The Catholic Calendar for Friday, July 15, 2005
Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Bonaventure, religious, bishop, doctor of the Church

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Genesis 11:10--12:14
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-18
Matthew 12:1-8

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

"I desire mercy, not sacrifice"

Imagine the horror of the blasphemy--"Something greater than the temple is here." What could possibly be greater than the temple, the home of God, the center of ritual sacrifice that unites God to His people.

Well, for one thing, the presence of God Himself. Where there is love, caring, compassion, selflessness, devotion, consideration, and all of the human signs of selflessness, God is present.

Jesus in His compassion commanded His followers to eat. To do so they "violated" the sabbath laws as defined by the chief priests. But not the Sabbath as God understood it. What Jesus is doing here is redefining the sabbath as a day of doing good and bringing to all the news of God the Father, the Lover and Father of all the world--the source of all compassion and all that is good.

As such, each day must be a sabbath day--not a day of rest from work and labor as it were, but a day of rest in God. Labor may continue even as we observe the sabbath and spend our time with God. But when we rest in Him, we rest indeed.

Take Jesus' invitation to make everyday a celebration of the sabbath. God blesses us with a continual outpouring of love and delight, a continuous sabbath rest.

- JuandelaCruz
(http://floscarmeli.stblogs.org/)

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