Tag: mosaic law

“You are set free of your infirmity.” | Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 13:10-17)

Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.

Today’s Gospel could end as the woman stands up straight and glorifies God. It’s a joyful moment that captures the imagination and could stand on its own apart from the rest of the passage. Yet, Luke goes on to convey even more to take to heart, showing us Jesus’ act of mercy in the right place at the right time. Despite witnessing a miracle, the leader of the synagogue criticizes Jesus for healing the woman on the sabbath when there are six other days to cure her. Calling out his hypocrisy, Jesus says to him: “This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?” In his Father’s house and on the sabbath, in his mercy Jesus desires to free her from her illness, from bondage to the flesh. As Saint Paul says in the first reading, “Brothers and sisters, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.”

Father in heaven, help me live with a spirit of adoption as your child, a joint heir with Christ your Son. On my own, a sinner, I fall into the bondage of sin. That’s no way to live. Let me be led to you again and again, calling you to mind. Give me the grace to recognize how your will moves throughout the day so that I can live according to it, free from fear to worship you and give you glory. Just as Jesus acted freely in the right place at the right time, help me today see where your mercy is needed and be a means of freeing others.

From the Gospel acclamation: “Your word, O Lord, is truth; consecrate us in the truth.” Abba, Father, let me live in your truth!

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.

“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” | Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 22:34-40)

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus responds to a Pharisee, who comes to test him. Having heard that Jesus silenced the Sadducees, he comes to Jesus to contend with him, to measure Jesus’ knowledge of the law against his own overinflated view of himself. In what way did Jesus silence the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection? One can only imagine that Jesus’ reply to the Pharisee silences him as well when he says: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” In what particular way does Jesus, the same Lord who hears the cry of the poor, invite us to imitate his love and compassion?

Father in heaven, as I consider the words “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” I am overwhelmed with this high calling to love you. Without that kind of love, it is impossible to turn to others and love them as myself. Give me the grace to be compassionate to others as a way to dwell in the freeing love you command me to follow. In turn, help me love you completely so that I know in word and deed what it is to love my neighbor as myself. Here is where trust is vital. As in the responsorial psalm, I ask you to be my strength: “I love you, O LORD, my strength, O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.”

From the Gospel acclamation: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.”

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.