maronite readings

Today, in many parts of the world, under the inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit, many efforts are being made in prayer, word and action to attain that fullness of unity which Jesus Christ desires. The Sacred Council exhorts all the Catholic faithful to recognize the signs of the times and to take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism. The term “ecumenical movement” indicates the initiatives and activities planned and undertaken, according to the various needs of the Church and as opportunities offer, to promote Christian unity. These are: first, every effort to avoid expressions, judgments and actions which do not represent the condition of our separated brethren with truth and fairness and so make mutual relations with them more difficult; then, “dialogue” between competent experts from different Churches and Communities. At these meetings, which are organized in a religious spirit, each explains the teaching of his Communion in greater depth and brings out clearly its distinctive features. In such dialogue, everyone gains a truer knowledge and more just appreciation of the teaching and religious life of both Communions. In addition, the way is prepared for cooperation between them in the duties for the common good of humanity which are demanded by every Christian conscience; and, wherever this is allowed, there is prayer in common. Finally, all are led to examine their own faithfulness to Christ’s will for the Church and accordingly to undertake with vigor the task of renewal and reform. When such actions are undertaken prudently and patiently by the Catholic faithful, with the attentive guidance of their bishops, they promote justice and truth, concord and collaboration, as well as the spirit of brotherly love and unity. This is the way that, when the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion have been gradually overcome, all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the unity of the one and only Church.
maronite readings – rosary,team

O good Jesus, with the eyes of the faith you have opened up within me, I see you crying out and saying to all humankind: “Come to me and seat yourself in my school.” What is the lesson…, O you by whom all things were made…, what is the lesson we come to learn at your school? “That I am meek and humble in heart.” For it is to this that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” concealed within you can be reduced: to learn this primary lesson, that you are “meek and humble of heart”… May they listen, those who seek your mercy and your truth, may they come to you and learn from you to be gentle and humble, living for you and not for themselves. May they hear these things who toil and are heavily laden, who so labor beneath their burden as not to dare lift their eyes to heaven, sinners who beat their breasts and stand far off. May the centurion hear, who was not worthy that you should enter into his house. May Zacchaeus, the leading publican, hear when he restores fourfold the fruit of his sins. May the woman who had been a sinner in the town hear, who shed as many more tears at your feet as she had been the more distanced from your steps. May they hear all those women of evil life and publicans who go before scribes and Pharisees into the Kingdom of heaven. May they hear all those with every kind of sickness of whom you were accused of being the table companion… All these quickly become gentle and humble before you when they turn towards you at the remembrance of their sin filled-life and of your mercy full of forgiveness. For “where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more.” (Biblical references: Col 2:3; Lk 18:13; Lk 7:6; Lk 19:8; Lk 7:37; Mt 21:31; Mt 9:11; Rm 5:20)

maronite readings – rosary,team

“I have made your name known to those you gave me.” In the Savior’s thinking, these words include all who were to believe in him as members of the Great Church, which is made up of all nations and of which the psalmist said: “I will utter praise in the vast assembly.” (Ps 22:26) So it is truly this glorification by which the Son gives glory to the Father, spreading knowledge of his name among the nations and to the countless generations of human beings. Thus, when he said: “I have made your name known to those you gave me”, this refers to what precedes it: “I have given you glory on earth…” “I have made your name known to those you gave me”: not his name as God, but as Father. That name could not be made known without the manifestation of the Son. For even before believing in Jesus Christ, there was not a single people that did not have a certain knowledge of God as the God of all of creation. For such is the power of the true God that he could not be absolutely hidden to a creature with reason who wants to make use of his mind. Except for a small number of individuals whose nature has really become depraved, the whole human race recognizes God as the author of this world… But the name “Father of Jesus Christ,” through whom he takes away the sin of the world, was not known at all, and that is the name the Lord makes known to those whom the Father gave him.

maronite readings – rosary,team

We give you thanks, Father of lights (Jas 1:17), for having called us “out of darkness into your marvelous light” (1 Pt 2:9). We give you thanks because, by your word, you caused light to shine out of darkness and shine in our hearts to enlighten us by the knowledge of the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:6). Yes, the true light – and even more, eternal life – “is to know you, the only God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” We know you because we know Jesus, for the Father and the Son are one (Jn 10:30). We know you by faith, it is true, and we hold this faith like a sure pledge that we shall know by seeing. Nevertheless, between now and then, increase our faith (Lk 17:5), lead us from faith to faith, from brightness to brightness as by the motion of your Spirit, so that each day we might penetrate more into the depths of light. Thus our faith will develop, our knowledge will be enriched, our love will become more fervent and more universal, until faith leads us to the encounter face to face.

maronite readings – rosary,team

The Lord had asked: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” To be sure, his bodily appearance made known the Son of Man but, in putting this question, he led people to understand that there was something else to be discerned over and above what could be seen… The object of the question was a mystery towards which the faith of the believer had to tend. Peter’s confession was fully recompensed as he deserved for having seen the Son of God within the man. “Blessed” is he, indeed, and praised for having penetrated beyond merely human sight, not looking to that which comes of flesh and blood but beholding the Son of God revealed by his heavenly Father. He was accounted worthy to be the first to recognise what it was in Christ that was of God. What a foundation he had the good fortune to give to the Church, on the basis of his new name! He became the rock worthy of building up the Church so that it might break the laws of hell… and every prison-house of death. O blessed gatekeeper of heaven, to whom were given the keys of entry to eternity! His judgement on earth becomes authoritative beforehand in heaven in such a way that what has been bound or loosed on earth becomes so also in heaven. Jesus also commands his disciples not to tell anyone he is the Christ since others, namely the Law and the prophets, must be the witnesses of his Spirit, while witness to the resurrection belongs to the apostles. And just as the blessedness of those who know Christ in the Spirit was made known, so also was made known the danger of misunderstanding his humility and Passion.
maronite readings – rosary,team