Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The Sabbath Is For People
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Year II. In response to the insistent prayer of King Hezekiah God heals the king and postpones his death so that he can finish what he intended to do in the service of his people.
Gospel. Laws are not above serving people; the service of God does not contradict the love and mercy to be shown to people. Laws and commandments are based on the freedom God has brought to us in Christ.
Opening 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 neighbour 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.
First Reading
Hezekiah’s Illness and Healing
During that time, Hezekiah became very sick, and the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz, came to him with a message from the Lord: “Put your house in order for you shall die; you shall not live.”
Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord:
“Ah, the Lord! Remember how I have walked before you in truth and wholeheartedly and done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah:
“Go and tell Hezekiah what the Lord, the God of his father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. See! I am adding fifteen years to your life
and I will save you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria. I will defend it for my sake and for David, my servant.”
Isaiah answered: “This will be a sign for you from the Lord that he will do what he has promised.
See! I will make the shadow descending on Ahaz’s stairway go back ten steps.” So the sunlight returned to the ten steps it had traversed on the stairway.
Isaiah then said: “Bring a fig cake to rub on the ulcer and let Hezekiah be cured!”
Hezekiah asked: “What is the sign that I should go up to the house of the Lord?”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 17b) You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Once I said,
"In the noontime of life I must depart!
To the gates of the nether world I shall be consigned
for the rest of my years."
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
I said, "I shall see the LORD no more
in the land of the living.
No longer shall I behold my fellow men
among those who dwell in the world."
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
My dwelling, like a shepherd's tent,
is struck down and borne away from me;
You have folded up my life, like a weaver
who severs the last thread.
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Those live whom the LORD protects;
yours is the life of my spirit.
You have given me health and life.
R. You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die.
Alleluia Verse
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus and the Sabbath
One day, Jesus was walking through the wheat fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they started to pick some heads of wheat to crush and eat the grain.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus:
“Look at your disciples! They are doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath!”
Jesus answered:
“Have you not read what David did when he and his men were hungry?
He entered the House of God and they ate the bread offered to God, even though neither he nor his men had the right to eat it, which was reserved only for the priests.
And haven’t you read in the law how, on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath, yet they are not considered guilty?
I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you truly understood the meaning of the words: ‘It is mercy I want, not sacrifice’; you would not have condemned the innocent.
For the Son of Man is LORD of the Sabbath.”
Prayers of the Faithful
– That people everywhere be given the time to rest, to recover from the pressure of their work, and have the opportunity to worship God, we pray:
– That the faithful who go to Mass on Sundays will behave as Christians also on weekdays, we pray:
– That Sunday may be to all of us a special occasion to grow in love for those who are dear to us, to visit the sick and to serve the needy, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
this bread and this wine will become
the Lamb of God, Jesus, your Son.
We remember that he shed his blood
that our sins may be forgiven.
Let him be our food and drink today
that we may pass with him from death to life
and that we may truly be your people,
born to be free
and to make one another free
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord, God of the living,
we have eaten the Passover meal
of your people of the new covenant.
Let Jesus help us to live
the great commandment of love
not so much as an order to be obeyed
but as a free gift to people
of our time, our attention and our very selves,
by the strength of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
Of course, there are commandments. But the Lord himself tells us that they may never stand in the way of mercy and of the loving service of people. May Almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
Matthew 12:1-8
Liturgy without charity is a sin
Immediately following yesterday’s words of Jesus, today’s story invites those carrying heavy burdens to seek comfort and relief from him. The burdens it entailed are revealed today.
The Pharisees found fault with Jesus and his disciples for not observing the Sabbath law. In law, picking grains was considered harvesting, which was prohibited. On the Sabbath, most manual labour was forbidden, including reaping. So we read in Exodus: “For six days you may work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; on that day you must rest even during the seasons of ploughing and harvesting” (Exodus 34:21). Pharisees viewed the disciples’ actions as violating Sabbath laws.
Jesus would not put up with such nonsense. He cited two instances from their history as documented in the scriptures. First, David’s soldiers went into God’s house and ate the loaves of bread which were offered to God because they were hungry. It was forbidden for anyone except priests to eat this bread. Second, Jesus pointed out that priests on temple duty not only worked on the Sabbath but also worked more than usual on that day (as priests do today on Sundays). However, no one found fault with them.
As further evidence, Jesus offers two additional and more powerful arguments: – He points out a saying from the prophet Hosea (Hos 6:6): “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” This means that our observance of law is not the most important thing to God, but how much love and compassion we show for our brothers and sisters. Laws are for people; people are not for laws.
Reading texts like this puts us in a position to reflect on our own behaviour as individuals and as a community of Christians. Small-mindedness and legalism can easily infect our Catholic life. Obviously, our legalistic attitudes towards matters of faith are at the root of many divisions in the Church.
Upon the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul last year, Pope Francis published an Apostolic Letter on liturgical formation. Many Catholics had rejected the Second Vatican Council’s liturgical reforms. In the letter, Pope Francis insisted that Catholics better understand the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council. We tend to focus so much on the rubrics that we forget the commandment of love. In this year’s World Youth Day Commissioning Mass in the Diocese, the delegates performed a dance. The critics said, “Dancing is strictly prohibited in the sanctuary!” If our children can’t dance before God, where else can they dance?
Our Mass attendance would be useless if we refused to be forgiving and compassionate towards our brethren.