7th MONDAY IN WEEK 23

1.Colossians 1:24-2:3

2.Luke 6:6-11

MEDITATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

"Giving life no matter how the cost"

The scene in today's gospel reading shows Jesus in an environment of suspicion. He is watched by people we may call religious watchdogs. Would heal and automatically violate again the Sabbath law? Jesus knew very well that they had already made a plot against him. Here Jesus shows us how to value the life of a person than the law. Jesus' mission on earth is to give back life to those who have lost it. Every time Jesus heals, he seeks to restore what is broken and to heal what is wounded. " I came so that they might have life- life to the fullest!" ( John 10:10)

As followers of Jesus, we can draw from the gospel reading what Christian life is all about. Our whole life is a ministry to be instruments of life to the world around us. In fact it is the contradiction to assume the right to kill or harm or destroy life in the name of religion. We are all called to continue the Lord's ministry of life. The world around us could be violent and anti-life, but we choose to be life-giving and life promoting.

For Jews, Sabbath is as important as all other commandments put together. It is a sign of Divine election. Hence, whoever violates it, disrespect God; and whoever keeps it, pleases God. So holy is the day that even simple work such as preparing food, fetching of water, kindling or putting off a fire and grazing of cattle are prohibited. Anybody caught violating the law was to be put to death. Such was the mentality and attitude of the scribes and Pharisees who were practically waiting for Jesus to perform during Sabbath in the hope of finding anything they can accuse Him of. However Jesus as the Lord of Sabbath knows that their rigid attitude and strict legalism are less important than the value of human life. He knows when to apply the rules of Sabbath and when to transcend it.

Sometimes in our offices, workplaces or organizations, we are confronted with people whose preoccupation is to find fault in everything that we say or do or plot evil things against us. In such situations we draw inspirations from our Lord Jesus who chose to do good and not sacrifice moral beliefs and principles. It is not far , however that we sometimes are the accuser, the fault-finder, the self-righteous and one who make life miserable for others. We are all called to transcend our rigidity and biases and learn to value the more important things in life, such as people and relationship.

One of the pain in life is when we become misunderstood as we think we should, when we are not appreciated, when all we can do is simply say, " I did my best, I leave the rest to God." It is the pain of human life when we are not appreciated by loved ones, by people we trust, by people we serve. We should bear in our minds that there are three kinds of pain and three kinds of people. The first  are those who suffer physically. The second are those who suffer because of the ingratitude of people. And the third are those who suffer because of their own foolishness. What is the source of your suffering right now?( Socrates Villegas, Jesus Loves You, pp 217-218)