maronite readings

Only the hearing that catches the word possesses the truth…”Do not touch me,” says the Lord. He meant: depend no longer on this fallible sense; put your trust in the word, get used to faith. Faith cannot be deceived. With the power to understand invisible truths, faith does not know the poverty of the senses; it transcends even the limits of human reason, the capacity of nature, the bounds of experience. Why do you ask the eye to do what it is not equipped to do? And why does the hand endeavor to examine things beyond its reach? What you may learn from these senses is of limited value. But faith will tell you of me without detracting from my greatness. Learn to receive with greater confidence, to follow with greater security, whatever faith commends to you. “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” As if after he had ascended he wished to be or could be touched by her! And yet he could be touched, but by the heart, not by the hand; by desire, not by the eye; by faith, not by the senses. “Why do you want to touch me now?” he says… “Do you not remember that, while I was still mortal, the eyes of the disciples could not endure for a short space the glory of my transfigured body that was destined to die? I still accommodate myself to your senses by bearing this form of a servant (Phil 2,7) which you are accustomed to seeing. But this glory of mine is too wonderful for you… Defer your judgment therefore… With its fuller comprehension, faith will define it more worthily and more surely… She therefore will touch me worthily who will accept me as seated with the Father (Mk 16,19; Ps 110[109],1), no longer in lowly guise, but in my own flesh transformed with heaven’s beauty. Why wish to touch what is ugly? Have patience that you may touch me in my beauty.”
maronite readings – rosary,team

At this point we must stop and reflect upon the ardent love in the heart of this woman who would not leave the Lord’s grave even after his own disciples had gone away. She continued seeking him whom she could not find; in tears she kept searching; and, afire with love, she yearned for him whom she believed had been removed. Thus it happened that she alone saw him, she who had remained behind to seek him, simply because a truly good act involves the virtue of perseverance. For the lips of Truth itself have said: “Whoever perseveres to the end shall be saved” (Mt 10,22)… Holy desires grow with delay: if they fade through delay they are no desires at all. Such must be the love that inflames anyone who is reaching out for the truth. This is why David says: “My soul thirsts for the living God; when shall I come and behold the face of God?” (Ps 41[42],3). And the Church says in the Song of Songs, “I am wounded by love”, and again, “My soul failed me” (Sg 2,5). “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” She is asked the cause of her sorrow so that her longing may increase, for when she names the one she seeks she burns with yet greater love for him. “Jesus said to her: Mary.” First of all he called her by the title common to all her sex, and she did not recognize him. Now he calls her by her own name, as if to say plainly: “Now recognize the one who recognizes you. For I know you, not in some general way along with other people, but personally.” Addressed by her own name, Mary recognizes her maker and straightway calls him “Rabboni”, that is “Teache”. Outwardly it was he who was the object of her search, but inwardly it was he who was teaching her to search for him.
maronite readings – rosary,team

We must not suppose that St. Thomas differed greatly from the other apostles. They all, more or less, mistrusted Christ’s promises when they saw him led away to be crucified. When he was buried, their hopes were buried with him; and when the news was brought them, that he was risen again, they all disbelieved it. On his appearing to them, he “upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart.” (Mark 16:14)… Thomas was convinced latest, because he saw Christ latest. On the other hand, it is certain that, though he disbelieved the good news of Christ’s resurrection at first, he was no cold-hearted follower of his Lord, as appears from his conduct on a previous occasion, when he expressed a desire to share danger, and to suffer with him…: “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” (Jn 11:16)… It was at the instance of Thomas that they hazarded their lives with their Lord. St. Thomas then loved his Master, as became an apostle, and was devoted to his service; but when he saw him crucified, his faith failed for a season with that of the rest… and more than the rest. His standing out alone, not against one witness only, but against his ten fellow disciples, besides Mary Magdalene and the other women is evidence of this… He seems to have required some sensible insight into the unseen state, some infallible sign from heaven, a ladder of angels like Jacob’s (Gn 28:12), which would remove anxiety by showing him the end of the journey at the time he set out. Some such secret craving after certainty beset him. And a like desire arose within him on the news of Christ’s resurrection. While our Saviour allowed Thomas his wish, and satisfied his senses that he was really alive, he accompanied the permission with a rebuke: “because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”… All his disciples minister to him even in their weaknesses, that so he may convert them into instruction and comfort for his Church.

maronite readings – rosary,team

The apostles were sitting there in the Cenacle, the Upper Room, waiting for the Holy Spirit’s coming. Like torches they were present there, ready and waiting to be set alight by the Holy Spirit so as to illumine the whole creation with their teaching… They were there like farm hands carrying seed in their coat pocket waiting for the order to go out and sow. They were there like sailors whose boat is tied up in the harbor of the Son’s commandment and who are waiting for the gentle wind of the Spirit. They were there like shepherds who have just received their staff from the Chief Shepherd of the fold and who are waiting for the flock to be divided among them. “And they began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” O Cenacle, kneading trough into which has been thrown the leaven leavening the whole world! O Cenacle, mother of all the churches, who have witnessed the miracle of the burning bush (Ex 3). O Cenacle, amazing Jerusalem with a wonder far greater than that of the burning furnace which astonished the inhabitants of Babylon (Dn 3). The fire of the furnace burned all those around it but protected those in its midst; the flames of the Cenacle gather together those outside who wish to see them while bringing comfort to those who receive them. O fire, whose coming is word, whose silence is light! O fire, establishing hearts in thankfulness!… Some people, who were opposed to the Holy Spirit, said: “These people have had too much new wine; they are drunk.” Indeed, you speak truly! However, it isn’t as you think it is. It isn’t wine from the vineyard they have drunk. It is a new wine that flows from heaven: a wine newly pressed on Golgotha. The apostles caused it to be drunk and thus they inebriated all creation. This is wine that was pressed on the cross.

maronite readings – rosary,team

Let us give our attention to the unexpected greeting, repeated three times by the risen Jesus when he appeared to his disciples, gathered together and locked in the upper room “for fear of the Jews” (Jn 20,19). At that time this greeting must have been customary but, under the circumstances in which it was spoken, it takes on an extraordinary fullness. As you remember, this greeting is: “Peace be with you!” It was a greeting that had resounded in the angelic song at Christmas: “Peace on earth!” (Lk 2,14). This biblical greeting, which had already been effectively proclaimed as a promise of the messianic kingdom (Jn 14,27), is now passed on as a reality that takes flesh in this first core group of the emerging Church. It is the peace of a Christ triumphant over death, with its causes near or far, with its awesome effects. Thus the risen Jesus announces and establishes peace in the disorientated souls of his disciples… It is the Lord’s peace, heard in all its original significance, personal, interior, both moral and psychological, and which is inseparable from happiness – that which Saint Paul counts among the fruits of the Spirit after charity and joy, consolidated to a certain extent together with them (Gal 5,22). The union of these three fruits is not far from our common, spiritual experience. It is the best answer to our query concerning the state of our conscience, when we can say: my conscience is at peace. What is more precious for the thoughtful man of honor?… Peace of conscience is the most authentic form of happiness. It helps us to be strong in adversity; it upholds the nobility and freedom of the person, even in the direst situations; it remains our lifeline, that is to say our hope… when despair would have the upper hand… This matchless gift of interior peace is the Risen One’s first gift: he immediately instituted … the sacrament able to bestow this peace, the sacrament of forgiveness, that forgiveness which raises us up (Jn 20,23).

maronite readings – rosary,team