Greetings on this the Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Col 1:21-23; PS 54:3-4, 6 and 8; Lk 6:1-5
Notes: Imagine now the field is the riches of the divine and you walk with the divine in it and in his presence glean what you are able from such a bountiful field of gifts. Of the belly but not only of the belly. Of the entirety of the Sabbath peace.
First reading
Brothers and sisters:
You once were alienated and hostile in mind because of evil deeds;
God has now reconciled you
in the fleshly Body of Christ through his death,
to present you holy, without blemish,
and irreproachable before him.
And walk with God in the new garden.
Responsorial Psalm
God himself is my help.
Alleluia Verse
I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord;
no one comes to the Father except through me.
Gospel Portion
I know we usually focus on the confrontation about the disciples picking and eating grain on the Sabbath. There are so many important realities that come from this exchange.
- Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath (Divine Rest and Worship – of creation and temple).
- Gleaning is not harvesting (sustenance versus commercial endeavor).
- The bread of offering, once only for priests, is now for everyone (Eucharistic indication).
But today I want to take you here (Book of Genesis):
Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.
God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth. God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth, I give all the green plants for food. And so it happened.
God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day.
So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name.
The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be a helper suited to the man.
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man this one has been taken.
When they heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
I think you know the stories of creation and the fall. But we may be tempted to miss the walk in the garden with the Lord. That man was given to name all creatures. That woman is of man and man of woman. And this garden was a place of harmony with God.
- Adam and Eve gleaned from the garden.
- Adam and Eve walked with the Lord.
- So did the disciples.
- So can you.
Walk with Jesus.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
Deacon Gerry Palermo 