Saints

“And Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?’” (Luke 6:11).

Christ in the Temple Healling the Man with the Withered Hand (Frank Mason)

There is always something to do.  And there are expressions that describe this in detail – no rest of the wicked, or the devil finds work for idle minds, and there are a myriad of others that I have heard over my lifetime…

And I have been thinking of these.

When I was a very young girl there were no shops open on a Sunday.  Instead, Sundays were for family time and socialising and praying.  Our entire Sunday revolved around the Holy Mass, after which we would usually go past a bakery and collect some fresh bread and go and eat it in a park somewhere.  We would return home to a hot roast lunch and then spend the afternoon visiting grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.

When I was a little older, the shops started to be opened on a Sunday.  This was a big change.  Now there were other things to do on a Sunday.  For my family, we started to attend Holy Mass on Saturday night, and then Sundays became more about entertainment and other things and were not strictly reserved for family time with extended family and instead became a time for my immediate family to socialise…

I have been thinking of the balance between the two – no shops and all shops – and it seems to me that Christ’s question about doing harm or doing good is very important…

“And Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?’” (Luke 6:6-11).

This comes from the story of Christ healing the man’s withered hand on the Sabbath…

“On another sabbath, when he entered the synagogue and taught, a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come and stand here.’ And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?’” (Luke 6:6-11).

The Jewish Law was very strict about work on the Sabbath.  The Jews were not allowed to do any work on the Sabbath and the entire day was devoted to God and worship and rest.

And Christ sort of looked at that and said, the point of that law is to do good.  And so, He healed the sick on the Sabbath.

And I have been thinking about that today.  For it seems to me that I too should be doing some good on the Sabbath – like the Saints have always done – and I am distracted (for too distracted) by the shops!

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.