Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 09-05-15

USCCB.org/RNAB ^ | 09-05-15 | Revised New American Bible

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Luke
	English: Douay-Rheims	Latin: Vulgata Clementina	Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000)
	Luke 6
1.	AND it came to pass on the second first sabbath, that as he went through the corn fields, his disciples plucked the ears, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.	Factum est autem in sabbato secundo, primo, cum transiret per sata, vellebant discipuli ejus spicas, et manducabant confricantes manibus.	εγενετο δε εν σαββατω δευτεροπρωτω διαπορευεσθαι αυτον δια των σποριμων και ετιλλον οι μαθηται αυτου τους σταχυας και ησθιον ψωχοντες ταις χερσιν
2.	And some of the Pharisees said to them: Why do you that which is not lawful on the sabbath days?	Quidam autem pharisæorum, dicebant illis : Quid facitis quod non licet in sabbatis ?	τινες δε των φαρισαιων ειπον αυτοις τι ποιειτε ο ουκ εξεστιν ποιειν εν τοις σαββασιν
3.	And Jesus answering them, said: Have you not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was hungry, and they that were with him:	Et respondens Jesus ad eos, dixit : Nec hoc legistis quod fecit David, cum esurisset ipse, et qui cum illo erant ?	και αποκριθεις προς αυτους ειπεν ο ιησους ουδε τουτο ανεγνωτε ο εποιησεν δαυιδ οποτε επεινασεν αυτος και οι μετ αυτου οντες
4.	How he went into the house of God, and took and ate the bread of proposition, and gave to them that were with him, which is not lawful to eat but only for the priests?	quomodo intravit in domum Dei, et panes propositionis sumpsit, et manducavit, et dedit his qui cum ipso erant : quos non licet manducare nisi tantum sacerdotibus ?	ως εισηλθεν εις τον οικον του θεου και τους αρτους της προθεσεως ελαβεν και εφαγεν και εδωκεν και τοις μετ αυτου ους ουκ εξεστιν φαγειν ει μη μονους τους ιερεις
5.	And he said to them: The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.	Et dicebat illis : Quia dominus est Filius hominis etiam sabbati.	και ελεγεν αυτοις οτι κυριος εστιν ο υιος του ανθρωπου και του σαββατου

[annalex]

1. And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands.
2. And certain of the Pharisees said to them, Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?
3. And Jesus answering them said, Have you not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they which were with him;
4. How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the show-bread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the Priests alone?
5. And he said to them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

AMBROSE; Not only in the form of expression but in His very practice and mode of action, did the Lord begin to absolve man from the observance of the old law. Hence it is said, And it came to pass that he went through the corn fields, &c.

THEOPHYL; For His disciples having no opportunity for eating because the multitudes thronged so, were naturally hungry, but by plucking the ears of corn they relieved their hunger, which is a mark of a strict habit of life, not seeking for prepared meats, but mere simple food.

THEOPHYL. Now He says, on the second sabbath after the first, because the Jews called every feast a sabbath. For sabbath means rest. Frequently therefore was there feasting at the preparation, and they called the preparation a sabbath because of the feast, and hence they gave to the principal sabbath the name of the second-first, as being the second in consequence of the festival of the day preceding.

CHRYS. For there was a double feast; one on the principal sabbath, another on the next solemn day succeeding, which was also called a sabbath.

ISIDORE; He says, On the second-first, because it was the second day of the Passover, but the first of unleavened bread. Having killed the passover, on the very next day they kept the feast of unleavened bread. And it is plain that this was so from the fact, that the Apostles plucked ears of corn and ate them, for at that time the ears are weighed down by the fruit.

EPIPH. On the sabbath day then they were seen passing through the corn fields, and eating the corn, showing that the bonds of the sabbath were loosened, when the great Sabbath was come in Christ, Who made us to rest from the working of our iniquities.

CYRIL; But the Pharisees and Scribes not knowing the Holy Scriptures agreed together to find fault with Christ's disciples, as it follows, And certain of the Pharisees said to them, Why do you, &c. Tell me now, when a table is set before you on the sabbath day; do you not break bread? Why then do you blame others?

THEOPHYL; But some say that these things were objected to our Lord Himself; they might indeed have been objected by different persons, both to our Lord Himself and His disciples, but to whomsoever the objection is made, it chiefly refers to Him.

