Marana tha!
No, the title is not a misspelling. It is the language spoken by Jesus, Aramaic. We have an evangelical church in town named Maranatha. Instead of two words like the title, they have changed it to one word. We know how to pronounce Maranatha, the church’s name. Here is how you pronounce the title in Aramaic. Ma – ra – na tha.
What does it mean? O Lord, come! or Come O Lord! I mention this because Marana tha is used in the responsorial psalm. The daily readings are cycled every two years. As this reading falls on the last Saturday of our liturgical year very few people would have even seen or known these words.
There is so much to our faith. The whole of history is in God’s hands. The whole of the future is also in His hands. Revelation gives a poetic vision of heaven. What a grand place it must be! But we will never know of it unless we live our lives according to God’s Will.
Tonight’s mass of anticipation uses the First Sunday of Advent readings. The whole time of Advent we should be whispering daily, Marana tha!
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen