This week Patriarch Elias Howayek will be beatified in the Patriarchal Residence in Diman, Lebanon. There is something special about our Maronite Patriarchs. In particular, Blessed Estephan Douaihy and soon-to-be Blessed Elias Howayek.
July 31, 2025: The Feast of the Three Hundred and Fifty Maronite Martyrs
While on the road, not far from home, the three hundred and fifty monks were martyred for their steadfast faith. These faithful sons defended truth and gave their lives so willingly for love of Christ, true God and man.
O Our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess and adore You because You are our God, our Savior and our Supreme Judge. We bow in front of Your Divine Majesty offering You our thanks for all the Graces You granted and will grant us.
We beseech You, through your love for Your Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, and for Saint Joseph, Your chosen Just One, and through the wound of Your RIGHT FOOT. Grant us to live and die in your grace.
Amen.
Today we commemorate the announcement to Mary that she is to be the Mother of God. The feast actually recalls two aspects of the same salvific mystery: the incarnation of the divine Word and the motherhood of Mary. With time, the incarnation of the Son of God was stressed on the feast of the Birth of Our Lord and today’s feast became a Marian feast.
Make us worthy, O Lord, to stand before You with pure hearts and to believe in Your birth from a virgin as Joseph, Your chosen one, believed after You revealed Your mystery to him. As You appointed the angel in the garden of Eden to guard the tree of life, so have You chosen Joseph and appointed him guardian of Your virgin mother in whom You dwelt. Grant us, O Lord, to taste the cherished fruit of Your tree, so that we may glorify You, Your Holy Father and Your blessed Spirit, now and forever.
Jesus Christ our Lord, you carry the sins of the world and you forgave the sins of the paralytic. You cured him and had him carry his mat in front of the crowd. Make us worthy to meditate on your amazing miracles, and strengthen us with the power of your forgiveness. May we share in the grace of your redemption, to glorify and thank you, your Father, and your living Holy Spirit, now and for ever.
Holy One, through you, sinners are sanctified and the penitent seek you who desire our salvation and well being.
Do not look on the weakness of our humanity and the insignificance of our deeds. but treat us according to your mercy, for we take refuge in you.
orgive our offenses, for who besides you can pardon?
Full of joy, we shall give you glory, now and for ever.
Jesus Christ our Lord, true High Priest, you called our father, Saint John Maron to the order of holy priesthood, ordained him a bishop, and then chose him as the first Patriarch of Antioch for our Maronite Church. Now make us worthy to remember him and to celebrate his glorious feast with prayers and hymns. With him we raise glory and thanks to you, to your Father, and to your Holy Spirit, now and for ever.
Jesus Christ, O Physician, Lover of all people, we thank you for your compassion, for you have bandaged the wounds of our suffering humanity. Heal the sick and console the sorrowful. Accept our prayers as you accepted the plea of the hemorrhaging woman. Bless our comminity that prays to you. We believe that you are our Savior and Redeemer, and we await the day of your glorious resurrection..
O Our Lord, Jesus Christ, we firmly believe in all that our Mother the Holy Church believes in and teaches us to believe in because You are the One who revealed it to her, O You, who are the Truth which neither deceives nor is deceived.
We beseech You, through your love for Your Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, and for Saint Joseph, Your chosen Just One, and through the wound of Your LEFT FOOT, to grant us Your Grace so we may live and die with it.
Amen.
O Our Lord, Jesus Christ, we firmly believe in all that our Mother the Holy Church believes in and teaches us to believe in because You are the One who revealed it to her, O You, who are the Truth which neither deceives nor is deceived.
We beseech You, through your love for Your Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, and for Saint Joseph, Your chosen Just One, and through the wound of Your LEFT FOOT, to grant us Your Grace so we may live and die with it.
Amen.
During these forty days of Lent, may we meditate on the benefits of fasting and prayer. Through fasting and prayer souls are made pure, bodies are made chaste, spirits are uplifted, passions are restrained, mercy abounds, and the Holy Spirit dwells in the soul that was created to be the temple of God.
O Christ, the only-begotten Son, on this day you chose to sit among the invited guests, enriching them with the abundance of your divine gifts. As your disciples believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God, we also believe in you. In place of the old Law, you have given us your new Gospel, and instead of the fruit of the vine, you have quenched our thirst with the chalice of your redeeming blood.
Lord, you appointed Saint Maron as father and shepherd of a portion of your people. You supported him with your strength and righteousness, gave him victory over your enemies and guided him in your truth. Grant us who celebrate his memory today a constant faith, and we will glorify and praise you, now and for ever.
Amen.
