Reflection for Saturday, 22nd Week of Ordinary Time
By
Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Director, Social Action Movement, Don Bosco Bidar
Memorial of St. Gregory the Great Pope & Doctor of the CHURCH
Today's WORD of GOD
Luke 6: 1- 5
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.
Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
Today's Reflection
Keeping the Sabbath
The Sabbath Greeting among Jews is Shabbath Shalom! Literally This Means “Sabbath Peace!” but It implies a Prayer for Fullness of Life. Growing to This Fullness Cannot be Achieved just by Keeping a Set of Fixed Rules. When Accused that HIS Disciples were Breaking the Sabbath, JESUS Gave a Common-Sense Answer, Backed Up by a Scriptural Proof. HIS Friends were Plucking Ears of Grain & Eating Them, an Action Normally Allowed on Weekdays. But JESUS Proves that It may also be Done on the Sabbath by Reminding Them of when David & His Men got Special Permission to Eat the Temple 🍞, normally Reserved for Priests. Authentic Keeping of the Law Allowed for Doing whatever was Necessary.
LORD of the Sabbath
For JESUS, It was Perfectly Right to Satisfy One’s Hunger on the Sabbath, Especially for People like HIS Disciples who were Never Sure where They would Find Their Next Meal.
After Defending HIS Friends, JESUS Declares that HE HIMSELF is LORD of the Sabbath. Sunday is Our Christian Sabbath, & One It, Any Work which Serves the Basic Needs of Others is Allowed. The Deeper Meaning of Sabbath is as the Day when We Try to Do GOD'S Work, & that Means Responding to the Needs of Others as JESUS Did.
Saint of the day
September 3 | St. Gregory the Great
Gregory was the prefect of Rome before he was 30. After five years in office he resigned, founded six monasteries on his Sicilian estate, and became a Benedictine monk in his own home at Rome.
Ordained a priest, Gregory became one of the pope’s seven deacons, and also served six years in the East as papal representative in Constantinople. He was recalled to become abbot, but at the age of 50 was elected pope by the clergy and people of Rome.
Gregory was direct and firm. He removed unworthy priests from office, forbade taking money for many services, emptied the papal treasury to ransom prisoners of the Lombards and to care for persecuted Jews and the victims of plague and famine. He was very concerned about the conversion of England, sending 40 monks from his own monastery. He is known for his reform of the liturgy, and for strengthening respect for doctrine. Whether he was largely responsible for the revision of “Gregorian” chant is disputed.
Gregory lived in a time of perpetual strife with invading Lombards and difficult relations with the East. When Rome itself was under attack, he interviewed the Lombard king.
His book, Pastoral Care, on the duties and qualities of a bishop, was read for centuries after his death. He described bishops mainly as physicians whose main duties were preaching and the enforcement of discipline. In his own down-to-earth preaching, Gregory was skilled at applying the daily Gospel to the needs of his listeners. Called “the Great,” Gregory has been given a place with Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, as one of the four key doctors of the Western Church.
An Anglican historian has written: “It is impossible to conceive what would have been the confusion, the lawlessness, the chaotic state of the Middle Ages without the medieval papacy; and of the medieval papacy, the real father is Gregory the Great.”
St. Gregory the Great, pray for us.
Good Day
God bless you with a fantastic day and a fabulous weekend.
Happy feast of St. Gregory the great