Saturday, November 5 : Saint Maximus of Turin

«The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel» says the prophet (Is 5,7). We ourselves are this house… and, since we are his Israel, we are the vineyard. So let us take good care that grapes of wrath (Rv 14,19) rather than sweetness, do not grow from our branches, so that no one may say to us: «I expected grapes but it yielded wild grapes» (Is 5,4). What fruitless soil! The soil that should have presented its master with fruits of sweetness, pierced him with its sharp thorns. In the same way his enemies, who ought to have welcomed our Savior with all the devotion of their faith, crowned him with the thorns of his Passion. In their eyes this crown expressed insult and abuse, but in the Lord’s eyes it was the crown of virtue… My brethren, take good care that no one says with regard to you: «He expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes» (Is 5,2)… Let us take care that our evil deeds do not rub against our Lord’s head like thorns. There are thorns in the heart that have even wounded the word of God, as our Lord says in the gospel when he relates how the sower’s seed fell among thorns that grew and choked what had been sown (Mt 13,7)… So take care that your vineyard does not bring forth thorns instead of grapes and your vintage produce vinegar instead of wine. Anyone who gathers in the grapes without sharing them with the poor is collecting vinegar instead of wine; and anyone who stores his harvests without sharing them with needy is not setting aside the fruit of almsgiving but the briers of greed.

maronite readings – rosary,team