Maronite Readings

Zacchaeus prayed thus in his heart: “How blessed is he who is worthy to receive this Just man into his house”. Our Savior said to him: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly!” And he, seeing that the Lord knew his thoughts, said: “Since he knows about these he must also know all I have done”. That is […]

     Although every disciple of Christ, as far as possible, has the duty of spreading the Faith, Christ the Lord always calls whomever He will from among the number of His disciples, to be with Him and to be sent by Him to preach to the nations (cf. Mark 3:13)…       Yet man must respond to […]

Those who shed Christ’s blood did not do so to wash away the sins of the world… yet, without realising it, they aided the plan of salvation. The salvation of the world that followed owed nothing either to their might, or their will, or their intention, or their act, but came from the might, will, […]

Anyone who does not know God, even though he may entertain all kinds of hopes, is ultimately without hope, without the great hope that sustains the whole of life (cf. Eph 2,12). Man’s great, true hope which holds firm in spite of all disappointments can only be God—God who has loved us and who continues […]

“Little children, this is how we know we are of the truth, when we love in action and truth, not only in words and speech, and assure our heart in his presence” (1Jn 3,18-19). What does “in his presence” mean? Where he himself sees. Hence, the Lord himself says in the gospel, “Beware of practicing […]

God prompts man to rise up from his sins… The more swiftly a man acknowledges his wretchedness, the more swiftly, too, he humbles himself and abandons himself to God knowing that the work of converting him belongs to God alone. He becomes aware of it by degrees through the constant inspirations God sends him and, […]

In the Creed, after professing: “I believe in one Church”, we add the adjective “holy”; we affirm the sanctity of the Church, and this is a characteristic that has been present from the beginning in the consciousness of early Christians, who were simply called “the holy people” (cf. Acts 9,13, 32, 41; Rom 8,27; 1 […]

Christ’s miracles were ordained to manifest his divinity. However, this had to remain hidden from the demons, otherwise the mystery of the passion would have been hindered by them: “If they had known the Lord of glory, they would not have crucified him,” (1Cor 2,8). It would seem, then, that Christ should not work miracles […]

If anyone wants a high office let him want the labor it entails not the honor it will bring him. He should desire to serve and minister to everyone and not expect everyone to serve and minister to him. For the desire to be served comes from the supercilious attitude of the Pharisees; the desire […]

We turn out thoughts today towards an effect proper to Pentecost: the supernatural life produced by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the visible, social and human body of Christ’s disciples. This effect is the eternal youth of the Church… The human persons making up the Church undergo the fate of time; they are […]

The Master’s servants, in other words, God’s angels noticed that there were weeds in the field, that is to say that the ungodly and the wicked were mingled with the good and lived with them, even in the Church of Christ. They said to the Lord: “Do you want us to go out and pull […]

The soul of the humble is like the sea. Throw a stone into the sea – for a moment it will ruffle the surface and then sink to the bottom. Thus do afflictions disappear down in the hearts of the humble because the strength of the Lord is with them. Where is your habitation, O […]

“At Nazareth, on the Sabbath day, Jesus stood up to read. Unrolling the scroll he found the passage in Isaiah where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has anointed me’” (Is 61,1). It was not simply by chance but by an intervention of Divine Providence that Jesus unrolled this […]

God is in the unfettered heart, in the silence of prayer, the willing sacrifice to suffering in the rejection of the world and its creatures. God is in the Cross, and as long as we do not love the Cross we shall not see him, we shall not feel him. Let those who are only […]

Our Savior was truly made the Anointed One according to the flesh, becoming true king and true priest. He was both so that nothing might be lacking in the Savior. Notice therefore that he became king, when he says: “I was set by the Lord as king on Zion, his holy mountain” (Ps 2,6 Vg). […]

The Ninevites fasted with a pure fast when Jonah preached repentance to them… This is what is written: “When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of his blazing wrath” (cf Jon 3,10). It is not said that: “He saw a fast of bread and water, with sackcloth […]

The place before the great sanctuary in which you will stand immediatelly after your baptism symbolizes the glory of the world to come. The singing of psalms with which you will be received is a prelude to the hymns of heaven. The lamps you will light prefigure that great procession of lights in which we […]

Jesus accompanies his words with many “mighty works and wonders and signs” (Acts 2,22), which manifest that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah. The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in […]

We are to consider why and how we are to pray. People who want to give themselves to prayer must, before all else, collect their heart within themselves, recall it from its wanderings and from the dissipation into which it was going astray, and then humbly cast themselves down at God’s feet, ask him for […]

According to God’s providential design it has been granted to everything that exists to attain its end according to its nature. People, too, in order to obtain what they hope from God, have received a means adapted to the human condition. This condition allows us to make use of prayer to obtain from others what […]

My brethren, do you imagine God is ignorant of what you need? He who knows our distress foreknows our desires also. That is why, in teaching them the Our Father, the Lord counselled his disciples not to use many words: “When you pray, do not keep babbling because your Father knows what you need before […]

Listen to the prophet announcing our Lord. He compares him to a lamb, a sheep, the most innocent of animals: “Like a lamb led to the slaughter, or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth” (Is 53,7)… Our Lord was not compared to a lion when he was led […]

Virtue does not only have one face. Martha and Mary’s example shows us active devotion in the works of the former and a heart’s devout attention to the word of God in the latter. If this attentiveness is joined to a deep faith, it is to be preferred to works: “Mary has chosen the better […]

The senses are full of curiosity; faith is content to know nothing, it… longs to pass its life motionless before the Tabernacle. The senses love riches and honour; faith holds them in horror… “Blessed are the poor” (Mt 5,3). She adores the poverty and lowliness with which Jesus covered his life as though with a […]

