22ND SATURDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Luke 6:1-5) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

“The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” (Lk 6:5)

FIRST READING - Col 1:21-23

"He has now reconciled in his fleshly body through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him."

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians

^21 [a]And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds ²² he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through his death, to present you holy, without blemish, and irreproachable before him, ²³ provided that you persevere in the faith, firmly grounded, stable, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, am a minister.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 6:1-5

Tại sao các ông làm điều không được phép làm ngày sa-bát.

✠From the Gospel according to Luke

¹ While he 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. ² Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” ³ Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those [who were] with him were hungry? ⁴ [How] he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering,^[b] which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions.” ⁵ Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

22ND SATURDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Luke 6:1-5)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear People of God,

The Word of God today wants to tell all of humanity that God is the Lord of the Sabbath, the Lord of every day of human life, and the Lord of all laws.

God wants people to obey the law, but that law must be God's law, the law of love. God always places love above all laws, places people above all things. As a result, God always calls everyone to keep God's law of love, not to keep the law in appearance because it will not lead to eternal life. God gave us the law to save people, to bring God's love and mercy to all mankind.

In today's Gospel, God shows two images:

• The image of Jesus' disciples on the way following Him, because they were hungry, they picked grain to eat on the Sabbath. The disciples picking grain to eat to nourish the human body is not wrong, not in violation of the law.

• But those who kept the law in appearance condemned His disciples for breaking the law. Through this, Jesus wanted to let everyone know that His disciples were completely without fault. He also taught those who were living a life of hypocrisy.

• If you are keeping God's law in a form of appearance, then be awakened and return to keeping and living according to the true law that God has given to humanity, and not to follow the laws of the world in such a way that causes harm to others and leads people away from God.

• The image of the Pharisees blaming Jesus' disciples: "why did they pick grain and eat it on the Sabbath?" also leaves a lesson for people today: The Catholic Church is a holy Church of God, with Jesus Christ as the head, the master of the Church, so He does not want His Church to fall into Satan's traps and temptations, which is the formal keeping of the law; because that formal keeping of the law will not please God and will cause stumbling blocks for His children.

He also reminded His children in the Church to live and keep the law that God Himself gave them, which is the Law of Love. And to put love and charity towards others above all laws; do not let the formal laws cause the souls of the suffering sheep to be separated from God.

Today, God calls upon the shepherds in His Church to place God's Law of Love above all other laws, in order to help the suffering souls return to God the Father, not to rely on human laws and reasoning to overshadow God's Law of Love. For human laws do not lead people to love, happiness, and eternal life. Only the Law of God, given to His Church and to each soul — the Law of Love — can lead humanity to perfect happiness, which is the Kingdom of Heaven.

God calls all His children to live and place the Law of Love above all other laws; that is, to love God above all things and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

Thanks be to God. Amen.