Sunday, September 10, 2006

 

Monday 23rd Week in Ordinary Time


September 11, 2006
Monday 23rd Week in Ordinary Time - Yr II

1 CORINTHIANS 5:1-8
Brothers and sisters: It is widely reported that there is immorality
among you, and immorality of a kind not found even among pagans- a man
living with his father's wife. And you are inflated with pride. Should
you not rather have been sorrowful? The one who did this deed should be
expelled from your midst. I, for my part, although absent in body but
present in spirit, have already, as if present, pronounced judgment on
the one who has committed this deed, in the name of our Lord Jesus:
when you have gathered together and I am with you in spirit with the
power of the Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the
destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of
the Lord. Your boasting is not appropriate. Do you not know that a
little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that
you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened.
For our Paschal Lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. 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.

LUKE 6:6-11
On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and
there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and
the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the
sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. 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.

REFLECTION
Why did the Pharisees and the scribes want to be enemies of Jesus? One
of the reasons is that Jesus by his behavior really provoked them,
really got under their skin. Look at today's Gospel. The Pharisees are
watching Jesus carefully, trying to catch him cure someone on the
Sabbath. Brazenly Jesus confronts them. "Which is legal," he asks them,
"which illegal on the Sabbath, to do good, that is, to cure a person,
or to do evil, that is, to withhold a cure?"

The Pharisees don't answer - they can't. Jesus has them put them in a
predicament. They either agree with Jesus' way of thinking, or they
disagree and make themselves look foolish in the peoples' eyes. Jesus
provides the answer himself: "Stretch out your hand," he says to a man
with a withered arm. The man obeys, his arm restored to full health and
this on the Sabbath.

In other words, Jesus challenged the power elite of Israel, directly,
on their own turf, in the synagogue. He challenged them publicly and
unambiguously, performing with blatant openness the very act they had
wanted to catch him doing. Why did Jesus do this? Because the Sabbath
was given to men and women for their own good, and yet the Pharisees
forbade that good be done on it.

When the law exists for the people rather than people for the law; when
law is so structured that it no longer serves the good of citizens;
when it is manipulated, controlled by the very few; when it imposes
unconscionable burdens on the majority; when it perpetuates and
institutionalizes poverty and oppression, the nation requires activists
who will unmask the evil and confront the evil-doers - activists whose
patron saint, of course, is Jesus of Nazareth.

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 speedy recovery of Vicky's mom.
- Birthday: Rod Enriquez, Abigail Brondo
- Safe travel: Olga Hidalgo, Archelle and Marcus Argo Cabote and
Arsenia Polintan
- for the personal intentions of Edwin & Elyza Lopez and their
respective families
- for the healing and speedy recovery of Alet Cruz, Bonita Yu, Alyza
Marie Agapito
- for the eternal repose of the soul of Armando and Gloria Catanghal
- for the love, respect, unity, humility and commitment of CFC
- for the speedy recovery of Lilian.
- 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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