Readings & Reflections: Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time & Saint Peter Blessed Frédéric Ozanam, September 7,2019

In today’s Gospel, “Some Pharisees” who seem “alienated and hostile in mind” pick a quarrel with Jesus. Jesus declares the Sabbath a day of mercies to honor God, a day for doing good, for saving life (cf. CCC 2173). Through the re-creation wrought in Christ, “God has reconciled you.” May self-righteousness cede to the memory of such mercy and to persevering in the faith. Like that growing field of grain, we remain “firmly grounded.”

AMDG+

Opening Prayer

“Lord Jesus, may I honor you in my work and in my rest and treat my neighbor with respect and kindness.  Keep me free from a critical and intolerant spirit that I may seek the good of my neighbor in all situations.” In your Name, I pray. Amen.

Reading I
Col 1:21-23

Brothers and sisters:
You once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds;
God has now reconciled you
in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death,
to present you holy, without blemish,
and irreproachable before him,
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.

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 54:3-4, 6 and 8
R. (6) God himself is my help.
O God, by your name save me,
and by your might defend my cause.
O God, hear my prayer;
hearken to the words of my mouth.
R. God himself is my help.
Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord sustains my life.
Freely will I offer you sacrifice;
I will praise your name, O LORD, for its goodness.
R. God himself is my help.

Gospel
Lk 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 is the lord of the Sabbath.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection 1 – Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath

It was accepted practice to do what the disciples did, “picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them” but the Pharisees objected to it because it was done on the Sabbath. This brings us back to the Sabbath dispute which the Pharisees have continued to use in downgrading the teachings of Jesus and in finding fault in His ministry.

In response to this matter, Jesus cites the example of David to show that certain basic needs, like HUNGER, should always take precedence over certain laws. He indirectly speaks to us that the spirit of the law should always be considered more than what it tries to spell out. He wanted to remind us that we should never be RIGID in our ways that we forget the very essence of what he hopes and expects from us.

This issue brings to our hearts that doing good should not be matter of WHO, WHAT and WHERE.

God’s law on love was never partial. God is not unjust.  He will not forget our work and the love we have shown him by our past and present service to his people. It should therefore be our desire to give our brethren the same zeal and service at all times and without reservation. If we act accordingly till the end we can be assured of God’s bountiful promises.

Just like the Corinthian Christians in the first reading, we may have grown smug, conceited, self righteous and complacent with our spiritual progress. Let us then take extra care and examine our hearts for we may not be half as spiritual as we think ourselves to be. Let us always seek God to give us the same respectful and balanced disposition and attitude toward every law and statute and its observance.

Law and love are both good. If applied under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they should work and be able to build up people and in turn should glorify God any day and any time whatever the circumstance may be!

“The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.”

Direction

Do good at all times.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, bless my heart that I may always have a fuller understanding of the spirit and letter of your law. Help me to apply your law the way you would. Let me love others the way You have loved me.  In Jesus I pray, amen.

Reflection 2 – The Lord of the Sabbath

The observance of the Sabbath rest is one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15). It enabled the people of Israel to worship God without the distractions of work and recalled God’s original plan of creation: to have man enter into communion with him and share in his rest. The Sabbath expresses the covenant between God and Israel and it was a way for Israel to imitate God and share in his holy rest.

The Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of violating the Sabbath since they are gathering crops (Exodus 34:21). Jesus responds to the Pharisees’ accusation in three ways. He first points out that his disciples are hungry and that, because of their need, their actions of gathering grain on the Sabbath and eating it do not violate the Sabbath rest.

Second, Jesus is also revealing himself as the new David: the exception made for David and his men can also be made for Jesus and his disciples. Jesus is also comparing himself and his disciples to the priests in the Temple, who are allowed to break the Sabbath when they replace the Bread of the Presence on the Sabbath.

Third, Jesus calls himself the “Lord of the Sabbath”. He places himself above the Sabbath and, in doing so, proclaims his divinity. Jesus, with his community of disciples, forms the origin and center of a new Israel (Pope Benedict XVI,Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 1, Doubleday, 114). Jesus’ disciples will ultimately find the rest they seek in him. The new family of God is formed not by adherence to the Old Law of the Torah, but by adherence to Jesus himself and his New Law.

Jesus is God and is able to bring the Old Law (the Torah) to fulfillment in the New Law. In this way, Israel will fulfill its vocation to be a light to all the nations. What Jesus does in his teaching is bring the God of Israel to the nations, so that all the nations now pray to God and recognize Israel’s Scriptures as the word of the living God. Jesus “has brought the gift of universality, which was the one great definitive promise to Israel and the world. This universality, this faith in the one God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – extended now in Jesus’ new family to all nations over and above the bonds of descent according to the flesh – is the fruit of Jesus’ work. It is what proves him to be the Messiah. It signals a new interpretation of the messianic promise that is based on Moses and the Prophets, but also opens them up in a completely new way” (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 1, Doubleday, 116-117).

