Tuesday, September 19 : Saint Maximus of Turin

We Christians are Christ’s body and members, the apostle Paul says (1Cor 12,27). At Christ’s resurrection all his members were raised with him and, as he passed from hell to earth, he made us pass from death to life. The word “Pasch” in Hebrew means “passover” or “passage”. Isn’t this mystery a mystery concerning the passage from evil to good? And what a passing over it is! From sin to righteousness, from vice to virtue, from age to infancy. I’m speaking here about the infancy that pertains to simplicity, not to age. For virtues, too, belong to their age. Yesterday the decrepitude of sin was sending us downhill. But the resurrection of Christ brings us to rebirth into the innocence of children. Christian simplicity makes childhood its own. Children are without malice; they do not know deceit; they dare not strike. Thus this christian child does not fall into a rage if he is insulted nor defend himself if he is stripped nor hit back if he is struck. Our Lord even requires him to pray for his enemies, relinquish both tunic and cloak to the thief and turn the other cheek to those who strike him (Mt 5,29f.). Christ’s infancy surpasses human infancy… The latter owes its innocence to weakness, the former to virtue. Moreover, it is worthy of far greater praise: his hatred of evil comes from his will, not his powerlessness.

maronite readings – rosary,team