Love in yourself what he who loved you has made you to be. Despise in yourself what you yourself have made of yourself. Submit yourself to what is above you; despise what is beneath you. Love yourself in the same way as he loved you who gave himself up for you. Despise yourself for having […]

Unless the mission is oriented by charity, that is, unless it springs from a profound act of divine love, it risks being reduced to mere philanthropic and social activity. In fact, God’s love for every person constitutes the heart of the experience and proclamation of the Gospel, and those who welcome it in turn become […]

Coming forth from the eternal Father’s love, founded in time by Christ the Redeemer and made one in the Holy Spirit, the Church has a saving and an eschatological purpose which can be fully attained only in the future world. But she is already present in this world, and is composed of men, that is, […]

Since I came here, I have had no rest. I have been from village to village and every child not yet baptized I have baptized… But the children would not let me say my office or eat or rest till I had taught them some prayer. It was then that I really began to feel […]

Let us consider the words Jesus addressed on our behalf to his Father, speaking of us: “You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” And indeed, God the Father has revealed to us the mystery hidden in the silence of […]

In his intimate life, God “is love,” (1Jn 4,8) the essential love shared by the three divine Persons: personal love is the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of the Father and the Son. Therefore he “searches even the depths of God,”(1Cor 2,10) as uncreated Love-Gift. It can be said that in the Holy Spirit the […]

I cannot look directly into your light; it is too great for me. But whatever I see, I see through it, like a weak eye that sees what it does by the light of the sun, though it cannot look at the sun itself. My understanding cannot take it in, it is too bright, I […]

Admire God’s wonderful works ; come out of your sleep. Are you only going to admire extraordinary miracles? But are they any greater than those that daily take place before your eyes? Are people astonished because our Lord Jesus Christ satisfied several thousand persons with five loaves (Mt 14,19f) and are not surprised that a […]

When one might have expected she would depart in utter despair, at that very moment the Canaanite woman drew nearer and worshiped, saying, “Lord, help me!”… What is this, O woman? Did you not hear him saying, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”? “I heard,” she says, “but […]

To carry out the will of the Father, Christ inaugurated the Kingdom of heaven on earth and revealed to us the mystery of that kingdom. By His obedience He brought about redemption. The Church, or, in other words, the kingdom of Christ now present in mystery, grows visibly through the power of God in the […]

Peter is considering Christ’s suffering and death from a purely natural and human point of view, and this death seems to him to be unworthy of God, dishonorable for his glory. Christ reproves him as though to say: “But no! Suffering and death are not unworthy of me. Earthly opinions disturb and mislead your judgment. […]

Again we kneel before the manger… Closest to the newborn Savior we see St. Stephen. What secured the first martyr of the Crucified this place of honor? In youthful enthusiasm he accomplished what the Lord said upon his entrance into the world, “A body you have prepared for me. Behold, I come to fulfill your […]

The Lord said: “Whoever welcomes this little child on my account welcomes me.” (Lk 9:48) The smaller our brother is, the more Christ is present. For when we welcome a great personality, we often do so out of vainglory; but the person who welcomes someone unimportant, does so with a pure intention and for Christ. […]

«A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho”… Jericho is the symbol of this world where, after he had been cast out of Paradise, that is to say the heavenly Jerusalem, Adam went down… It was his change of behavior, not of place, that made his exile. And what a change! This man Adam, […]

My soul yearns after the Lord and I seek Him in tears. How could I do other than seek Thee, for Thou first didst seek and find me, and gavest me to delight in Thy Holy Spirit, and my soul fell to loving Thee. Thou seest, O Lord, my grief and my tears. Hadst Thou […]

Before John the Baptist, we have seen many other great and saint prophets, worthy of God, filled with his Holy Spirit, who announced the coming of the Lord and who testified to the Truth. Nevertheless no one said of them what was said about John the Baptist: “among those born of women there has been […]

Our Lord and Master’s precept is salutary: “Whoever holds out till the end will be saved.” He also said: “If you live according to my teaching, you are truly my disciples; then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (Jn 8:31) We must endure and persevere, beloved brothers. Thus, admitted […]

It is to you, young men and women of the world, that the Council wishes to address its final message. For it is you who are to receive the torch from the hands of your elders and to live in the world at the period of the most gigantic transformations ever realized in its history. […]

The Lord founded the Church by calling together the Twelve, who were to represent the future People of God. Faithful to the Lord’s mandate, after his Ascension…, the Twelve continued to involve others in the duties entrusted to them so that they might continue their ministry. The Risen Lord himself called Paul (cf. Gal 1: […]

Two years before his death the blessed Francis was already ill, suffering especially from his eyes… He had been fifty days or more without being able to stand the sunlight by day nor the brightness of the fire by night. He remained continually in his cell, in the gloom at the interior of the house… […]

The promise attached to the eucharistic table makes us live in Christ and Christ in us, for it is written: “He remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6,56). If Christ remains in us, of what else could we have need? What could we lack? If Christ remains in us what more can we […]

Someone who celebrates alone in the heart of the wilderness, is a great assembly. If two together celebrate among the rocks, thousands and tens of thousands are present there. If three are gathered together, a fourth is among them. If there are six or seven together, twelve thousand thousand are assembled. If they range themselves […]

If only men knew what the love of the Lord is like they would run as one mass to be near Christ and he would warm them all with his grace. His mercy is inexpressible. The Lord loves the repentant sinner and clasps him tenderly to his breast: “Where were you, my child? I have […]

Watch that you don’t despise one of these little ones for, I tell you, their angels see the face of my Father in heaven. » With these words Christ is saying to us something like this : « Be vigilant, take care that you don’t despise people who are simple, poor or weak. As for […]