Friday, October 13 : Saint Nerses Chnorhali

I have wandered in the desert,
Gone astray in the wilderness,
One among a hundred
As in the parable of the sheep. The wicked enemy tore it to pieces :
He covered it with incurable wounds;
Hence there is no other cure for the wound
But you, to heal it. In floods of tears I implore you,
I lift up my cries to my Lord:
O Good Shepherd, come down from heaven,
Go in search of the little flock. Lord, seek out the fallen coin,
Your image that was lost (Gn 1,26),
That I trampled in the vice of sin
And the stinking mud. Wash me, Lord, from my filth ;
Make my soul pure as the whiteness of snow (Is 1,18).
Make up the number of the ten coins
As you did for the forty saints [of Sebaste]. Carry me on your shoulders, O you who bore the cross ;
Be pleased to raise up my fallen soul.
Give joy to the heavenly host of angels
At the return of a single sinner.
maronite readings – rosary,team