From the responsorial psalm: “But let all who take refuge in you be glad and exult forever. Protect them, that you may be the joy of those who love your name. Lead me in your justice, Lord.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:6-11)
But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
Picking up where last week’s Gospel left off, we hear of another sabbath when Jesus taught in the synagogue under the scrutiny of the Pharisees. Knowing that they were seeking to trap him, Jesus performs a miracle on a day of sabbath rest. Jesus asks the Pharisees a question that silences them; they say nothing to him in reply. As the man stretches out his withered hand at the Lord’s command, the Pharisees do the work that their rage compels them to do—to find a way to do evil rather than good and bring destruction rather than salvation. What Paul says to the Corinthians, he might also have said to the Pharisees about the sacrifice of Christ, the Paschal Lamb: “Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
God, help me find courage in the words and actions of Jesus before his accusers. I want to be free to call on your name and give thanks to you for Jesus Christ your Son in the celebration of the Eucharist—the means of doing good on earth and the preparation for eternal life. I think of the Canticle of Zechariah, who praised you for setting us free in teaching us to worship you: “This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham,” Zechariah says, “to set us free from the hands of our enemies, free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.” Free me, Lord, to serve you and love you in my words and actions; strengthen me through the Church, the sacrament of salvation. Saint Peter Claver, pray for us!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.