“ When people love and recite the Rosary they find it makes them better.“

                                                                      ~~~ ST. ANTHONY MARY CLARET ~~~

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Ephesians 4:32-5:8

Be good and understanding,

Mutually forgiving one another as God forgave you in Christ.

 As most beloved children of God, strive to imitate him. Follow the way of love, the example of Christ who loved you. He gave himself up for us and became the offering and sacrificial victim whose fragrance rises to God.

And since you are holy, there must not be among you even a hint of sexual immorality or greed, or any kind of impurity: these should not be named among you. So too for scandalous words, nonsense and foolishness, which are not fitting; instead offer thanksgiving to God.

 Know this: no depraved, impure or covetous person who serves the god ‘Money’ shall have part in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for these are the sins which God is about to condemn in people who do not obey. 

Do not associate with such people. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Behave as children of light.

 

 Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6

Behave like God as his very dear children.

 

 ＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Luke 13:10-17

 Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath  and a crippled wo­man was there. An 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 wonders that happened because of him.

 

Gospel Reflection：

Giving Voice to the Voiceless

Like the raising of the son of the widow of Nain(cf.LK 7:11-17), here is another occasion when Jesus responds to the situation of a woman without being asked to. Why does he do so? Of course, it has been in the DNA of Jesus to be moved by compassion for those who suffer.

Yet, There is more to it in this context. Perhaps Jesus was keenly aware of the silencing and sidelining of women in patriarchal societies. How many women, even today, can fearlessly voice their needs?

Hence, Jesus who knew human hearts, wouldn’t wait for women to walk up to him and ask for what they need; he would reach out to them and fulfil their needs even before they could find their voice. Today we honor the memory of Saint Anthony Mary Claret (1807-1870) who appropriated that trait of Jesus.

Claret was ahead of his times to speak against slavery and demand dignified treatment of slaves, while he was archbishop in Cuba.