AMBROSE; But the Lord proves the defenders of the law to be ignorant of what belongs to the law, bringing the example of David; as it follows, And Jesus answering said to them, Have you not read so much as this, &c.

CYRIL; As if He said, Whereas the law of Moses expressly says, Give a righteous judgment and you shall not respect persons in judgment, how now do you blame My disciples, who even to this day extol David as a saint and prophet, though he kept not the commandment of Moses?

CHRYS. And mark, that whenever the Lord speaks for His servants, (i.e. His disciples,) He brings forward servants, as for example David and the Priests; but when for Himself; He introduces His Father; as in that place, My Father works hitherto, and I work.

THEOPHYL. But he reproves them in another way, as it is added, And he said to them, that the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. As if he said, I am the Lord of the sabbath, as being He who ordained it, and as the Legislator I have power to loose the sabbath; for Christ was called the Son of man, who being the Son of God yet condescended in a miraculous manner to be made and called for man's sake the Son of man.

CHRYS. But Mark declares that He uttered this of our common nature, for He said, The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. It is therefore more fitting that the sabbath should be subject to man, than that man should bow his neck to the sabbath.

AMBROSE; But herein is a great mystery. For the field is the whole world, the corn is the abundant harvest of the saints in the seed of the human race, the ears of corn are the fruits of the Church, which the Apostles shaking off by their works fed upon, nourishing themselves with our increase, and by their mighty miracles, as it were out of the bodily husks, plucking forth the fruits of the mind to the light of faith.

THEOPHYL; For they bruise the ears in their hands, because when they wish to bring others over into the body of Christ, they mortify their old man with its acts drawing them away from worldly thoughts.

AMBROSE; Now the Jews thought this unlawful on the Sabbath, but Christ by the gift of new grace represented hereby the rest of the law, the work of grace. Wonderfully has He called it the second-first sabbath, not the first-second, because that was loosed from the law which was first, and this is made first which was ordained second. It is therefore called the second sabbath according to number, the first according to the grace of the wolf. For that sabbath is better where there is no penalty, than that where there is a penalty prescribed. Or this perhaps was first in the foreknowledge of wisdom, and second in the sanction of the ordinance.

Now in David escaping with his companions, there was a foreshadowing of Christ in the law, who with His Apostles escaped the prince of the world. But how was it that the Observer and Defender of the law Himself both eat the bread, and gave it to those that were with Him, which no one was allowed to eat but the priests, except that He might show by that figure that the priests' bread was to come over to the use of the people, or that we ought to imitate the priests' life, or that all the children of the Church are priests, for we are anointed into a holy priesthood, offering ourselves a spiritual sacrifice to God. But if the sabbath was made for men, and the benefit of men required that a man when hungry (having been long without the fruits of the earth) should forsake the abstinence of the old fast, the law is surely not broken but fulfilled.

Catena Aurea Luke 6

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Supper at Emmaus

Caravaggio

1601
Oil on canvas, 141 x 196 cm
National Gallery, London

[Salvation]

Information: St. Bertin

Feast Day: September 5

Born: 615, Constance

Died: 709

[Salvation]

Holy Spirit Interactive Kids: A Saint a Day

St. Lawrence Justinian

Feast Day: September 5
Born: 1381 :: Died: 1455

Lawrence was born in Venice, in Italy. His mother sometimes thought her son's dreams were too big. He always told her that he wanted to become a saint.

When he was nineteen years old, he wished to serve God in a special way and asked his uncle, a holy priest of the community of St. George for advice.

"Do you have the courage to turn down the joys of the world and to live a life of penance?" asked his uncle. Lawrence was quiet for a long time. Then he looked up at a crucifix and said, "You, O Lord, are my hope. In this cross there is comfort and strength."

His mother wanted him to marry, but Lawrence joined the community of St. George as a priest. His first job was to go out among the people of his city and ask for donations to support the St. George community.

Lawrence was not ashamed to beg. He realized that the offerings of money or goods would help God's work. He even went to his own home and asked for charity.

His mother would try to fill up his sack with food, so that he could return to the monastery early without having to go all over town. But Lawrence would only take two loaves of bread from his mother and then go off to the next house. In this way, he learned how to make little sacrifices and grew very dear to God.

