THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB THE SABBATH IS FOR PEOPLE

July 21, 2023

Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB 

THE SABBATH IS FOR PEOPLE  

Introduction

When God brought punishing plagues on the Egyptians for oppressing his people, he saved the Hebrew families, which had eaten the paschal lamb and smeared its blood on the door posts. Christ communicates his salvation to us in the Eucharist, the new Passover meal. Here, he is our Passover lamb that saved us by his blood from the slavery of sin. He is the paschal lamb, the Lamb of God, who is our food on the road of life.

Laws are not above the service to people, for 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 neighbor 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.

Intentions

–   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.

Reflection:

21 July 2023

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 tolerate such nonsense. He pointed two examples from their history- recorded 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 a lot of 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 need to understand better the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council. We tend to focus on the rubrics so much 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.

Liturgy without charity is a sin - Youtube