Friday, February 2 : Saint Cyprian
«The kingdom of God is at hand» (Lk 21,31). The kingdom of God, beloved brethren, has begun to be at hand; the reward of life and the joy of eternal salvation and perpetual happiness and the possession of paradise once lost are now coming with the passing of the world; now the things of heaven are succeeding those of earth; great things, small, and eternal things, transitory. What place is there here for anxiety and worry?… It is written that «the just man lives by faith» (Rm 1,17). If you are just and live by faith, if you truly believe in Jesus Christ, why do you, who are destined to be with Christ and secure in the promise of the Lord, not rejoice that you are called to Christ…? Take the example of Simeon, the just man who was truly just, who with full faith kept the commandments of God: when the answer had been given him from heaven that he would not die before he had seen Christ, and when Christ as an infant had come into the temple with His mother, he knew in spirit that Christ was now born, concerning whom it had been foretold to him before, and on seeing him he knew that he himself would quickly die. Happy, therefore, at the death that was now at hand and untroubled at the approaching summons, he took the child into his hands and, blessing God, he cried out and said: «Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation.» Thus he proved surely and bore witness that the servants of God have peace, they have a free and tranquil repose when, on being released from the storms of this world, they have sought the harbor of our abode and eternal security… For that is our peace, that our sure tranquility, that our steadfast and firm and everlasting security.
maronite readings – rosary,team