One day a friend of his came to try and make Lawrence leave the monastery. Instead, the saint spoke of how short life is and how wise it is to live for heaven. His friend was very impressed and decided to become a religious himself.

Later, Lawrence was made a bishop, even though he was not happy about it. His people soon learned what a kind and holy man their bishop was and crowds came to him for help every day.

When he was dying, he refused to lie on a soft bed. "That shall not be!" he exclaimed humbly. "My Lord was stretched out on a hard and painful tree." St. Lawrence Justinian died in 1455.

[Salvation]

CATHOLIC ALMANAC

Saturday, September 5

Liturgical Color: Green

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta died
on this day in 1997. She dedicated her
life to helping the poor in India and around
the world. She was beatified in 2003, and
her cause for canonization continues.

[Salvation]

Day 248 - Jesus and the Woman of Samaria (Part IV)

Today’s Reading: John 4:31-42
31 Meanwhile the disciples begged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has any one brought him food?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
35 Do you not say, There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest.
36 He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Today’s Commentary:
I . . . am he: Jesus accepts the title “Messiah” (4:25) only here and at his trial (Mk 14:61-62).

left her water jar: The woman becomes both a believer and a missionary, accepting Jesus as the Messiah and sharing that belief with her hometown (4:39-42).

Morally: the water jar is the fallen desire of man that draws pleasure from the dark wells of the world but is never satisfied for long. Conversion to Christ moves us, like the Samaritan woman, to renounce the world, leave behind the desires of our earthen vessels, and follow a new way of life.

[Salvation]

Ordinary Time: September 5th

Saturday of the Twenty-Second Week of Ordinary Time: Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Daily Readings for: September 05, 2015
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

RECIPES

• Herbed Oatmeal Pan Bread
• Legume Soup

ACTIVITIES

• Elementary Parent Pedagogy: Training by Doing, Children and the Whole Church
• Our Lady's Thirty Days
• The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy

PRAYERS

• September Devotion: Our Lady of Sorrows
• Prayer of Mother Teresa

LIBRARY

• A Graced Bewilderment: The Dark Night of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta | Fr. Paul Murray OP
• Charity: the soul of missionary activity | Mother Teresa of Calcutta
• The Holy Eucharist in the Life of Bl. Teresa of Calcutta | Fr. Sebastian Vazhakala M.C.
• The Interior Cross: Mother Teresa and Her Dark Night of the Soul | William A. Borst Ph.D.

Old Calendar: St. Laurence Justinian, Bishop and Confessor

Today the Missionaries of Charity and their friends will be celebrating the feast day of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. September 5th is the anniversary of her death, and at present is acknowledged as her feast day.

St. Laurence Justinian was one of the great Italian Saints of the 15th century. A great religious as well as a great bishop, he maintained his austerity as Patriarch of Venice. His mother had planned a glorious career for him, but he preferred a simple and holy life. He joined the canons of St. George of Alga and lived among them in constant prayer and penance until Eugene IV called him to the episcopate. Finally, he became the first Patriarch of Venice when the title was transferred from Grado: at that period the city reached the apex of its power and glory. He combated the excesses of humanism and his austerity made him an example to great and simple alike. He died in 1455. According to the 1962 Missal of St. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is his feast.

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Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta
“By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.” Small of stature, rocklike in faith, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was entrusted with the mission of proclaiming God’s thirsting love for humanity, especially for the poorest of the poor. “God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor.” She was a soul filled with the light of Christ, on fire with love for Him and burning with one desire: “to quench His thirst for love and for souls.”

This luminous messenger of God’s love was born on 26 August 1910 in Skopje, a city situated at the crossroads of Balkan history. The youngest of the children born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu, she was baptised Gonxha Agnes, received her First Communion at the age of five and a half and was confirmed in November 1916. From the day of her First Holy Communion, a love for souls was within her. Her father’s sudden death when Gonxha was about eight years old left the family in financial straits. Drane raised her children firmly and lovingly, greatly influencing her daughter’s character and vocation. Gonxha’s religious formation was further assisted by the vibrant Jesuit parish of the Sacred Heart in which she was much involved.

