw them might have faith. But those events are the symbol of what is always been brought about by Jesus’ power, for there is no age when what was written is not being realized in exactly the same way.

maronite readings – rosary,team

Dearest Lord, may I see you today and every day in the person of your sick, and, whilst nursing them, minister unto you. Though you hide yourself under the unattractive disguise of the irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, may I still recognize you and say: “Jesus, my patient, how sweet it is to serve you.” Lord, give me this seeing faith, then my work will never be monotonous. I will ever find joy in humoring the fancies and gratifying the wishes of all poor sufferers… And, O God, while you are Jesus, my patient, deign also to be to me a patient Jesus, bearing with my faults, looking only to my intention, which is to love and serve you in the person of each of your sick. Lord, increase my faith (Lk 17,5), bless my efforts and work, now and for evermore.

maronite readings – rosary,team

“The Kingdom of God is within you,” says the Lord… Up, faithful soul, prepare your heart for this bridegroom; that he may deign to come and dwell within you. For so he proclaimed: “Whoever loves me will keep my word; and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him,” (Jn 14,23). Make room for Christ, and then bar the door against all comers. When you have Christ, you have all the riches you need. He will be your purveyor and your faithful manager in all things; you will have no need to hope in men. For men are quick to change and speedily die; but Christ “remains forever” (Jn 12,34), standing firm to the very end. Not much reliance should be placed upon man, be he never so beloved or so useful; for he goes to pieces and he dies. And not much sadness should be felt if he sometimes turns against you: with you to-day, against you to-morrow; and fickle as the breeze to return to you again. Put all your trust in God; let him be your fear and him your love. He will answer for you, and do that good thing that is best for you. “Here we have no lasting city” (Heb 13,14); wherever you are, you are “a stranger and an alien” (Heb 11,13); you will never at any time have peace until you are intimately one with Christ.
maronite readings – rosary,team

People who complain about the roughness of the Lord’s yoke have possibly not completely rejected the heavy load of the lusts of the world or, if they did reject them, they have enslaved themselves to them again, to their greater shame. Outwardly they carry the yoke of the Lord but inwardly they submit their shoulders to the burden of the world’s cares. They set on the balance of the Lord’s yoke the hardships and difficulties which they inflict on themselves… As for the yoke of the Lord: it is “easy and its burden light”. Indeed, what is sweeter, what more glorious than to see oneself lifted up above the world by the scorn one shows it and, seated at the summit of a conscience at peace, to have the whole world at one’s feet? Then one sees nothing to desire, nothing to fear, nothing to envy, nothing of one’s own that might be taken away, no evil that might be caused one by another. The eyes of the heart turn towards “an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled and unfading, that is kept for us in heaven” (1Pt 1,4). With a sort of greatness of soul one gives little importance to this world’s goods: they pass away; to the pleasures of the flesh: they are contaminated; to the world’s pomp: it fades; and in one’s joy one repeats the words of the prophet: “All mankind is grass and all its glory like the flower of the field; the grass withers, the flower fades but the Word of the Lord remains for ever” (Is 40,6-8)… In charity – and nowhere but in charity – dwells true tranquillity and true sweetness for it is the yoke of the Lord.

maronite readings – rosary,team