Gospel: Luke
14:1-6
On a sabbath Jesus went to
dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were
observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy.
Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it
lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”
But they kept silent; so he
took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. Then he said to them “Who
among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull
him out on the sabbath day?” But they were unable to answer his question.
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Reflection:
What is
the purpose of the Sabbath law? It’s to bring honor to God by resting and doing
nothing for the world on that day. What if there’s somebody who is need of help
on that same day? Should they (Jews) ignore the person for the reason that it
was a day of rest?
In our gospel Jesus asked this question to the scholars of the law and
the Pharisees: “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not (Luke 14:3)?”
Not hearing any reply from them Jesus simply healed the man sick with dropsy.
By doing so Jesus sent a clear message to the scholars of the law and the
Pharisees that to bring healing or help to someone is more noble than the
observance of the law. In other words the immediate need of somebody takes
precedence over the observance of the Sabbath law.
How could we relate this with
our own exercise of our faith life? In like manner say for example, if we have an
obligation to our faith such our scheduled prayer meeting. Scheduled time for
our prayers or our presence at Sunday Mass which is a day of obligation for us Catholics.
All of these exercise of
worship for God must take a backseat over our acts of mercy. For example if we
are in the process of fulfilling our obligation to our faith. And it so happen
that there is a person who is in need of our immediate help. Our exercise of
mercy must take precedence over our obligation to our faith.
Why is Pope Francis so
admired, revered and respected? Is this because he is always shown presiding at
Holy Mass or shown praying the Holy Rosary? No, it’s because of the Pope’s spontaneous
acts of mercy and humility. Such as his non judgmental words, his action of
embracing a badly disfigured man and countless more acts of compassion. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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