Reflection on Today’s Gospel – LK 6:6-11
The image of the strengthening of the right hand in the Old Testament is a symbol of God's help to the weak. For example, in the praise of King David, recorded in the Book of Sirach, we read that David, facing Goliath, " called upon the Most High God, who gave strength to his right arm " (cf. 47: 5) that he overcame this proud and blasphemer with a sling stone. The Psalmist prays to God, who strengthens the right hand of man: " Yet I am always with you; you take hold of my right hand. With your counsel you guide me, and at the end receive me with honor " (cf. Ps 73: 23-24). In the Book of Isaiah, God promises to strengthen his right hand to his people when they suffered defeats by their enemies: " For I am the LORD, your God, who grasp your right hand; It is I who say to you, Do not fear, I will help you." (41:13).
Thus, the healing of a man with a withered right hand by the Lord Jesus was not only an act of bestowing health. It was, moreover, a discreet manifestation of his Divinity. The Pharisees who knew the Scriptures well could further enrage. St. Bede the Venerable, great doctor of the Church who lived at the turn of the 7th and 8th centuries, pointed out that this man with a withered hand in a way symbolizes all humanity after the fall of Adam. The first man stretched out his hand for the forbidden fruit, and thus greatly weakened the ability to do good for himself and for his descendants. Was needed the Son of God to free us from these impossibilities.
Finally, let us consider the saddest moment of today's Gospel. There were people who were enraged by the good done by the Lord Jesus. Unfortunately.
Jesus reveals himself as someone who always and everywhere "does good" (cf. Acts 10:38) and "saves life". As the living Word of the Father, he also interprets God's Law for us, which is by no means a set of rules ("letter") to be observed, but a practical wisdom of Love, in its "manifold manifestations" (cf. Eph 3:10) with a living Spirit (cf. Wis 7: 22-23; Rom 7: 6; 2 Cor 3: 6). Neither Jesus himself, nor any of his authentic disciples-friends (cf. Jn 15: 12-17), is not an ideologist, doctrinaire, fundamentalist - which absolutely does not mean that he is a religious liberal. The path of life according to the "Law of Freedom" (cf. Jas 1: 25; 2:12) is not to take the easy way, to disregard rules in the name of sentimentally understood love, but consists in constant dialogue with the Word of the Lord in his Spirit, in constant questioning of the living Spirit of God, what my Lord and Savior would do in my situation (and what WANTS to do in it through me). Meditating on God's commandments, as well as on the teachings and behavior of Christ, is not "training", but developing a holy instinct, feeling the rhythm of God's steps on my paths, the ability to intuitively "understand what is the will of the Lord" (cf. Eph 5:17) - it is tuning the heart to the "frequency" at which the Spirit of truth communicates with me (cf. Jn 14: 15-18.26).
Let us put it another way: Meditation on the Gospel is assimilating the qualities of Christ by staring at and listening to Him, because "with whom you stood, that is who you become." And Jesus shows Himself to us in today's passage as someone free in relation to human opinion, yet listening to the Father's heart (cf. Jn 5: 16-17). He does good without observing any limits, he helps the needy without paying attention to regulations, because his religiousness is nourished by the motto: " ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice " (Eleos thélo kaì ou thysían, Mt 12: 7). Mercy, active, loving compassion, embracing everyone who is ill, selfless offering of good to all (cf. Lk 6: 35-36), is the goal of the Law of Freedom (cf. Jas 2: 12-13).
Labor Day
“THROUGH WORK man must earn his daily bread (cf. Ps 127(128):2; cf. also Gen 3:17-19; Prov. 10:22; Ex 1:8-14; Jer 22:13) and contribute to the continual advance of science and technology and, above all, to elevating unceasingly the cultural and moral level of the society within which he lives in community with those who belong to the same family. And work means any activity by man, whether manual or intellectual, whatever its nature or circumstances; it means any human activity that can and must be recognized as work, in the midst of all the many activities of which man is capable and to which he is predisposed by his very nature, by virtue of humanity itself. Man is made to be in the visible universe an image and likeness of God himself (cf, Gen 1:26) , and he is placed in it in order to subdue the earth (cf. Gen 1:28). From the beginning therefore he is called to work. Work is one of the characteristics that distinguish man from the rest of creatures, whose activity for sustaining their lives cannot be called work. Only man is capable of work, and only man works, at the same time by work occupying his existence on earth. Thus work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community of persons. And this mark decides its interior characteristics; in a sense it constitutes its very nature.” (Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Letter: LABOREM EXERCENS)
“In the first place work is for man and not man for work"
(Saint John Paul II, Encyclical Letter: LABOREM EXERCENS, nr. 6)
Happy Labor Day
Until Tomorrow
fr. george