Obedience                                                                        Read: Luke 6: 6-11

A wonderful simplicity and spirit  of compunction were the distinguishing virtues of this holy man. He was chosen abbot  of St. Mark's near Spoleto, and favored by God with the gift of miracles. A child who was possessed by the devil, being delivered by being educated in his monastery, the Abbot said one day: "Since the child is among the servants of God, the devil dares not approach him." These words seemed to savor of vanity, and thereupon the devil again entered and tormented the child.

 

The Abbot humbly confessed his fault, and fasted and prayed with his whole community till the child was again freed from the tyranny of the fiend. St. Gregory, the Great, not being able to fast on Easter-eve on account of extreme weakness, engaged this Saint to go with him to the church of St. Andrew's and offer up his prayers to God for his health, that he might join the faithful in that solemn practice of penance.

 

 

Today is the day Americans celebrate the many talents and gifts of those who labor, who toil, who use their physical skills and strengths to make our economy work and our society prosper.  These are people that our society many times does not fully appreciate.  We too often overlook the importance of how they make life more comfortable, and loud pundits denigrate the value of their organized efforts to insure good lives for themselves and their families.  It is good as a society to stop and reflect on how our lives are better because of them, and to thank them.

My grandfathers were these types of workers.  One of them had a high school education (in Ireland), and the other dropped out of school before high school to work.  Both were hard workers in the meatpacking houses of South Omaha, laborers (one eventually became a foremen), steady men who played by the rules as they understood them, who were raised in and practiced Catholicism their entire lives.  They sometimes disagreed with bosses, politicians, and elected officials, but once decisions were made or elections were held, they obeyed those for whom they worked, or who led their country.  I do not recall any instance where they questioned anyone who led their church.

Although they lived until I was in my mid 20s, I never talked with them about a lot of things, topics that in hindsight would have been interesting to pursue.  One comes to mind today from the gospel reading.  How would my grandfathers have reacted to a religious radical that upset the order that they found in their religion?  How would these steady elders have responded when someone violated the norms of behavior that they had been taught should be followed without question?  Would they have been sympathetic to the message of the upstart, or suspicious because the new preacher challenged longstanding traditions?  Would they have understood the argument that He was making, that it was better to address a real human need than to blindly adhere to a tradition?  Would they have been able to comprehend that in doing good on the sabbath this new prophet was actually giving greater glory to God than by “keeping the Sabbath holy” through ritual?

Paul encourages us to celebrate the feast with sincerity and truth.   Isn’t Jesus saying the same thing when He asks whether it is better to save life on the Sabbath rather than to destroy it? 

Reflection: 

 

How can I affirm and praise the people around me consistently every day as my way of praising God?

 

Holy Spirit, le t my eyes see and focus on the goodness in others all the time.

TODAYS SAINT: St. Eleutherius Abbot

Today’s Bible Reading : 

 

 

Reading 1

1 Corinthians 5:1-8

 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 5:5-6,7,12

 

Reading 2

 

Gospel:

Luke 6:6-11

Eleutherius prayed with many tears, and the Pope, coming out of the church, found that he was enabled to perform the fast as he desired. It is also said that St. Eleutherius raised a dead man to life. Resigning his abbacy, he died in St. Andrew's monastery in Rome about the year 585.

 

Email to: mojcounselor@missionofjesus.com or mojcounselor@gmail.com or   mojcounselor@hotmail.com or mojcounselor@yahoo.com

www.missionofjesus.com

 

     DAILY HIGHLIGHTS                                  

“The scribes and the Pharisees watch him closely to see if he would cure on the Sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.”- Luke 6:7

 

Prayer Before Mass

 

Prayer After Mass

Isn’t the life He is talking about saving our authentic spiritual life, and not some shadow that comes from disengaged obedience?  It seems that the full message of Jesus is to be sincere, to follow the truth, and to save the lives of others, and by doing so save our own.  In the words of the psalm, the path of Jesus will lead us to the justice of the Lord.

I loved my grandfathers.  I think they were good men to tried to build good lives for themselves and their families.  While I knew them when they were 60 (my age now), I didn’t know them then knowing what I know now.  How much we could have learned from each other if my 60-year old person could have talked to their 60-year old reality! 

And so my prayer today is in gratitude for the efforts of the workers among us who too often go unappreciated, for the grace to be sincere and true, and for the desire to save life rather than destroy it.