Friday, September 08, 2006
SATURDAY 22ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
SEPTEMBER 9, 2006
SATURDAY 22ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR II
1 CORINTHIANS 4:6-15
Brothers and sisters: Learn from myself and Apollos not to go beyond
what is written, so that none of you will be inflated with pride in
favor of one person over against another. Who confers distinction
upon you? What do you possess that you have not received? But if you
have received it, why are you boasting as if you did not receive it?
You are already satisfied; you have already grown rich; you have
become kings without us! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings,
so that we also might become kings with you. For as I see it, God
has exhibited us Apostles as the last of all, like people sentenced
to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels
and men alike. We are fools on Christ's account, but you are wise in
Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held in honor, but
we in disrepute. To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are
poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless and we
toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when
persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently. We have
become like the world's rubbish, the scum of all, to this very
moment. I am writing you this not to shame you, but to admonish you
as my beloved children. Even if you should have countless guides to
Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father
in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.
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."
REFLECTION
The Jewish Law allowed people, while walking through a cornfield not
their own, to pluck a few ears of corn to eat. It forbade using a
sickle in this situation. The idea was that it's legitimate to take
enough grain to satisfy a passing hunger but you're not supposed to
fill up your storeroom with the grain you gather from a neighbor's
field.
So on these grounds, the disciples' behavior was acceptable to the
Pharisees. What got the Pharisees riled was that the disciples were
doing this on the Sabbath. Pulling grain from the stalk, in the
Pharisees' mind was like reaping, and so was a type of work
forbidden on the Sabbath.
Jesus makes two observations. When David and his soldiers needed
food, he recalls, they took the holy bread in the Temple and ate it,
even though only the priests are allowed to eat this bread. By
citing this happening from Holy Scripture, Jesus was clearly saying
that certain basic needs, like hunger, take precedence over certain
ritual laws.
The second observation Jesus made was explosive. He stated his
authority over the Sabbath and over the law of the Sabbath! "The
Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath," he said. This was startling,
revolutionary, and to a traditionalist, frightening, even
blasphemous.
In making this statement, Jesus put himself above the Sabbath law,
which had been given to the Jews through Moses by God himself.
Jesus was dangerously close to putting himself on the same level as
God. This would be blasphemy.
Jesus was taking a serious risk here. Using the issue of blasphemy,
the Pharisees could isolate and alienate him totally from the
people. Apparently Jesus thought it a legitimate risk. By taking
the risk, he could make the people see that the Sabbath law was not
absolute, that it was meant for our benefit, to give us the freedom
to celebrate and intensify our relationship with God our Father. It
was meant not to burden us but to liberate us - to free us to spend
time with the Lord our God.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
- Birthday: Amelie Bernil
- Birthday: Charity M. Besinga
- for the personal intentions of Ertha Varon.
- for the healing of Bonnette, Joyce G, Bennie and Dustin.
- for the healing of Cherine.
- for the speedy recovery of Vicky's mom.
- for the speedy recovery of Lilian.
- for the eternal repose of the soul of Concordia Montero Guevarra
on her second death anniversary.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- In Memoriam (+): Ely A. Lee, Sr.
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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� 2006 Daily-Homily
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