TODAY'S  WORD

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

Mark: 2:27-28 " Then Jesus said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath;  so the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.”


TODAY'S REFLECTION

The 1st reading reminds us of this: God would not be so unjust as to forget all you have done, the love that you have for His name or the services you have done and are still doing.


Yes, God sees and He remembers what we have done and why we did it.


In the gospel reading the Pharisees are critical of the disciples who pluck ears of corn from a corn field to eat as they walk along on a Sabbath day.


They probably considered such activity a form of reaping, and reaping was one of the many works forbidden on the Sabbath. Jesus, however, takes a much more common sense view.


The disciples were hungry and this was a legitimate way for them to satisfy their hunger.


In saying that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, Jesus was giving priority to human need over certain forms of religious law.


He was saying to the Pharisees that they had their priorities wrong.


If a religious law is preventing people from meeting their basic human needs, there is something wrong with it.


Law, including religious law, is there to serve the well being of the human person. Jesus took seriously the human person in all his or her complexity.


He came not to serve a set of laws but to serve God’s people, especially those in the greatest material and spiritual need.


He came that all people may have life and have it to the full.


He understood that law, religious or otherwise, is at the service of that fullness of life for all.


RESOLUTION

Let us resolve to go humbly and quietly go about doing good and offering up prayers and penance, like fasting, for the good of others and not to get their attention.

What really matters is that God sees and He knows and He will reward us for doing what is good and doing it humbly and quietly.

Pray for the protesting farmer's that their cries may be heard. The draconian laws may be repealed

Have a cheerful day

St. Joseph, Pray for us.