Catholic Maronite Readings

What does “the law of the Lord” mean? Psalm 118 [119] … is filled with the desire of knowing the law of the Lord and letting oneself by guided by it during one’s entire life. It is very possible the psalmist was thinking there of the Law of the Old Covenant. Getting to know it really did demand life-long study, and fulfilling it demanded an effort of the will that also lasted one’s whole life. But the Lord has freed us from the yoke of this Law. We can consider the law of the New Covenant to be the great commandment of love, which includes all of the Law and the prophets, as he said. Perfect love of God and of neighbor would certainly be an object worthy to be studied over a whole lifetime. But better still, we understand the law of the New Covenant to be the Lord Jesus himself, since his life is for us the model of the life we are to live. Thus we fulfill our Rule if we constantly keep before our eyes the image of the Lord Jesus so as to become like him. The Gospel is the book we will never have finished studying. But we don’t find the Lord only in the accounts of those who witnessed his life. He is present to us in the most Blessed Sacrament and in the hours of adoration before the supreme Good, attentive listening to the voice of the God of the Eucharist are both “meditation on the law of the Lord” and a “vigil in prayer”. However, the highest degree is reached when “the law dwells within our hearts” (Ps 40:11).
maronite readings – rosary,team

“Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live; and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” What is being said? “Whoever believes in me, even if he is dead like Lazarus, will live” because God is not God of the dead but God of the living. Already concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, those long-dead patriarchs, Jesus had given the same reply: “He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob; he is not God of the dead but of the living, for to him all are alive” (Lk 20,37-38). Believe, then; and though you were dead, you will live! But if you do not believe, then although you may be living, actually, you are dead… From where comes death in the soul? From the fact that faith is no longer there. From where comes the death of the body? From the fact that the soul is no longer there. The soul’s soul is faith. “Whoever believes in me, even though he die in body will be alive in soul until the body itself rises again to die no more. And whoever lives in the flesh and believes in me, although he must die in his body for a season, will not die for ever because of the life of the Spirit and immortality of the resurrection.” That is what Jesus’ reply to Martha meant… “Do you believe this” “Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world. Believing this, I have believed you are the resurrection; I have believed you are the life; I have believed that whoever believes in you, though he die, will live; I have believed that whoever lives and believes in you will never die eternally.”

maronite readings – rosary,team

Those who dedicate themselves completely to the Lord should not worry that, by keeping their virginity like Mary, they will be unable to become mothers in the flesh… He who is the fruit of one holy Virgin alone is the glory and honor of all other holy virgins since, like Mary, they are mothers of Christ so long as they do the will of his Father. Mary’s glory and happiness at being the mother of Christ burst forth above all in the words of the Lord: «Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, my sister and my mother.» In this way he points to the spiritual parenthood joining him to the people he has redeemed. His brothers and sisters are the holy men and women who are inheritors together with him of his heavenly inheritance (Rm 8,17). His mother is the whole Church since it is she who, by God’s grace, gives birth to Christ’s members, that is to say those who are faithful to him. Again, his mother is every holy soul who does the Father’s will and whose fruitful charity is made known in those to whom she gives birth for him, «until he has been formed in them» (cf Gal 4,19)… From among all women Mary is the only one who is at the same time both virgin and mother, not only in spirit but also in her body. According to the spirit she is mother… of the members of Christ, namely ourselves, because by her charity she cooperated in bringing forth into the Church the faithful who are members of this divine leader, our head (Eph 4,15-16) whose mother according to the flesh she truly is. For it was necessary that our leader be born according to the flesh of a virgin to teach us that his members are to be born according to the spirit of another virgin, the Church. Therefore Mary is the only woman to be mother and virgin at the same time in both spirit and body. But the whole Church is spiritually also mother of Christ and virgin of Christ in the saints who are to inherit the Kingdom of God.

maronite readings – rosary,team

Saint Matthew, in his Gospel, writes that Christ took Peter, James and John, led them up a high mountain and was transfigured before them: his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. But, since they were not able to bear such a vision, they fell prostrate (Mt 17,1s). This is why, in order to conform himself in everything to the Father’s plan, at the Cenacle our Lord Jesus appeared still under the appearance he had before, and not according to the glory owed to him and that suits the Temple of his transfigured body. He did not want that faith in resurrection be based on other aspects or on a different body than the one he had received from the Virgin Mary and with which he had died on a cross, according to the Scriptures. In fact, death had no power over him, except on his body, from which death was to be chased away. For, if his dead body had not been raised, where would this death that has been defeated be? …He couldn’t have been nor just a soul, nor an angel, not even only the Word of God… Moreover, the fact that the Lord came, although the doors were locked, anybody who is sensible will count this too as a proof of his resurrection. He greets his disciples with these words: “Peace be with you”, revealing in this way that he himself is peace. For those to whom he appears, receive from him a perfectly soothed and peaceful spirit. This is certainly what Paul wished to his faithful when he said: “May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ” (Phil 4,7).

maronite readings – rosary,team

Bridegroom and Bride, that is Christ and the Church, are as one, be it in receiving confession or in bestowing absolution. All this makes clear why Christ had to tell each of us: “Go, show yourself to the priest” (Mt 8,4)… It follows that apart from Christ the Church cannot grant forgiveness and that Christ has no will to forgive apart from the Church. The Church’s authority to forgive extends only to the repentant, to those, that is, whom Christ has already touched; Christ, on his part, has no intention of regarding as forgiven one who despises the Church. Doubtless, Christ need accept no restraints to his power of baptizing, consecrating the Eucharist, ordaining ministers, forgiving sins and the like, but the humble and faithful Bridegroom prefers to confer such blessings with the cooperation of his Bride. “What God,” then, “has joined, let no man put asunder” (Mt 19,6). “I say this is a great mystery and refers to Christ and the Church” (Eph 5,32)… To remove the Head from the Body (Col 1,18) were to ruin the whole Christ irreparably. Christ apart from the Church is no more the whole Christ than the Church is complete if separated from Christ. Head and Body go to make the whole and entire Christ.
maronite readings – rosary,team