Wednesday, June 22 : Saint Augustine

The Lord said: “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me” (Jn 16,16). What he calls a little while is the whole extent of our present time, of which John the evangelist says in his Epistle: “This is the last hour” (1Jn 2,18). This promise is addressed… to the whole Church just as is this other promise: “Behold I am with you always until the end of the world” (Mt 28,20). The Lord will not delay to fulfil his promises: yet a little while and we shall see him again and will no longer have anything to ask of him, no question to put to him, because we shall no longer have anything to wish for or seek. This “little while” seems long to us because it is still in process of taking place. But when it has come to an end, then we shall feel how short it was. So let our joy differ from that of the world, of which it is said that: “The world will rejoice”. In the birth pangs of this longing, let us not be without joy. Yet, as the apostle Paul says: “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction” (Rom 12,12). For the woman giving birth – to whom the Lord compares us – takes far more joy in the child she is about to bring into the world than she feels sorrow at her own suffering.
maronite readings – rosary,team