20140906 KEEPING THE SABBATH HOLY
Reading 1, First Corinthians 4:9-15
9 For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on show right at the end, like men condemned to death: we have been
exhibited as a spectacle to the whole universe, both angelic and human.
10 Here we are, fools for Christ's sake, while you are the
clever ones in Christ; we are weak, while you are strong; you are honoured,
while we are disgraced.
11 To this day, we go short of food and drink and clothes,
we are beaten up and we have no homes;
12 we earn our living by labouring with our own hands;
when we are cursed, we answer with a blessing; when we are hounded, we endure
it passively;
13 when we are insulted, we give a courteous answer. We
are treated even now as the dregs of the world, the very lowest scum.
14 I am writing all this not to make you ashamed but
simply to remind you, as my dear children;
15 for even though you might have ten thousand slaves to look after you in Christ, you still have no more than
one father, and it was I who fathered you in Christ Jesus, by the gospel.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 145:17-18, 19-20, 21
18 He is close to all who call upon him, all who call on
him from the heart.
19 He fulfils the desires of all who fear him, he hears their
cry and he saves them.
20 Yahweh guards all who love him, but all the wicked he
destroys.
21 My mouth shall always praise Yahweh, let every creature
bless his holy name for ever and ever.
Gospel, Luke 6:1-5
1 It happened that one Sabbath he was walking through the cornfields, and his disciples
were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them.
3 Jesus answered them, 'So you have not read what David
did when he and his followers were hungry-
4 how he went into the house of God and took the loaves of the offering and ate them and
gave them to his followers, loaves which the priests alone are allowed to eat?'
5 And he said to them, 'The Son of man is master of the Sabbath.'
KEEPING
THE SABBATH HOLY
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: 1 CORINTHIANS 4:6B-15; LUKE 6:1-5
http://www.universalis.com/20140906/mass.htm
For those of us unfamiliar
with the customs of the Jews, we find it incomprehensible, even ludicrous, that
they were so sticky on the observance of the Sabbath Law. Why the big
fuss and petty squabbles over Jesus’ breaking the Sabbath Law? This
was because the Sabbath law was given by God Himself through Moses and
therefore it is held to be sacrosanct.
But the crux of the
problem, or contention, lies in the divergent way of applying this law
concretely in daily life. The Sabbath Law can be interpreted widely or
narrowly. The Ultra orthodox Jews dictated the details of what constituted
“work”, and hence, infringement of the law, in every imaginable scenario.
The day is supposed to be kept holy and consecrated entirely to God by reading
the Torah. Unfortunately, in their anxiety to observe the letter of the
law, they overlooked the spirit of the Law. So intent were they in making
sure that they did not break the law on the Sabbath Day that they would not
even lend a hand to someone who might be in trouble, because that was
considered “work”.
It was this total
disregard for their fellowmen in the name of giving honour to God that irked
Jesus, as it is against the sin of charity. To state His case, Jesus deliberately healed the
sick on the Sabbath day, and in today’s instance, He also defended His
disciples for “picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating
them.” The intention of the Sabbath is to help them and us to remember
that God is our Lord; that He is the provider of all our needs, so that we will
learn to trust in His Divine providence. It is also a time for us to
deepen our bonds and relationships with our loved ones, besides giving rest to
our physical bodies. The observance of the Sabbath was not intended to become a
hindrance to helping those in need, or be the cause of our neglect of the
essential things in life. So in truth, Jesus did not break the Sabbath
Law, but He rejected the extremist interpretation of the law.
Indeed, St Paul warned
the Corinthians about being judgmental and having self-importance. He
wrote, “it is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides
for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some
special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given,
how can you boast as though it were not?” Even if we could observe the Sabbath
Law, we should not allow pride to take the better of us. Although
holiness requires our cooperation, it is itself the grace of God. So if
we are living a holy and righteous life, rather than acting smug, we should
praise and thank God in humility for His grace and pray that others who are living
in sin would be able to respond to His grace as well.
St Paul exhorted the
Christians to put the unity of the community and the love of Christ above all
else. Indeed, we
must not act and behave like the Christians at Corinth, who were proud of their
wisdom, superior knowledge and their spiritual gifts. St Paul reminded
them that all these gifts that they received came from God; hence there was no
basis for them to feel proud or superior to others.
However, the real
problem today is laxity rather than strict observance of the Sabbath. For
many Catholics, the practice of the Sabbath, if it is observed at all, is often
reduced to attending Sunday Mass. Many have the impression that this is
what the observance of the Sabbath is all about. On the contrary, giving
time to God is not to be confined to a Church service. We are called to
give reverence to God the whole day. Sabbath is a day of rest so
that instead of devoting ourselves to the mundane tasks of life, the
non-essentials, we dedicate the day to what is truly essential, namely, the
adoration of God who is our creator, and the fostering of relationships with
our loved ones in the family and with friends and the Christian community.
Indeed, what does it
mean to keep the Sabbath holy? It means that we do not waste the day sleeping or
idling, and engaging in frivolous activities, but to consecrate the day by
living well and glorifying God in all that we do. Of course, one should
take some physical rest to recuperate from the week’s labour. But to rest our
body without God is not complete. We also need spiritual rest for the
soul. The Sabbath is a time when we are called to cultivate and
strengthen our union with God and with our fellowmen. It is a time
to appreciate the wonders of creation, and especially a time to bask ourselves
in the love of God and to transmit this love to our loved ones and friends and
even the poor.
But to exclude God from
Sunday and all our activities is contrary to the spirit of the Sabbath. Some Catholic parents even
demand that Catechism classes be held on Saturdays, so that they can “finish”
their obligations by Saturday evening and have the whole Sunday free to do
whatever they like. Even if we have activities, these activities must be
wholesome and edifying, not activities that are worldly and worse still, a
disgrace to the gospel life.
This also explains why works
of love and essential services not only can, but must be performed, on the
Sabbath day. If Jesus was annoyed with the scribes and Pharisees in
the way they observed the Sabbath, it was because they fulfilled the
requirement at the expense of charity and compassion. Hence we read in
the first reading how St Paul worked tirelessly for the gospel day in and day
out. We too must use this day well for the service of the gospel.
How then should we
observe the Sabbath?
It would be ideal to begin the day with prayer, especially going early to
Church, at least half an hour before the service, to spend time in prayer,
meditating on the scripture readings of the day, reviewing the week’s
activities, the times when we have failed to manifest the love of God, the
times when God revealed His love and mercy to us; and finally, consider how we
want to live life anew in the new week ahead of us. After the celebration
of the Mass, we must then take the opportunity to spread the love of Christ
received at the Eucharist, either by spending quality time with our loved ones,
spouse, children, elders, or visiting the sick, or rendering service to the
people of God. Can you truly say at the end of the day that your day has
truly been pleasing to the Lord and that God has been glorified in all that you
said and did? If you could, then the day has been kept holy.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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