The Apostles are servants of Christ and trustworthy stewards of the mysteries of God. The Corinthians can learn humility from Paul and Apollos, who stay within the limits set out by Scripture, by “what is written”. “Paul reprimands self-righteous Christians for their egotism and unfair criticisms. Although he describes them as wise and prosperous, his rhetorical irony implies the opposite, i.e., they are ignorant and impoverished. Their refusal to embrace the foolishness of Christ exposes their pride and reveals how petty their problems look compared to the humiliation of the apostles” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible).

On account of Christ, Paul and the other Apostles have become like publicly disgraced criminals, fools in the eyes of the world, weak; they are held in disrepute, hungry and thirsty, poorly clad, roughly treated, homeless; and they have to work and toil to sustain themselves. They are ridiculed and persecuted, slandered and treated like rubbish and scum.

Paul admonishes the Christians in Corinth, not to shame them, but to lead them to Christ through the Gospel. Paul considers himself a father to the Corinthians, having brought them new life through the Gospel (2 Corinthians 12:14). Paul here could be referring to the connection between priesthood and fatherhood. “In the patriarchal age, fathers and first-born sons exercised the cultic ministry of building altars and offering sacrifices for their families (Gen 12:8; 22:9-13; 31:54; 46:1; Job 1:5). In the Mosaic age, God elevated Aaron and his levitical sons (Ex 40:12-15) to be the fathers and priests of the tribal family of Israel (Judg 17:10; 18:19). The same principle carries over on a spiritual level in the age of the New Covenant, where Christ, our great high priest, ordains men to the ministry of spiritual fatherhood for ‘the priestly service of the gospel’ (Rom 15:16)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible).

Jesus, then, is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. Through the calling of the twelve Apostles, Jesus forms the new Israel, the New People of God. As Christians, we are called to imitate Jesus’ humility and meekness of heart. Throughout the centuries many saints, like Paul, offer to Christians models worthy of imitation. – (Read the source: http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/daily-homily-the-lord-of-the-sabbath)

Reflection 3 – The Son of man is lord of the Sabbath

What does the commandment “keep holy the Sabbath” require of us? Or better yet, what is the primary intention behind this command? The religious leaders confronted Jesus on this issue. The “Sabbath rest” was meant to be a time to remember and celebrate God’s goodness and the goodness of his work, both in creation and redemption. It was a day set apart for the praise of God, his work of creation, and his saving actions on our behalf. It was intended to bring everyday work to a halt and to provide needed rest and refreshment.

The Lord of the Sabbath feeds and nourishes us
Jesus’ disciples are scolded by the scribes and Pharisees, not for plucking and eating corn from the fields, but for doing so on the Sabbath. In defending his disciples, Jesus argues from the Scriptures that human need has precedence over ritual custom. In their hunger, David and his men ate of the holy bread offered in the Temple (1 Samuel 21:2-7). On every Sabbath morning twelves loaves were laid before God on a golden table in the Holy Place. Each loaf represented one of the twelve tribes of Israel. No one was allowed to eat this bread except the priests because it represented the very presence of God. David understood that human need took precedence over rules and ritual regulations.

Seek the Lord’s rest and refreshment
Why didn’t the Pharisees recognize the claims of mercy over rules and regulations? Their zeal for ritual observance blinded them from the demands of charity. Jesus’ reference to the bread of the Presence alludes to the true bread from heaven which he offers to all who believe in him. Jesus, the Son of David, and the Son of Man, a title for the Messiah, declares that he is “Lord of the Sabbath.” Jesus healed on the Sabbath and he showed mercy to those in need. All who are burdened can find true rest and refreshment in him. Do you seek rest and refreshment in the Lord and in the celebration of the Lord’s Day?

“Lord Jesus, you refresh us with your presence and you sustain us with your life-giving word. Show me how to lift the burden of others, especially those who lack the basic necessities of life, and to refresh them with humble care and service.” – Read the source:  http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2019/sep7.htm

Reflection 4 – Admonishing the Pharisees

Of the obstinate it is said by Solomon: They shall eat fruit of their own way, and shall be filled with their own devices…. The heart of the wise is always consistent, because, while it remains at peace in its upright convictions, it constantly urges itself to good deeds. But the heart of fools is inconsistent, because, in exhibiting itself as variable and changeable, it never remains what it was. And because certain faults beget others, as it were spontaneously, and so, too, spring from others, it is carefully to be noted that we then the better cleanse these people by reproofs, when we draw away from them the source of their bitterness. For obstinacy is begotten of pride, and fickleness of irresolution.

