maronite readings

Rightly, my brethren, does the Church apply these words of the Wise Man to the holy apostles, Peter and Paul: “These also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten; their wealth remains with their descendants” (Sir 44,10-11). Yes, we might very truly refer to them as godly men since they won mercy for themselves, were full of mercy, and it was in his mercy that God gave them to us. Now see what mercy it was that they won. If you question Paul about it… he will tell you himself: “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated by God” (cf. 1Tm 1,13). Indeed, who doesn’t know about all the dreadful things he did to the Christians in Jerusalem… and even in the whole of Judea?… As for the blessed Peter, I have something different to tell you, but it is something that is all the more sublime as it is unique. For in fact, if Paul sinned he did so unawares since he was without faith; but Peter’s eyes, to the contrary, were wide open at the time of his fall (Mt 26,69f.). Yet “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more” (Rm 5,20)… If Saint Peter could rise up to such a height of sanctity after so disastrous a fall, who can now despair, however little he, too, desires to forsake his sins? Note what the Gospel says: “He went out and wept bitterly” (v.75)… You have heard what mercy the apostles obtained, and from now on none of you will be crushed by his past sins more than is necessary… If you sinned, didn’t Paul sin even more? If you fell, didn’t Peter fall even deeper than you? Now both of them, by repenting, not only gained salvation but became great saints. They even became ministers of salvation and teachers of holiness. Do the same yourself, my brother, because it is for your sake that Scripture calls them “godly men”.

maronite readings – rosary,team

The fact that the all-powerful God has been able to humble himself even to the humility of the human condition constitutes a greater proof than the impact and supernatural character of miracles. Indeed, when divine power effects something of great sublimity this is, after a fashion, in conformity with and appropriate to God’s nature… On the other hand, that God descended even to our lowliness is, in a certain way, the expression of an overwhelming power that is not in the least restrained by what is contrary to its nature… Neither the expanse of the heavens, the brightness of the stars, the governing of the universe, nor the harmony of created things reveal the splendid power of God so much as his indulgence, which leads him to lower himself to the weakness of our nature… God’s goodness, wisdom, justice and power are revealed in his plans on our behalf: goodness in his will to “save that which was lost” (Lk 19,10); wisdom and justice in his manner of saving us; power in the fact that Christ became “in the likeness of men” (Phil 2,7-8) and made himself conformable to the humility of our nature.
maronite readings – rosary,team

We should remember that Jesus’ essential attribute and the one that most calls forth his dignity is that of ‘Son’… His life’s orientation, the purpose for which he came and the end that gave them shape are expressed in a single word: “Abba, beloved Father”. Jesus knew he was never alone and, right up to his final cry on the cross, he obeyed him whom he called Father, submitting his whole being to him. It is this alone that allows us to explain why he refused at the last to call himself king or lord or attribute to himself any other title of power but had recourse to a word that we might well translate as ‘child’. Thus we could say what follows: if, in Jesus’ preaching, childhood occupies such an extraordinarily significant place, it is because it corresponds the most profoundly to the mystery that was most personal to him, to his sonship. His highest dignity, that which refers us back to his divinity, does not consist in the end in any power he might have disposed of but was founded on his being orientated towards the other: God, the Father. The German exegete, Joachim Jeremias, has well said that to be a child in Jesus’ sense means to learn to say “Father”.
maronite readings – rosary,team

For centuries before He came on earth, prophet after prophet was upon his high tower, looking out for Him, through the thick night, and watching for the faintest glimmer of the dawn:… “O God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break of day. For Thee my soul hath thirsted in a desert land, where there is no way nor water” (Ps 63[62],2)… “O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, and come down!—the mountains would melt away at Thy presence. They would melt, as at the burning of fire… From the beginning of the world the eye hath not seen, O God, besides Thee, what things Thou hast prepared for them that wait on Thee”(Is 63,19; 1Cor 2,9). Now, if there were any men who had a right to be attached to this world, not detached from it, it was the ancient servants of God. This earth was given them as their portion and reward by the very word of the Most High. But our reward is future… And they, too, put aside God’s good gift for His better promise; they sacrificed possession to hope. They would be content with nothing short of the fruition of their Creator; they would watch for nothing else than the face of their Deliverer. If earth must be broken up, if the heavens must be rent, if the elements must melt, if the order of nature must be undone, in order to His appearing, let the ruin be, rather than they should be without Him. Such was the intense longing of the Jewish worshipper, looking out for that which was to come… Their perseverance in looking out proves that there was something to look out for. Nor were the Apostles, after our Lord had come and gone, behind the Prophets in the keenness of their apprehension, and the eagerness of their longing for Him. The miracle of patient waiting was continued.
maronite readings – rosary,team