Memorial of Saint
Anthony, abbot
(Hebrews 6:10-20; Mark 2:23-28)
When Fr. Dan gave retreats for priests, he insisted that they
take seriously the “Sabbath.” He
explained that God designated one day of the week for complete rest. Jewish Law designates the seventh day –
Saturday – as the Sabbath. In this way
it conforms the practice of the people to the Book of Genesis where God rests
after six days of creation. Christians have
transferred the Sabbath to the eighth day -- Sunday – on which Christ’s
resurrection recreated the universe. Fr.
Dan recognized that priests work on Sunday in performing their ministry. So he told them to find and stick to another
day for rest. He was applying the same
kind of flexibility that Jesus shows in today’s gospel passage.
The Pharisees perform an invaluable service when they
promote fulfillment of the Sabbath Law.
Too often people abuse their own good and do not give God His due by
foregoing Sabbath ritual. But the
Pharisees were too strict in their interpretation. They were unable to see exceptions even in
the case of extreme need. Jesus is more
flexible. He admits that in the case of
hunger one might pick grain to eat: “’The Sabbath,” he says, “’was made for
man.’” He makes another crucial point
when he says, “’…the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’” This indicates his divinity. Since God instituted the Sabbath law, only He
might alter it.
The Sabbath principle, as observing one day of worship
and rest each week is sometimes called, causes difficulty today. We want to take weekends off with no concern
about attending mass. We also have work
obligations every day, including Sundays. We should follow Jesus’ pointers in
today’s gospel. Some slack may be given for
work because the Sabbath is made for human good. But we should make a reasonable attempt to
attend mass as a way to give due praise to “’the lord of the Sabbath.’”
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