The obstinate, therefore, are to be admonished to realize the pride of their thoughts, and to aim at overcoming themselves. Otherwise, scorning to be outwardly influenced by the upright counsels of others, they may held captive inwardly by their pride. They are to be admonished to observe with diligence that the Son of Man, whose will was always one with that of the Father, giving us an example of the submission of our will, says: I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me, the Father; and that he might the more commend the agreeableness of this virtue, he declared beforehand that he would retain the same will at the Last Judgment, saying: I cannot of myself do anything, but as I hear, so I judge. With what conscience, then, can a man despise acquiescence in the will of another, when the Son of God and of Man, on coming to display the glory of his own power, testifies that he does not pass judgment as if it were his own? (Source: St. Gregory the Great, +604 A.D., Magnificant, Vol. 18, No. 7, September 2016, pp. 51-52).

Reflection 5 – Blessed Frédéric Ozanam (1813-1853 A.D.)

A man convinced of the inestimable worth of each human being, Frédéric served the poor of Paris well and drew others into serving the poor of the world. Through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, his work continues to the present day.

Frédéric was the fifth of Jean and Marie Ozanam’s 14 children, one of only three to reach adulthood. As a teenager he began having doubts about his religion. Reading and prayer did not seem to help, but long walking discussions with Father Noirot of the Lyons College clarified matters a great deal.

Frédéric wanted to study literature, although his father, a doctor, wanted him to become a lawyer. Frédéric yielded to his father’s wishes and in 1831 arrived in Paris to study law at the University of the Sorbonne. When certain professors there mocked Catholicteachings in their lectures, Frédéric defended the Church.

A discussion club which Frédéric organized sparked the turning point in his life. In this club Catholics, atheists and agnostics debated the issues of the day. Once, after Frédéric spoke about Christianity’s role in civilization, a club member said: “Let us be frank, Mr. Ozanam; let us also be very particular. What do you do besides talk to prove the faith you claim is in you?”

Frédéric was stung by the question. He soon decided that his words needed a grounding in action. He and a friend began visiting Paris tenements and offering assistance as best they could. Soon a group dedicated to helping individuals in need under the patronage of St. Vincent de Paul formed around Frédéric.

Feeling that the Catholic faith needed an excellent speaker to explain its teachings, Frédéric convinced the Archbishop of Paris to appoint Father Lacordaire, the greatest preacher then in France, to preach a Lenten series in Notre Dame Cathedral. It was well attended and became an annual tradition in Paris.

After Frédéric earned his law degree at the Sorbonne, he taught law at the University of Lyons. He also earned a doctorate in literature. Soon after marrying Amelie Soulacroix on June 23, 1841, he returned to the Sorbonne to teach literature. A well-respected lecturer, Frédéric worked to bring out the best in each student. Meanwhile, the St. Vincent de Paul Society was growing throughout Europe. Paris alone counted 25 conferences.

In 1846, Frédéric, Amelie and their daughter Marie went to Italy; there he hoped to restore his poor health. They returned the next year. The revolution of 1848 left many Parisians in need of the services of the St. Vincent de Paul conferences. The unemployed numbered 275,000. The government asked Frédéric and his co-workers to supervise the government aid to the poor. Vincentians throughout Europe came to the aid of Paris.

Frédéric then started a newspaper, The New Era, dedicated to securing justice for the poor and the working classes. Fellow Catholics were often unhappy with what Frédéric wrote. Referring to the poor man as “the nation’s priest,” Frédéric said that the hunger and sweat of the poor formed a sacrifice that could redeem the people’s humanity

In 1852 poor health again forced Frédéric to return to Italy with his wife and daughter. He died on September 8, 1853. In his sermon at Frédéric’s funeral, Lacordaire described his friend as “one of those privileged creatures who came direct from the hand of God in whom God joins tenderness to genius in order to enkindle the world.”

Frédéric was beatified in 1997. Since Frédéric wrote an excellent book entitledFranciscan Poets of the Thirteenth Century and since Frederick’s sense of the dignity of each poor person was so close to the thinking of St. Francis, it seemed appropriate to include him among Franciscan “greats.”

Comment:

Frédéric Ozanam always respected poor while offering whatever service he could. Each man, woman and child was too precious for that. Serving the poor taught Frédéric something about God that he could not have learned elsewhere.

Quote:

In his homily at the eatification Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral, Saint John Paul II mentioned that before World War II he belonged to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. He noted that Frédéric Ozanam “observed the real situation of the poor and sought to be more and more effective in ehlping them in their human development. He understood that charity must lead to efforts to rededy injutice. Charity and justice go together.”

Related St. Anthony Messenger article(s) 

Bl. Frederic Ozanam: French Layman Showed Faith in Action, by Pat McCloseky, OFM

Read the source:  http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1131

SAINT OF THE DAY
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God’s invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint.