Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Luke 6: 1-5
The Lord of the Sabbath: Mercy Above Rules

In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Sabbath law by plucking grain as they walked through the fields. To them, even this small act counted as harvesting, threshing, winnowing, and preparing food. What was meant to be a day of rest had become a crushing burden of rules.

Jesus responds by recalling how David, when hungry, ate the holy bread reserved for priests. Human need, He teaches, takes precedence over ritual. God’s law was never meant to suffocate but to give life. Yet Phariseeism reduces faith to legalism and control, forgetting mercy and love.

Phariseeism shows itself in many ways:
1 Common Sense. Too often, instead of making life lighter, we complicate it. Rules pile up, and joy disappears. Yet God desires us to live simply, not to burden one another.
2 A Fraternal Church. Our faith calls us to live as brothers and sisters, not as inspectors of one another’s faults. When we make the Church more fraternal, we create a family atmosphere where love abounds. Jesus said the world would know we are His disciples by our love—not by our lack of common sense.
3“It’s Not Allowed.” Like policemen or customs officers, we can fall into the temptation of controlling others by telling them what they can or cannot do. But true maturity is walking in freedom, knowing our own limits, and accepting God’s path for us. Freedom in Christ is not about endless rules, but about living in truth and mercy.

The Pharisees read Scripture but missed its heart. We too must come to the Word with open minds and needy hearts. Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath, reminds us that God’s love is greater than any rule, and His mercy always outweighs rigid legalism.

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Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025