Homily Friday of the Fifteenth Week of the Year 21 July 2006

So many times we have all experienced the tension that arises
between law, and following the rules, and following orders on one hand…
and, on the other hand, serving those in need…
whose situations do not always conform to our way of thinking.
In today’s Gospel, we read of Jesus’ Disciples acting unlawfully…
doing what is forbidden on the Sabbath.
In Jewish Law, the Sabbath is sacred…
no one may work on the Sabbath, not even to pick grain to eat.
The Disciples are picking and eating heads of grain, not out disdain for the law…
but out of necessity…
they are hungry!
Human need takes precedence over ritual law, over human law.
This is often the case in life…
many times at work, or at home…we have to think "outside the box"… to set aside human laws in order to meet the needs of others.
This is true in the Church sometimes.
In this diocese at least, priests who celebrate three Sunday Masses
are dispensed from reciting some parts of the Liturgy of the Hours.
Often priests are allowed to eat after the first of several Masses,
and set aside the Communion Fast.
Other examples abound.
People have to take care of themselves…
else they will not be fit to fulfill their duties…
or to minister to others.
So, sometimes, we have to set aside human laws…
in order to be good stewards of the life God has given us.
Above all, we need to remember that it is God’s law, not our own, that is supreme.
The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
God’s law is revealed to us through the Scriptures
and through the Tradition of the Church.
So, some aspects of the life of the Church change to meet the needs of the times.
And other things do not change, for they give expression to eternal realities.
The Ten Commandments are our way of life. They do not change
The moral law of God and of the Church does not change.
The Sacraments do not change.
Jesus says: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."
The Pharisees were consumed by the prescriptions of the law…
ritual washings…when they could work, and so forth…
forgetting all the while something much deeper:
God desires hearts full of mercy…
in imitation of His own great mercy.
One of my favorite antiphons from the Liturgy of the Hours…
from Daytime Prayer…is…
"Law finds its fulfillment in love."
Laws are there to guide us…
But what is more important is that we recognize
that God’s law exists because He loves us.
And we are to approach laws…and obligations…
in a spirit of love for others.