maronite readings

“Jesus, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, rose from supper.” That which had not been in Jesus’s hands before is put into his hands by the Father: not just some things and not others, but everything. David had said: “The Lord says to my lord: Sit at my right hand while I make your enemies your footstool” (Ps 109[110]:1). The enemies of Jesus shared out, as it were, that ‘all’ which he knew his Father was giving him. (…) On account of those who were far away from God, he was separated from God who, by nature, did not wish to leave the Father. He left God so that all who have been separated from God should return to God with him, in his hands, according to his eternal design. (…) So what was Jesus doing in washing the feet of his disciples? By washing them and wiping them with the towel around his waist wasn’t Jesus making their feet beautiful at the moment when they were going to have to proclaim the good news? It was then, in my opinion, that the prophetic word was fulfilled: “How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news!” (Is 52:7; Rm 10:15). But if, by washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus makes them beautiful, how can we express the genuine beauty in those whom he immerses fully “in the Holy Spirit and in fire” (Mt 3:11)? The feet of the apostles were made beautiful so that (…) they might set out along the holy road and walk in him who said: “I am the Way” (Jn 14:6). For whoever has had his feet washed by Jesus, and he alone, follows that living way that leads to the Father. That way has no room for dirty feet! (…) In order to follow this living, spiritual way (Heb 10:20) (…) they had to have their feet washed by Jesus who set aside his garments (…) so as to take upon his own body the dirtiness of their feet with the towel which was his only garment, for “he bears our infirmities” (Is 53:4).

maronite readings – rosary,team

Just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and persecution, so the Church is called to follow the same route that it might communicate the fruits of salvation to men. Christ Jesus, “though he was by nature God… emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave” (Phil 2:6), and “being rich, became poor” (2 Cor 8:9) for our sakes. Thus, the Church, although it needs human resources to carry out its mission, is not set up to seek earthly glory, but to proclaim, even by its own example, humility and self-sacrifice. Christ was sent by the Father “to bring good news to the poor, to heal the contrite of heart” (Lk 4:18), “to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:10). Similarly, the Church encompasses with love all who are afflicted with human suffering and in the poor and afflicted sees the image of its poor and suffering Founder. It does all it can to relieve their need and in them it strives to serve Christ… The Church, “… presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God” (St. Augustine), announcing the cross and death of the Lord until he comes” (cf. 1 Cor 11:26). By the power of the risen Lord it is given strength that it might, in patience and in love, overcome its sorrows and its challenges, both within itself and from without, and that it might reveal to the world, faithfully though darkly, the mystery of its Lord until, in the end, it will be manifested in full light.
maronite readings – rosary,team

The eyes of the Lord look on the lowly to make them glad. But the face of the Lord turns away from the proud to humble them. The lowly always receive pity from God… Make yourself small before everyone and you will be raised up higher than this world’s princes. Make all creatures go before you, embrace them, humble yourself before them, and you will be honored more than those who make an offering of gold. Descend lower than your own self and you will see God’s glory within you. For where humility sprouts, God’s glory spreads… If you have humility in your heart, God will reveal his glory to you in it… Do not love honor and you will not be dishonored. Honor flees before someone who runs after it. But honor pursues the one who flees it and makes known to everyone his humility. If you despise yourself so as not to be honored, God will make you known. If you accuse yourself for love of the truth, God will permit you to be praised in front of every creature. They will open before you the door to the glory of your Creator and praise you. For you are truly made in his image and likeness (Gn 1,26).
maronite readings – rosary,team

The notion of the Church as community of the faithful is the most accessi· ble to human reason. Whoever believes in Christ and His gospel, hopes for the fulfillment of His promises, clings to Him in love, and keeps His commandments must unite with all who are like-minded in the deepest communion of mind and heart. Those who adhered to the Lord during His stay on earth were the early seeds of the great Christian community; they spread that community and that faith which held them together, until they have been inherited by us today through the process of time. But, if even a natural human community is more than a loose union of single individuals, if even here we can verify a movement developing into a kind of organic unit, it must be still more true of the supernatural community of the Church. The union of the soul with Christ differs from the union among people in the world: it is a rooting and growing in Him (so we are told by the parable of the vine and the branches) which begins in baptism, and which is constantly strengthened and formed through the sacraments in diverse ways. However this real union with Christ implies the growth of a genuine community among all Christians. Thus the Church forms the Mystical Body of Christ. The Body is a living Body, and the spirit which gives the Body life is Christ’s spirit, streaming from the head to all parts (Eph 5,23.30). The spirit which Christ radiates is the Holy Spirit; the Church is thus the temple of the Holy Spirit (Eph 2,21-22).
maronite readings – rosary,team