Thursday, December 14 : Saint Ephrem

O Mercy, sent and poured out over all human beings! In you, Lord, this mercy dwells, you who, in your compassion for all humankind, came out to meet them. Through your death you opened for them the treasures of your mercy… For your profound being is hidden from human sight but is traced in its least movements. Your work gives us an outline of their Author and creatures point us to their Creator (Wis 13:1; Rom 1:20) so we might touch him who shies away from intellectual seeking but who shows himself in his gifts. It is difficult to succeed in being present to him face to face, but it is easy to draw near to him. Our thanksgiving is insufficient but we adore you in all things for your love of humankind. You distinguish each one of us by in the depths of our invisible being, we who are all basically connected by Adam’s one nature… We adore you who placed each one of us into this world, who entrusted to us everything that is here, and who will take us out of this world at an hour that we do not know. We adore you who placed speech into our mouths so that we might tell you our requests. Adam acclaims you, he who rests in peace, and we, his posterity, with him, for we all benefit from your grace. The winds praise you…, the earth praises you…, the seas praise you…, the trees praise you…, the plants and the flowers also bless you… May all things come together and unite their voice in praising you, competing with one another in thanksgiving for all your kindnesses and united in peace to bless you. May all things join together in raising up a work of praise for you. It is for us to reach out towards you with all our will and it is for you to pour out on us a little of your abundance so that your truth might convert us and thus our weakness might disappear, in which, without your grace, we cannot reach you, Master of gifts.

maronite readings – rosary,team