Friday, August 26 : Saint Maximus of Turin

With regard to the Gospel’s words: “A man took it and sowed it in his garden”, who do you think is this man who sowed the seed he had received like a mustard seed in his garden plot? I myself think it is he of whom the Gospel says: “Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, from Arimathea”… He went to Pilate. He asked permission to take down the Lord’s body and bury it. When permission was granted he placed it in the tomb he had prepared in his garden (cf. Lk 23,50-53). That is why Scripture says: “A man took it and buried it in his garden”. In Joseph’s garden there mingled the scent of many different flowers but such a seed as this had never yet been placed there. The spiritual garden of his soul was embalmed with the scent of his virtue but Christ’s embalmed body had not yet occupied its place. When he buried the Savior in the memorial place of his garden, he received him even more deeply into the crevice of his heart.
maronite readings – rosary,team