Look for opportunities to show your love

 

Welcome to my blog and peace be with you.

You will find here the Scripture readings prescribed by the Catholic Church for today. We are reading a semi continuous reading of St. Luke’s Gospel and St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

When we listen or read the Word of God with faith, then Jesus, Son of God speaks to us.

 

Monday 7 September 2020

Look for opportunities to show your love

Prayer

Father in heaven turn our hearts away from sin, for sin brings eternal death and our example may lead others to the same fate. We make our prayer through your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

First reading

1 Corinthians 5:1-8 ·

Get rid of the old yeast of evil and wickedness

I have been told as an undoubted fact that one of you is living with his father’s wife. This is a case of sexual immorality among you that must be unparalleled even among pagans. How can you be so proud of yourselves? You should be in mourning. A man who does a thing like that ought to have been expelled from the community. Though I am far away in body, I am with you in spirit, and have already condemned the man who did this thing as if I were actually present. When you are assembled together in the name of the Lord Jesus, and I am spiritually present with you, then with the power of our Lord Jesus he is to be handed over to Satan so that his sensual body may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

The pride that you take in yourselves is hardly to your credit. You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough, so get rid of all the old yeast, and make yourselves into a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be. Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed; let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

 

Prayerful reflection

For the Jews, following the book of Leviticus, for a man to marry the second wife of his father was something outrageous. But was not for gentiles. St. Paul and later generations of Christians followed the teaching of the Jews. Paul does not want them to punish the man who has done this so that he loses heart completely. It is a remedial punishment. He wants him to realise his sin and repent. He can then be part of the community again. Furthermore, by being lenient, others will learn to do the same. This is what he means by the leaven affecting the whole bread. There is only remedial punishment in the Church and we pray and long for sinners to return to the family of God.

 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 5:5-7,12

Lead me, Lord, in your justice.

You are no God who loves evil;

no sinner is your guest.

The boastful shall not stand their ground

before your face.

Lead me, Lord, in your justice.

You hate all who do evil;

you destroy all who lie.

The deceitful and bloodthirsty man

the Lord detests.

Lead me, Lord, in your justice.

All those you protect shall be glad

and ring out their joy.

You shelter them; in you they rejoice,

those who love your name.

Lead me, Lord, in your justice.

 

 

 

Gospel

Luke 6:6-11

Is it against the law on the sabbath to save life?

On the sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure a man on the sabbath, hoping to find something to use against him. But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Stand up! Come out into the middle.’ And he came out and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I put it to you: is it against the law on the sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it?’ Then he looked round at them all and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He did so, and his hand was better. But they were furious, and began to discuss the best way of dealing with Jesus.

 

Prayerful reflection

The Pharisees would allow someone to work on the sabbath if it was to save the life of a person. However, the withered hand of the man was not life-threatening. It was a cause of suffering. Why to wait till tomorrow if I can do it today? This was the thinking of Jesus. Jesus is teaching us to do good to the suffering at once and with eagerness.  We are not to wait, if we can do it now. Like Jesus let us look for occasions to reach out and show our love to others. This should be the mark of every Christian. Can people see it in me?

Prayer

Father in heaven give us an eagerness in love to reach out to others who are in need and near us. We make our prayer through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ.