Monday, December 18 : Saint Augustine

“The Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. So his brothers said to him: Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing… Jesus said to them: My time is not here, but the time is always right for you” (Jn 7:2-3.6)… Jesus answered in this way to those who were advising him to seek for glory: “the time for my glory is not yet here”. Notice the profundity of this thought: they are pushing him to seek glory but he wills humiliation to precede exaltation; it is through humility that he wants to pursue his path to glory. The disciples, who wanted to be seated one at his right and the other at his left (Mk 10:37), were also seeking for human glory: they were only looking towards the end of the path without considering the path that must lead to it. Therefore the Lord reminded them of the real road so that they might reach the homeland as one needs to do. Our homeland is on high but the road to it is lowly. The homeland is the life of Christ, the road is his death. The homeland is where Christ dwells, the road is his Passion… So let us have upright hearts, the time of our glory has not yet arrived. Let us listen to him speaking to those who love this world, like the Lord’s brothers: “Your time is always right, ours has not yet come.” Let us be bold enough to say this, also. We who are the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who are his members, who joyfully acknowledge him as our head: let us repeat these words since it is for us that he deigned to speak them first of all. When people who love the world mock our faith, let us say to them: “Your time is always right, ours has not yet come.” Indeed, the apostle Paul has said to us: “You are dead and your life is henceforth hidden with Christ in God.” When will our time come? “When Christ our life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory” (Col 3:3). “Our life is hidden with Christ in God.” During the winter one might well say: this tree is dead – a fig tree, for example, a pear or some other fruit bearing tree. Throughout the winter it seems to be deprived of life. But summer will provide proof and allow us to judge whether it is alive. Our own summer is the revelation of Christ.

maronite readings – rosary,team