One Minute Reflection – 5 September – “Month of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary” – Saturday of the Twenty Second week in Ordinary Time, Readings: 1 Corinthians 4:6-15, Psalms 145:17-18, 19-20, 21, Luke 6:1-5
And he said to them, “The Son of man is lord of the sabbath.” … Luke 6:5
REFLECTION – “In the Law given by Moses, which was a shadow of things to come (Col 2:17), God commanded everyone to rest and to do no work on the Sabbath. But this was a symbol and foreshadowing of the true Sabbath, which is bestowed on the soul by the Lord (…) For the Lord calls on us to rest, telling us: “Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28) And He gives rest to all souls who trust Him and come to Him by delivering them from painful, oppressive and impure thoughts. Then they completely stop indulging in evil, celebrating a true, a delightful and holy Sabbath, a feast of the Spirit in inexpressible joy and rejoicing. They offer a pure and acceptable worship to God, coming from a pure heart. That is the true and holy Sabbath.
So let us, too, beseech God, to bring us into that rest, to give a vacation to our shameful, bad and useless thoughts, so that we might serve God with pure hearts and celebrate the feast of the Holy Spirit. Blessed are they who enter into this rest.” … St Macarius of Egypt (c 300- c 390)- Desert Father, Monk – Spiritual Homilies, no. 35
PRAYER – Holy God, Almighty Father, You taught us to honour Your holy day and the day of rest. In Your divine Son, Whom You gave to us as our brother and glorified by His Resurrection, You showed us the way to our eternal life. As His glorified body shines anew, we rejoice in our future life with Him and embrace His day as our own, each Sunday renewing His Resurrection. We run forward to sing Your glory together with our Holy Mother, the Blessed Virgin and most Sorrowful Mary, to eternity, through our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
AnaStpaul 