THE SABBATH IS FOR PEOPLE

July 16, Friday

FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

      When God brought punishing plagues on the Egyptians for oppressing his people, he saved the Hebrew families, which had eaten the paschal lamb and smeared its blood on the door posts. Christ communicates his salvation to us in the Eucharist, the new Passover meal. Here he is our Passover lamb that saved us by his blood from the slavery of sin. He is the paschal lamb, the Lamb of God, who is our food on the road of life.

      Laws are not above the service to people, for the service of God does not contradict the love and mercy to be shown to people. Laws, commandments are based on the freedom God has brought to us in Christ.

 

First Reading: Exodus 11:10–12:14

Moses and Aaron had performed all these signs in Pharaoh’s presence, but God turned Pharaoh more stubborn than ever—yet again he refused to release the Israelites from his land.

God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbour, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat. Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats. Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it—the entire community of Israel will do this—at dusk. Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it’s roasted—the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. Don’t leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.

“And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it’s the Passover to God.

“I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God. The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

“This will be a memorial day for you; you will celebrate it as a festival to God down through the generations, a fixed festival celebration to be observed always.

 

Gospel: Matthew 12:1-8

One Sabbath, Jesus was strolling with his disciples through a field of ripe grain. Hungry, the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and munching on them. Some Pharisees reported them to Jesus: “Your disciples are breaking the Sabbath rules!”

Jesus said, “Really? Didn’t you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn’t you ever read in God’s Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it’s not held against them?

“There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—‘I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual’—you wouldn’t be nit-picking like this. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath; he’s in charge.”

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
you want us to seek security
not in observing the letter of the law
but to seek the insecurity
of committing ourselves to you and to people
in mercy and service.
Give us the courage to take the risk
and, like Jesus, to make the sacrifice
of giving ourselves to you
in our neighbor in need,
of sharing in their joys and sorrows,
their problems and their protests,
that we may know and serve them
as you know and serve us
in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

God liberates us!

There are many “Our Ladys” in our popular devotions in the Church. Here, we usually concentrate on how the Blessed Virgin is honoured in a place – the Virgin who invites to pray the Rosary for world peace in Fatima, the Virgin inviting us to repentance and healing at Lourdes, the Virgin of the poor and marginalised at Guadeloupe and so on. When we speak of Our Lady of an order or congregation, we are alluding to the way in which she is honoured in that institute.

The feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is celebrated today on 16 July. It draws our attention to the way in which she is manifested to the Carmelite Order. The hermit brothers on Mount Carmel dedicated an oratory to St Mary early in the thirteenth century, declaring that she is their Patron who will look after them, and whom they in turn will serve.

A significant Carmelite devotion to Our Lady is through the Brown Scapular which has been very popular since the fifteenth century. The scapular is a symbol, a sign of a relationship with Christ along with Mary, one of dependence and love. Wearing a scapular would be meaningful when it leads us into the contemplation of the divine mysteries. The scapular should also remind us that we are to be clothed with Christ, and further be able to realise Mary clothing us with her Son. The Brown Scapular has been seen as a sign of Mary’s care and help in moments of life’s dangers, and also at the time of death.

On this day 171 years ago, in 1849, five diocesan priests in Spain came together under the leadership of Father Antony Claret and began a small community and called themselves “Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.” The Community grew in numbers and ministries over the years and today, the Claretian Missionaries with over 3000 members, serve in 66 countries around the world. Today, let us pray for the members of the Carmelite Order and the Claretian Missionaries.
In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees criticise Jesus for breaking the Law of Sabbath: the disciples are caught picking up ears of corn – that is working on a Sabbath day. To the Jewish mind, along with circumcision and kosher food customs, Sabbath was a sign of their identity as the chosen People of God. They clung to it fiercely. In Antioch, a Roman territory, Sabbath had no special meaning. But the Pharisees insisted on observing these customs. The Pharisees’ approach was making it a burden. To tamper with Sabbath was to tamper with God.
Jesus was a free man, not a slave to the law. The first reading reminds us of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt through the Passover Supper. It is what God has been doing and what he wants to continue to do in every human heart and in every moment of history: to liberate. In our prayer today we ask the Lord to help us grow in the freedom of the Children of God, freedom that gives peace to our lives, that allows us to sleep peacefully and live life with freshness and joy.

 

Video available on Youtube: God liberates us!