Tuesday, September 20 : Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Some people are puzzled by the marks of the Passion on Christ’s body and ask themselves: “Who is this king of glory?” (Ps 24[23],8). Answer them that it is the Lord strong and mighty in all he has done and will continue to do… Show them the beauty of the robe worn by Christ’s suffering body, bejewelled by the Passion and transfigured by the brilliance of the divinity, that robe of glory that offers the object that is the most beautiful and most worthy of love in the world… Does the fact that he humbled himself for your sake make him small? Does the fact that he, the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for his flock (Jn 10,1), who came to seek out the lost sheep and, when he had found it, set it on those shoulders of his that had borne the cross for her, and who, when he had brought her back, placed her among the faithful sheep who had remained in the fold (Lk 15,4f.): does this make him contemptible? Do you think the less of him because he girded himself with a linen towel to wash his disciples’ feet, thus showing them that the surest way of being exalted is to humble oneself? (Jn 13,4; Mt 23,12). For, by turning his soul to the earth, he humbles himself so as to raise up with him all those who are bowed down beneath the weight of sin. Are you going to blame him for having eaten with publicans and sinners for their salvation? (Mt 9,10). He knew weariness, hunger, thirst, anguish and tears in accordance with the law of our human nature. Yet, as God, what did he not do?… We need a God made man, who has taken mortal nature, if we are to live. We have shared in his purifying death; through his death he enables us to share his resurrection; through his resurrection he enables us to share his glory.
maronite readings – rosary,team