At the age of eighteen, moved by a desire to become a missionary, Gonxha left her home in September 1928 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. There she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In December, she departed for India, arriving in Calcutta on 6 January 1929. After making her First Profession of Vows in May 1931, Sister Teresa was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta and taught at St. Mary’s School for girls. On 24 May 1937, Sister Teresa made her Final Profession of Vows, becoming, as she said, the “spouse of Jesus” for “all eternity.” From that time on she was called Mother Teresa. She continued teaching at St. Mary’s and in 1944 became the school’s principal. A person of profound prayer and deep love for her religious sisters and her students, Mother Teresa’s twenty years in Loreto were filled with profound happiness. Noted for her charity, unselfishness and courage, her capacity for hard work and a natural talent for organization, she lived out her consecration to Jesus, in the midst of her companions, with fidelity and joy.

On 10 September 1946 during the train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received her “inspiration," her “call within a call.” On that day, in a way she would never explain, Jesus’ thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart and the desire to satiate His thirst became the driving force of her life. Over the course of the next weeks and months, by means of interior locutions and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of His heart for “victims of love” who would “radiate His love on souls.” “Come be My light,” He begged her. “I cannot go alone.” He revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love. He asked Mother Teresa to establish a religious community, Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor. Nearly two years of testing and discernment passed before Mother Teresa received permission to begin. On August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white, blue-bordered sari and passed through the gates of her beloved Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor.

After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. On 21 December she went for the first time to the slums. She visited families, washed the sores of some children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and TB. She started each day in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and then went out, rosary in her hand, to find and serve Him in “the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for.” After some months, she was joined, one by one, by her former students.

On 7 October 1950 the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established in the Archdiocese of Calcutta. By the early 1960s, Mother Teresa began to send her Sisters to other parts of India. The Decree of Praise granted to the Congregation by Pope Paul VI in February 1965 encouraged her to open a house in Venezuela. It was soon followed by foundations in Rome and Tanzania and, eventually, on every continent. Starting in 1980 and continuing through the 1990s, Mother Teresa opened houses in almost all of the communist countries, including the former Soviet Union, Albania and Cuba.

In order to respond better to both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity Brothers in 1963, in 1976 the contemplative branch of the Sisters, in 1979 the Contemplative Brothers, and in 1984 the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. Yet her inspiration was not limited to those with religious vocations. She formed the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with whom she shared her spirit of prayer, simplicity, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble works of love. This spirit later inspired the Lay Missionaries of Charity. In answer to the requests of many priests, in 1981 Mother Teresa also began the Corpus Christi Movement for Priests as a “little way of holiness” for those who desire to share in her charism and spirit.

During the years of rapid growth the world began to turn its eyes towards Mother Teresa and the work she had started. Numerous awards, beginning with the Indian Padmashri Award in 1962 and notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, honoured her work, while an increasingly interested media began to follow her activities. She received both prizes and attention “for the glory of God and in the name of the poor.”

The whole of Mother Teresa’s life and labour bore witness to the joy of loving, the greatness and dignity of every human person, the value of little things done faithfully and with love, and the surpassing worth of friendship with God. But there was another heroic side of this great woman that was revealed only after her death. Hidden from all eyes, hidden even from those closest to her, was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, painful and abiding feeling of being separated from God, even rejected by Him, along with an ever-increasing longing for His love. She called her inner experience, “the darkness.” The “painful night” of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life, led Mother Teresa to an ever more profound union with God. Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus, in His painful and burning longing for love, and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.

During the last years of her life, despite increasingly severe health problems, Mother Teresa continued to govern her Society and respond to the needs of the poor and the Church. By 1997, Mother Teresa’s Sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and were established in 610 foundations in 123 countries of the world. In March 1997 she blessed her newly-elected successor as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity and then made one more trip abroad. After meeting Pope John Paul II for the last time, she returned to Calcutta and spent her final weeks receiving visitors and instructing her Sisters. On 5 September Mother Teresa’s earthly life came to an end. She was given the honour of a state funeral by the Government of India and her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. Her tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage and prayer for people of all faiths, rich and poor alike. Mother Teresa left a testament of unshakable faith, invincible hope and extraordinary charity. Her response to Jesus’ plea, “Come be My light,” made her a Missionary of Charity, a “mother to the poor,” a symbol of compassion to the world, and a living witness to the thirsting love of God.

