First Reading : Philippians 1:1-11
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
And I am sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Gospel Reading : Luke 14:1-6
One sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him.
And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.
And Jesus spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or not?” But they were silent.
Then he took him and healed him, and let him go.
And he said to them, “Which of you, having an ass or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a sabbath day?” And they could not reply to this.
What do the Fathers say?
About the First Reading :
St John CHRYSOSTOM. The Philippians are of a city in Macedonia, a city that is a colony, as Luke says. Here that seller of purple was converted, a woman of uncommon piety and heedfulness. Here the ruler of the synagogue believed. Here was Paul scourged with Silas. Here the magistrates requested them to depart, and were afraid of them, and the preaching had an illustrious commencement. And he bears them many and high testimonies himself, calling them his own crown, and saying they had suffered much. For, To you, he says, it has been granted of God, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf. Philippians 1:29 But when he wrote to them, it happened that he was in bonds.
About the Gospel Reading :
St CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Although our Lord knew the malice of the Pharisees, yet He became their guest, that He might benefit by His words and miracles those who were present.
And they watched him; to see whether He would despise the observance of the law, or do any thing that was forbidden on the sabbath day.
When then the man with the dropsy came into the midst of them, He rebukes by a question the insolence of the Pharisees, who wished to detect Him.
St THEOPHYLACT. By His question He exposes their folly. For while God blessed the sabbath, (Gen. 2:1.) they forbade to do good on the sabbath; but the day which does not admit the works of the good is accursed.
St CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA. Disregarding then the snares of the Jews, He cures the dropsical, who from fear of the Pharisees did not ask to be healed on account of the sabbath, but only stood up, that when Jesus beheld him, He might have compassion on him and heal him. And the Lord knowing this, asked not whether he wished to be made whole, but forthwith healed him.
Wherein our Lord took no thought not to offend the Pharisees, but only that He might benefit him who needed healing. For it becomes us, when a great good is the result, not to care if fools take offence.
But seeing the Pharisees awkwardly silent, Christ baffles their determined impudence by some important considerations. follows; And he said to them, “Which of you, having an ass or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a sabbath day?”
St THEOPHYLACT. As though He said, If the law forbids to have mercy on the sabbath-day, have no care of your son when in danger on the sabbath-day. But why speak of a son, when you do not even neglect an ox if you see it in danger?
Pope St GREGORY the Great. Rightly then is the dropsical man healed in the Pharisees’ presence, for by the bodily infirmity of the one, is expressed the mental disease of the other.
The Venerable BEDE. In this example also He well refers to the ox and the ass; so as to represent either the wise and the foolish, or both nations; that is, the Jew oppressed by the burden of the law, the Gentile not subject to reason. For the Lord rescues from the pit of concupiscence all who are sunk therein.
Sources:
Bible readings from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Second Catholic Edition, copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Quotes of the Fathers from
Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea Translated by St John Henry Newman
Artwork ex Wikimedia Commons