"The Lord's year of mercy"

It is the central theme of the Catholic Church's Jubilee Year 2025,

a special time of grace, renewal, and mercy.

The phrase is a powerful statement of hope that marks a time

for liberation from oppression and a new beginning with God. 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊    

Romans 8:12-17

 Then, brothers,

Let us leave the flesh and no longer live according to it. If not, we will die.

Rather, walking in the spirit, let us put to death the body's deeds, so that we may live.

 

All those who walk in the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God.

Then, no more fear: you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but the spirit that makes you sons and daughters,

and every time, we cry, "Abba! (this is Dad!) Father!" the Spirit assures our spirit, that we are sons and daughters of God.

If we are children, we are heirs, too. Ours will be the inheritance of God, and we will share it with Christ;

for, if we now suffer with him, we will also share glory with him.

 

Ps 68:2 & 4, 6-7ab, 20-21

Our God is the God of salvation.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 13:10-17

 Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath, and a crippled woman was there.

An evil evil spirit had kept her bent for eighteen years, so that she could not straighten up at all.

On seeing her, Jesus called her and said, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity."

Then he laid his hands upon her, and immediately she was made straight and praised God.

 

But the ruler of the synagogue was indignant,

because Jesus had performed this healing on the Sabbath day, and he said to the people,

"There are six days in which to work. Come on those days to be healed, and not on the Sabbath!"

 

But the Lord replied, "You hypocrites! Everyone of you unties his ox or his donkey on the Sabbath,

and leads it out of the barn to give it water. And here you have a daughter of Abraham,

whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. Should she not be freed from her bonds on the Sabbath?"

 

When Jesus said this, all his opponents felt ashamed.

But the people rejoiced at the many wonderful things that happened because of him.

 

 Gospel Reflection ：

"The Lord's year of mercy,"

At the beginning of his ministry, Jesus proclaimed that "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives."

Jesus' arrival had ushered in the "Lord's year of mercy," a time of Jubilee (Lk 4:18-19).

This meant that the whole time of the Messiah was to be a time of rest, liberty and celebration.

If the presence of the Messiah meant an extended time of special Sabbath, and that this time was about liberation,

one could hardly object to Christ's freeing the woman from her burden of sickness on this particular Sabbath.

 

This woman has been held captive by her infirmity, and now Christ enters her life and frees her.

The Pharisees object to the healing, saying that no work should be done on the Sabbath.

Yet, their hypocrisy is revealed, as they exclude certain tasks from this prohibition, such as watering their animals.

Therefore, if they are willing to untie their animals, they should be willing to see this woman untied from her burden.

As collaborators in Christ's mission, do we seek to free people from their burdens, or do we use religion as an excuse not to get involved?