Less than two years after her death, in view of Mother Teresa’s widespread reputation of holiness and the favours being reported, Pope John Paul II permitted the opening of her Cause of Canonization. On 20 December 2002 he approved the decrees of her heroic virtues and miracles.

—Excerpted from the Vatican Website

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St. Lawrence Justinian
Lawrence, an illustrious example of humility, the "ornament and glory of bishops" (according to Pope Eugene IV), was the first patriarch of Venice. A very pious youth, he was favored in his nineteenth year with a vision of the Eternal Wisdom in the guise of a maiden encircled with light. She invited him to seek her with happiness, rather than satiate his baser lusts. He obeyed the invitation. Soon thereafter he became a clerk regular of St. George on the island of Alga, later bishop of Venice.

Some of St. Lawrence's special charisms were the gift of tears, power over devils, prophecy. One Christmas night the Christ-Child appeared to him. When an attempt was made during his last sickness to put him on a more comfortable bed, he refused this pleasure with the words, "My Savior died not on feathers but on the hard wood of the Cross," and requested to be laid on his usual couch. As he felt his last moments approaching, he lifted his eyes to heaven and said, "I am coming, good Jesus, to You," and slept blessedly in the Lord (January 8, 1455). At the time Venice was at the zenith of its influence and wealth. But God made that proud city understand that her greatness resulted more from the sanctity of her poor patriarch Lawrence than from the diplomacy of her doges and the power of her galleys.

—Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Symbols: Bishop’s mitre; bishop’s crosier.

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Luke 6:1-5

Common of the Blessed Virgin Mary

… picking the heads of grain. (Luke 6:1)

Whether it was plucking grain on the Sabbath, talking to outcasts, or performing miracles, Jesus’ disciples often “stood out like sore thumbs.” “Why couldn’t they just be normal?” many of the Pharisees probably wondered. But there was no avoiding it. It seems that whenever we follow Jesus, we end up doing and saying things that don’t seem normal to the people around us. And that can be a good thing. Realizing that we are called to something different can help us to live out our response to Jesus more confidently.

Let’s take joy, for example. Scriptures call us to rejoice on a daily basis. Yes, some days are certainly easier than others, but joy has always been a trademark of Christ’s followers. It’s not an emotion based on circumstances or something that we can fake; it comes from having the Holy Spirit, who pours grace into our lives.

What about mercy? Countless Christians have found the grace to forgive people who have hurt them, even in situations that many have considered unforgivable. Just like joy, however, the ability to extend mercy, sometimes in the midst of deep personal pain, only comes from the work of grace in our hearts.

The use of our time may also seem unusual. Going to Mass, spending time in prayer, or even reading this meditation is a reflection of a heart that longs to draw near to Christ. It shows that we are prioritizing our walk with the Lord by making room for him, even in the busyness of everyday life.

Recognizing these differences is not about developing a “holier than thou” attitude. It’s about discipleship. If we know we are called to be joyous, we will try to resist complaining. When we know that we are called to be merciful, we will make an extra effort to forgive. And yes, we will be more inclined to “waste” our time on the Lord when we know that it is not simply out of habit but out of a desire to grow more deeply in our relationship with Jesus.

Today, ask the Lord for more grace to follow him. Tell him that you don’t mind being seen as a bit different or quirky, as long as you can glorify him.

“Jesus, I will follow you wherever you lead.”

Colossians 1:21-23
Psalm 54:3-4, 6, 8

[Salvation]

Marriage = One Man amd One Woman Until Death Do Us Part

Daily Marriage Tip for September 5, 2015:

If one of you is sad, sick, or depressed, how can you tell? What do you usually do to comfort each other? Does talking about it help? Or would you rather have time alone? What does your beloved want you to do? Ask.

[Salvation]

Regnum Christi

The Heart of the Matter

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

September 5, 2015 - Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

By Matthew Reinhardt, Consecrated Member of Regnum Christi

Luke 6: 1-5

While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions." Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath."

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I worship you because I came from you. I long for you because you made me for yourself. I praise you as my ever-present helper. I call on you as my powerful protector. ( Universal Prayer of Pope Clement XI )

Petition: Lord, purify my heart.

