Tuesday, August 2 : Saint Clement of Rome

It is right and holy, brethren, to obey God rather than to follow those who, through pride and sedition, have become agitators… Let us cleave to those who cultivate peace with godliness, and not to those who hypocritically profess to desire it. For Scripture says in a certain place: “This people honors me with their lips alone though their hearts are far from me” (Is 29,13; Mk 7,6). And again: “They bless with their mouths but inwardly they curse” (Ps 61[62],5). And again it says: “They flattered him with their mouths and lied to him with their tongues though their hearts were not steadfast towards him, nor were they faithful to his covenant” (Ps 77[78],36)… For Christ belongs to those who are humble-minded, and not to those who exalt themselves over his flock. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the sceptre of the majesty of God, did not come in the pomp of pride or arrogance – although he might have done so – but in a lowly condition, as the Holy Spirit declared regarding him: “Lord, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We have declared our message in his presence. He is, as it were, a child, and like a shoot from the parched earth; There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, no appearance that would attract us to him” (Is 53,1-3)… Now you see, beloved, what is the example given to us; for if the Lord thus humbled himself, what shall we do who have, through him, come under the yoke of His grace?
maronite readings – rosary,team