Sunday, September 10 : John Tauler

These two people went up to the Temple. Now the Temple is the soul’s delightsome interior depth in which the Holy Trinity so delightfully resides and so nobly works, where it so generously deposits all its wealth and in which it takes its satisfaction and pleasure, rejoicing in its noble image and likeness (Gn 1,26). There is no one who can perfectly express the nobility and high dignity of this temple. There we must go in to pray and, so that our prayer may be done well, there are to be two people who go up to it…, the exterior and the interior. The prayer of the exterior person without the interior has little value, even none at all. To make real progress in the way of true and well-made prayer there is no greater or more useful help that the precious eucharistic body of our Lord Jesus Christ… My dear children, you should be exceptionally grateful that this great grace is granted you more often than it used to be and should make use of it more than of any other help… Now then, one of these two was a Pharisee and the Gospel tells us what happened to him. The other was a publican; he stood far off, did not dare raise his eyes to heaven, and said: «Lord, be merciful to me, poor sinner» and for this his prayer came to a happy issue. Truly, I would want to act as he did and keep my eyes constantly on my nothingness. This would be the noblest and most helpful way one could ever take. This path brings God to us without ceasing and without intermediary, for where God comes with his mercy he comes with all that he is, he comes himself. However, it sometimes happens that the sentiments of this publican come to the soul of certain people and then, conscious of their sins, they want to fly from God and the Holy Sacrament saying they don’t dare draw near. But no, my dear children, to the contrary, you ought to go to communion even more readily so as to be set free from your sins, and say: «Come Lord, O come quickly, lest my soul should die in its sin. It is essential you come without delay before it wholly die» (cf Jn 8,24; 4,49).

maronite readings – rosary,team