MY daily reflection and prayer:
Friday, July 15, 2016
Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Dear my friends,
Here is the Gospel for us today according to St. Matthew 12: 1-8
Jesus was going through a field of grain on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
***
THE Gospel reading today tells us different understanding between the Pharisees and Jesus on the Sabath day. In fact, the Sabbath as a day of rest was established for the Jewish people in order to remember and reflect on their special covenant relationship with God. God had delivered them from slavery and then he had given them rest.
Actually, it’s not a day which made them forbidden to do something. On Sabbath, they should focus more on what they should do in order to worthily receive and worship God. But the Pharisees, however, only focused on “what they can’t do”. They failed to see “what they should do.”
For Jesus Christ, it is lawful to do good although on the Sabbath. So, on the Sabbath, he cured the man with the withered hand, fed his disciples, and cured another woman with a bent back.
What does it mean for us? God has a special relationship with us. He has delivered us from slavery of sin. He continues to love us and asks that we love him and others with all our heart.
In the Perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist, while adoring Jesus Christ, we recall our covenant relationship with God. Are we mindful and grateful for all the good things he has done and continues to do for us?
Let’s pray: Lord Jesus Christ, charity must inspire us to do good to others in all times. May we always have a hunger for this encounter with your love and friendship and to do everything good for others. May we serve others with the same charity and love as you serve us now and forever. Amen.
Kredit foto: Ilustrasi (Ist)
