Saturday, September 16 : Philoxenes of Mabbug

Understand and take it to heart, brother…, that there are many serpents in the desert which bite into the multiplicity of your thoughts: namely, insults, malicious gossip, worries, murmuring, disputes, calumnies directed against you… But if you want to escape them then do what the Israelites did…: they looked at the bronze serpent Moses had set up at the top of the mountain and all those who obeyed and looked at it were healed. When you see yourself bitten by one of these serpents, you too should gaze at our Lord Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross… As the apostle Paul says: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of our faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him he endured the cross, despising its shame” (Heb 12:2)… Now here in few words is how you ought to have your eyes fixed on him when you are bitten by the serpents: when you are disgraced, fix your eyes on him; he was also disgraced for your sake, treated as possessed and a Samaritan (Jn 8:48)…, he was mocked and struck, people spat in his face, he was given bitter wine and vinegar to drink, he was struck over the head with a reed. If you are bitten by some vain thought because you have been entrusted with important business, remember our Lord’s words: “When you have done all you have been commanded, say: We are unprofitable servants” (Lk 17:10). If you feel like despising your brother on account of his weakness, fix your eyes on him who showed more solicitude for sinners, publicans and prostitutes in order to convert them through his encounter, rather than for the just who have no need of conversion (Lk 5:30-32). And when natural preferences and demons attack you, fix your eyes on him stretched out on the cross with hands and feet fixed with nails… Meditate on these things in your heart without ceasing and the poison of the serpents will disappear from your heart. For by his crucifixion Jesus is closer to you than the bronze serpent was to the Hebrew people: he dwells within your heart and the light of his glorious face shines in the secret recesses of your soul.

maronite readings – rosary,team