Saturday, August 17 : Philoxenes of Mabbug

Listen to God’s voice pushing you to come out of yourself to follow Christ… and you will become a perfect disciple: “Whoever does not renounce all he possesses cannot be my disciple.” After that, what is there to say? What answer can you give? All your hesitation and questioning falls flat before this single saying… And elsewhere Christ says: “Anyone who forsakes his life in this world will keep it for eternal life… If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him” (Jn 12,25f). Again, he says to his disciples: “Get up, let us go!” (Jn 14,31). By these words he shows us that neither his nor his disciples’ place lies here. Where are we going, then, Lord? “Where I am my servant will also be” (Jn 12,26). If Jesus cries out to us: “Get up, let us go!”, who would be so foolish as to stay here with the dead bodies in their tombs and dwell among the dead? Therefore every time the world tries to hold you back, remember Christ’s words: “Get up, let us go!”… Every time you feel like sitting down, staying put, being happy to stay where you are, remember that insistent voice and say to yourself: “Up you get! Let’s get going.” Because, in any case, you have to go. But go as Jesus went: go because he tells you to and not because the laws of nature carry you away in spite of yourself. Whether you like it or not you are on the way of those who are leaving. Leave, then, because your Lord tells you to and not necessitated by constraint. “Get up, let us go!” This voice arouses the recumbent; it is the trumpet voice casting out the sleep of laziness with its cry. It is a force, not a word. All at once it clothes the one who hears it with new strength and pushes them on from one thing to another in a winking… “Get up, let us go!” Do you see how he, too, accompanies you? What are you waiting for?… God is calling you to set out alongside him.

maronite readings – rosary,team