maronite readings

My beloved, that a person should do the will of God is what constitutes prayer. That is how prayer seems to me to excel. Above all, be eager for prayer and do not weary in it, as it is written that our Lord said: “Pray and do not weary.” You should be eager in wakefulness and remove far from yourself drowsiness and sleep; you should be watchful both by day and by night and not be disheartened. Now I shall show you the different occasions for prayer. There is petition, thanksgiving, and praise (Phil 4,6). In petition one asks for mercy for one’s sins, in thanksgiving you give thanks to your Father who is in heaven, while in praise you praise him for his works. At a time when you are in trouble, offer up petition, and when you are well supplied with good things, you should give thanks to the Giver, and when your mind rejoices, offer up praise. Make all these prayers of yours with discernment to God. See how David was always saying: “I have risen to give thanks to you for your judgments, O Just One.” (Ps 119[118],62). And in another psalm he said: “Praise the Lord in heaven, praise him in the heights” (Ps 149[148],1). Again he says: “I will bless the Lord at all times, and at all times his praises are in my mouth” (Ps 34[33],2). Do not pray using only one kind of prayer, but all separately according to circumstance. I am convinced, my beloved, that everything people ask for with diligence, God will grant them. But he takes no pleasure in the person who offers up prayer in mockery. As it is written: “This is required of the person who prays, offering up prayer: that he turn over and inspect his offering well, lest some blemish be found on it; only then should he offer it” (cf Mt 5,23-24; Mk 11,25), so that your offering does not remain on earth. What is this offering if not prayer?… Of all offerings pure prayer is the best.
maronite readings – rosary,team

You shone forth, O Savior, you manifested,
the inaccessible light of your essential being
as the light of glory, and you brought light to a soul
immersed in darkness…
Enlightened by the Spirit’s light
we behold the Son, we see the Father
and adore the Trinity of Persons, one only God… For the Lord Christ is the Spirit (2Cor 3,17),
Spirit too is God, the Father of my Lord,
one only Spirit since he is most surely undivided ;
whoever possesses him, truly possesses
the Three without confusion…
For the Father exists ; how can he be the Son ?
For he is unbegotten in his very essence.
There is the Son ; and how can he become Spirit ?
The Spirit is Spirit – and how can he appear as Father ? The Father is Father because ?unbegotten ;
The Father is Father because ceaselessly begetting…
The Son is Son because ceaselessly begotten
and has been begotten since before time began.
He sprang forth from his root without being cut :
he both stands alone and is not separated.
He is wholly one with the living Father and is himself Life and gives life to all (Jn 14,6 ; 10,28).
Everyhing the Father has, the Son has too ;
everything the Son has, the Father has equally.
Seeing the Son, I also see the Father ;
and the Father is seen to be wholly like the Son
except that the one begets and the other is unendingly begotten…
How does the Son proceed from the Father ? As the word proceeds from the mind.
In what way is he distinguished from him ?
As is the voice from the word.
How does he take on a body ?
As the word that is written down… How are we to name the Creator of all ?
All names and actions and outward expression,
all came into the world at God’s command
for it was he who gave names to all his works
and to each reality its own designation…
But his own name has never been known
unless, as Scripture says, as the « inexpressible God » (cf. Gn 32,30)
If, therefore, he is inexpressible, if he has no name,
if he is invisible, if he is mysterious,
if he is inaccessible, alone beyond all words,
beyond not just human but angelic thought,
« He made darkness his cloak around him » (Ps 18,12).
All the rest here below belongs in shadow ;
he alone, as the light, stands outside the darkness.
maronite readings – rosary,team

The Evangelist John tells us that when Jesus sees Nathaniel approaching, he exclaims: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!” (Jn 1,47). This is praise reminiscent of the text of a Psalm: “Blessed is the man… in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Ps 32[31],2), but provokes the curiosity of Nathaniel who answers in amazement:  “How do you know me?”. Jesus’ reply cannot immediately be understood. He says: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig  tree,  I  saw  you”.  We do not know what had happened under this fig tree. It is obvious that it had to do with a decisive moment in Nathaniel’s life. His heart is moved by Jesus’ words, he feels understood and he understands: “This man knows everything about me, he knows and is familiar with the road of life; I can truly trust this man”. And so he answers with a clear and beautiful confession of faith: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” In this confession is conveyed a first important step in the journey of attachment to Jesus. Nathaniel’s words shed light on a twofold, complementary aspect of Jesus’ identity: he is recognized both in his special relationship with God the Father, of whom he is the Only-begotten Son, and in his relationship with the People of Israel, of whom he is the declared King, precisely the description of the awaited Messiah. We must never lose sight of either of these two elements because if we only proclaim Jesus’ heavenly dimension, we risk making him an ethereal and evanescent being; and if, on the contrary, we recognize only his concrete place in history, we end by neglecting the divine dimension that properly qualifies him.
maronite readings – rosary,team

Faithful to the memory of Jesus, the apostles rejoiced with the new believers, because in him they had found not only the shepherd of their soul, but also the head of shepherds. When the hour had come to return to the Father, upon leaving this world, Jesus wanted to choose and to call other “shepherds after his own heart” (Jer 3:15). He did so by his free choice, so that they might continue his own mission in the whole world until the end of time. They were to be the people sent by him, his messengers, his apostles. They would be pastors solely in his name, for the good of the flock and in the power of his Spirit, to whom they were to remain faithful. After his triple profession of love for Jesus, Peter, the first one of them all, was named shepherd of Jesus’ sheep and lambs (Jn 21:15). Then all the apostles. And after them, others more, and all of them in the same Spirit. And at all times, they must all guide the Lord’s flock, which was entrusted to them, not so that they would dominate over them, but to be models for the flock (1 Pet 5:3), with total disinterestedness and great energy of heart. Only then will they one day be able to receive the reward they have deserved, when the head of the shepherds returns.
maronite readings – rosary,team

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”… If there had not been many dwelling places in the house of God the Father, our Lord would have told us that he was going on ahead to prepare the dwelling places of the saints. He knew, however, that many such dwelling places already prepared were awaiting the arrival of those who love God. Therefore he did not give this as the reason for his departure, but rather his desire to open the way for our ascent to those heavenly places and to prepare a safe passage for us by making smooth the road that had previously been impassible. For heaven was then completely inaccessible to us – human foot had never trodden that pure and holy country of the angels. It was Christ who first prepared the way for our ascent there. By offering himself to God the Father as the firstfruits of all who are dead and buried, he gave us a way of entry into heaven and was himself the first human being the inhabitants of heaven ever saw. The angels in heaven, knowing nothing of the sacred and profound mystery of the incarnation, were astonished at his coming and almost thrown into confusion by an event so strange and unheard of. “Who is this coming from Edom?” they asked (Is 63,1); that is, from the earth… And so our Lord Jesus Christ “has opened up for us a new and living way” (Heb 10,20), as Saint Paul says, “not by entering a sanctuary made with hands, but by entering heaven itself to appear before God on our behalf” (Heb 9,24).
maronite readings – rosary,team