1. The Pharisees’ Heart: Sometimes a short phrase reveals so much about what is happening inside a person’s mind and heart. One can get a glimpse into Hitler’s corrupt heart with his famous phrase: “I do not see why man should not be just as cruel as nature.” His actions were of the cruelest. Thirty years ago, when Saint John Paul II was elected pope, the simple phrase, “Be not afraid”, indicated the attitude he would have for the following 26 fearless years of his papacy. In this passage the Pharisees say so much about the state of their own hearts by saying so little: “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” The Pharisees are all caught up in the externals of the law and miss the big picture that Christ came to bring: complete love for God and heroic love of neighbor. As Christians we are not called to have a heart that calculates the cost, but rather one filled with unconditional love.
   

2. A King’s Heart: Another character in this passage is King David, whom Christ hails for having chosen to feed his starving army over scrupulously following some norms of the law regarding eating. From the story of David and Goliath, we learn that David had a brave heart from his youth and that he trusted in God over his own limitations. Young David’s heart was honest and humble: King Saul was trying to kill him, yet when David had the chance to kill Saul in a cave, he relented and later made amends with Saul. David’s heart was weak when he fell in love with Uriah’s wife and then had Uriah killed. Nevertheless David’s heart did not grow cold from this sin; rather, he repented deeply: “Have mercy on me, God in your goodness blot out my offenses, wash away all my guilt, from my sin cleanse me” (Psalm 51). With time and patience David formed a remarkable heart that loved God and neighbor.
   

3. The Sacred Heart: What love the Heart of Christ shows his apostles in this passage. Imagine the scene: Christ walking through a ripe field of grain with his closest friends, laughing, joking, talking about the town they just visited, speaking of their dreams, and also snacking on the ripe harvest. Christ’s heart was so immersed with love for these men who would be the pillars of the Church and who would bring his message to the whole world. How far his thoughts were from the littleness and pettiness of the empty details of the worn out laws! His law is the new law of love: “Behold the heart that has so loved men.” Christ looks at us the same way he looked at his apostles in the field – as friends who are called to be the pillars of the new evangelization, as apostles who are to bring his words to the end of the earth. He needs us to say “yes” to this call!
   

Conversation with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for the unconditional love of your heart. I want to repay your love for me by loving you back with the same intensity. I know I always fall short of this, but you know my heart, and you know I want to be close to you until the day I meet you face-to-face in eternity.

Resolution: With a repentant heart, I will go to confession today.

[Salvation]

One Bread, One Body

One Bread, One Body

Language: English | Español

All Issues > Volume 31, Issue 5

<< Saturday, September 5, 2015 >>

Colossians 1:21-23
View Readings

Psalm 54:3-4, 6, 8

Luke 6:1-5
Similar Reflections

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

"Why are You doing what is prohibited on the sabbath?" —Luke 6:2

Keeping the sabbath is a sign to show that we want to be holy and that the Lord makes us holy (Ex 31:13). Keeping the sabbath is to be considered a perpetual covenant between us and the Lord (Ex 31:16). Therefore, the Mosaic law commanded that anyone who does not keep the sabbath "shall be put to death" and thereby "rooted out" of God's people (Ex 31:14).

Aware of this teaching in Exodus on keeping the sabbath, we can see why some Pharisees criticized Jesus' disciples for "picking a little corn" on the sabbath. We can also see how shocking and seemingly blasphemous was Jesus' claim to be "Lord even of the sabbath" (Lk 6:5).

Jesus, the Lord of the sabbath, has not abolished the law but fulfilled it (Mt 5:17). From the first century, the Church has maintained that Jesus changed the sabbath from the last day of the week to the first day (see Rv 1:10). We also believe that Jesus has made Sunday a day of resurrection in addition to a day of rest. Therefore, to be under the lordship of Jesus, we should not work or buy things on Sunday. Sunday is for proclaiming Jesus' resurrection through communal worship, Christian fellowship, Bible study, and prayer. Keep holy the Lord's day, tomorrow and perpetually.

Prayer: Father, may my Sunday worship not be football or entertainment, but rather true worship of You.

Promise: "Now Christ has achieved reconciliation for you in His mortal body by dying, so as to present you to God holy, free of reproach and blame." —Col 1:22

Praise: Kathleen dared to tell her brother his soul was endangered.

[Salvation]