REFLECTIONS TODAY
Jesus is Lord of even the worthiest of religious traditions because he upholds life and creation to the full. The hungry needs to eat, even, and perhaps especially, on the Sabbath. If Jesus changes or breaks with tradition, his reason for doing so is always to uphold the value of the human person, of his or her life. Again, it is not easy for Jesus’ hearers to understand his commitment to tradition while advocating change at the same time.
At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic four years ago, we were challenged to the utmost, how to carry out our life of worship as well as our charity towards others. There were no easy answers in the face of meeting basic health needs and sometimes risking lives while fulfilling our life of worship and responding to the sacramental needs of the members of the Church and society.
Hopefully, this experience has taught us how to move forward. If there is a primary criterion whether a religious tradition should be upheld or changed, we must ask: Does it preserve our lives and the lives of others? Does it ultimately lead to the feeding and healing of the world?
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.”
Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.