Saturday, October 5 : Saint Cyprian

We should not weep for those brothers of ours whom the Lord’s call has drawn away from this world since we know they are not lost but that they have set out before us: they have left us, like travellers or navigators, so that they might go ahead of us. We should envy them, then, rather than weep for them and should not clothe ourselves in black when they are clothed above in robes of white. Do not let us give the pagans an opportunity for very rightly reproaching us for lamenting over those whom we assert to be alive before God, as though they were wiped out or lost. We betray our hope and our faith if what we say appears to be deception and lies. There is no use in protesting their courage in words and destroying its veracity in deeds. When we die, we pass through death to immortality and eternal life cannot be bestowed unless we depart from this world. This is not an ending but a passing. At the completion of our temporal journey comes our passing into eternity. Who would not hurry towards so great a good? Who would not long to be changed and transformed into the image of Christ? Heaven is our homeland… A great number of our dear ones are waiting for us there, a huge crowd of parents, brothers, sons are longing for us… Let us hurry to come to them, let us ardently desire to be with them speedily and to be speedily with Christ.

maronite readings – rosary,team