6 September 2025 -- Saturday of the 22nd week of Ordinary Time
HOMILY
As in many other instances, it is once again the last sentence of the Gospel reading that gives meaning to the text we have read: ‘The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’ With these words, Jesus reveals to us the ultimate meaning of the law -- of all law.
The law itself has no authority; it is not there to exercise tyranny over anyone. On the contrary, it is simply an instrument in the hands of Jesus, the Son of Man, who is the master of the law. It is there to show us the way so that we can quickly return to the Father, and not to put obstacles in our path. This applies to all laws, including ecclesiastical laws and our monastic Rules.
At the beginning of his Rule, Saint Benedict says that he wrote it for anyone who, having turned away from God through disobedience, wants to return to Him through obedience; and in his Prologue he describes how those who walk faithfully in the way of the Lord's commandments will reach the point where they no longer walk with difficulty but run, their hearts expanded with love, in the way of the commandments.
This is the same message given by Paul to the Colossians in today's first reading: ‘You were once strangers to God... but now God has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ, to bring you into his presence, holy, blameless and irreproachable’. But for this, Paul adds, we must remain steadfast in our faithfulness to live according to the Gospel. And these words of Paul bring us back to the meaning of all law: not a recipe for ensuring salvation, as the Pharisees thought, but a light on the path of faithfulness to the Gospel, in faith.
Armand VEILLEUX