Friday July 27, 2009 of the 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Friday July 18, 2009 0f the 15th Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Exodus 11: 10 to 12: 14 Psalm 116: 12-18 Matthew 12: 1-8
Psalm Response: “I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord.”

By God’s command, Moses was to instruct the Hebrews in the rite of Passover. The time of the present generations, for the celebration of the Passover, is March/April depending on the phases of the Moon.
The Jews celebrate the Passover Seder meal each Year at about the same time as the Christian Easter.
The beginning of most feast days of the Jewish faith is the Blessing “Baruh a tah adonai, eloheinu meleh haolam, borei p’ri hagafen.” The Hebrew letter “H” is pronounce with a “C” preceding the “H”. The sound is similar to the noise made when one wishes to expectorate a lunger.
The purpose of the celebration is two fold. One, as an anniversary of the deliverance from Egypt and, second,. to re-present the actual institution as though the participants were there with Moses.
A similar presentation occurs each time we are at the consecration of the species of Bread and Wine. We are not simply recalling the institution by Christ at the Last Seder He presided over but we retro-ject ourselves into the past as a participant in the first celebration of Christ’s Body and Blood.
We do not celebrate the institution annually but are privileged to be there every day if we wish.

The psalmist had only an inclination of the unbloody sacrifice of the future. He projected the “cup of salvation” just as the Seder celebration retro-jects the action of the Jews when they were in captivity. We are the recipients of this awesome splendor.

The Pharisees were sticklers for, ‘strict letter of the law’, interpretation . When the law said do no work on the Sabbath, they felt it meant not even the effort to feed oneself by pulling ears from the stalk or pulling up a bucket to slake ones thirst.
So, Jesus had to point out to Scripture to explain the exceptions to the Law; man’s need.
So as to emphasize His authority, Jesus equates His presence, to the Temple, as greater than the Temple, and His wisdom greater than the ‘wise’ Solomon.
For us, we must recall the authority Jesus gave to Peter and His Church was the same as His Father gave Him. So when the Church rules on some faith and moral situation, She has the right and the sanction of Christ Himself.