Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

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Gospel
Luke 14:1-6

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.
In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy.
Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking,
"Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?"
But they kept silent; so he took the man and,
after he had healed him, dismissed him.
Then he said to them
"Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern,
would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?"
But they were unable to answer his question.

Reflection

It's clear to see that Jesus was the healer and the temple was the obstacle to God being able to give to His people all that they needed to fill their life with the kingdom of God.

And so in this story we see Jesus again challenging the Pharisees with the idea of a Sabbath being the day that you are most in contact with God, that that contact with God empowered you to heal any day of the week. And so we need to listen carefully to this complaint, this obstacle, this difficulty that is a shadow of all religions, and that is it tends to make us look first at what we have to do for God rather than what God does for us.

Closing Prayer

Father, give us wisdom that we will always be able to get to the heart of what you're calling us to be. We're not simply people who are told to follow regulations and rules, but people who are called to be like Your son filled with your spirit, and that spirit is healing and powerful and needed desperately in the world today. So bless us with our role of being those who heal instead of those who control. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.