Will I ever dare utter such words let alone mean them? When I say that I would willingly be condemned and separated from Christ if it would help bring back the lost souls who have turned away from God?
Can you even begin to comprehend the love St Paul had for his brothers of Israel that he saw them as his own flesh and blood? Can anyone of us say at this point of our lives, that we possess that same kind of love for our fellow sisters and brothers in Christ? At the very least in our own parishes?
How then can we love one another as Christ commanded us to when we cannot place others before self? To love beyond legalistic conventions? To love first before being loved!
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my concerns.
See if there is any offensive way in me;
lead me in the way everlasting. Amen (Ps 139:22-24)
First reading
Romans 9:1-5 ·
I would willingly be condemned if it could help my brothers
What I want to say now is no pretence; I say it in union with Christ – it is the truth – my conscience in union with the Holy Spirit assures me of it too. What I want to say is this: my sorrow is so great, my mental anguish so endless, I would willingly be condemned and be cut off from Christ if it could help my brothers of Israel, my own flesh and blood. They were adopted as sons, they were given the glory and the covenants; the Law and the ritual were drawn up for them, and the promises were made to them. They are descended from the patriarchs and from their flesh and blood came Christ who is above all, God for ever blessed! Amen.
Gospel
Luke 14:1-6
‘Is it against the law to cure a man on the sabbath?’
Now on a sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. There in front of him was a man with dropsy, and Jesus addressed the lawyers and Pharisees. ‘Is it against the law’ he asked ‘to cure a man on the sabbath, or not?’ But they remained silent, so he took the man and cured him and sent him away. Then he said to them, ‘Which of you here, if his son falls into a well, or his ox, will not pull him out on a sabbath day without hesitation?’ And to this they could find no answer.
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