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| “The Orphanage” by Jan de Bray, 1663 |
Reading 1: Romans 8:12-17
Brothers and sisters,
we are not debtors to the
flesh,
to live according to the
flesh.
For if you live according to
the flesh, you will die,
but if by the spirit you put
to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.
For those who are led by the
Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive a
spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you received a spirit of
adoption,
through which we cry, “Abba,
Father!”
The Spirit himself bears
witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ,
if only we suffer with him
so that we may also be
glorified with him.
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Commentary on Rom 8:12-17
St. Paul continues his discourse
about the importance of making life in the spirit a priority as opposed to the
life of the “un-spiritual.” He reminds his Christian audience that, when they
became Christians they were not made slaves, but adopted as children of God.
They are able, he tells them, to call God the Heavenly Father, “Abba,” the
familial term used by Jesus, emphasizing that they are co-heirs with Christ
whose sufferings and glory they share.
CCC: Rom 8:9 693; Rom
8:11 632,
658, 693, 695, 989, 990; Rom 8:14-17 1996; Rom
8:14 259,
693, 1831, 2543; Rom 8:15 257,
693, 1303, 1972, 2777; Rom 8:16 2639; Rom
8:17 1265,
1460, 1831
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:2 and 4, 6-7ab, 20-21
R. (21a) Our God is the God of salvation.
God arises; his enemies are
scattered,
and those who hate him flee
before him.
But the just rejoice and
exult before God;
they are glad and rejoice.
R. Our God is the God of
salvation.
The father of orphans and the
defender of widows
is God in his holy dwelling.
God gives a home to the
forsaken;
he leads forth prisoners to
prosperity.
R. Our God is the God of
salvation.
Blessed day by day be the
Lord,
who bears our burdens; God,
who is our salvation.
God is a saving God for us;
the LORD, my Lord, controls
the passageways of death.
R. Our God is the God of
salvation.
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Commentary on Ps 68:2 and 4, 6-7ab, 20-21
This song of thanksgiving praises
the Lord for his salvation of his children with the theme of adoption. It is an
idea that would later be personified in Christ (Romans 8:12-17). It
specifically references God assuming the fatherly role with widows and orphans
(the father of orphans and the defender of widows is God in his holy
dwelling). His faithful followers, the singer calls, enjoy his strength,
even his power over death.
CCC: Ps 68:6 238
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Gospel: Luke 13:10-17
Jesus was teaching in a
synagogue on the sabbath.
And a woman was there who for
eighteen years
had been crippled by a
spirit;
she was bent over, completely
incapable of standing erect.
When Jesus saw her, he called
to her and said,
“Woman, you are set free of
your infirmity.”
He laid his hands on her,
and she at once stood up
straight and glorified God.
But the leader of the
synagogue,
indignant that Jesus had
cured on the sabbath,
said to the crowd in reply,
“There are six days when work
should be done.
Come on those days to be
cured, not on the sabbath day.”
The Lord said to him in
reply, “Hypocrites!
Does not each one of you on
the sabbath
untie his ox or his ass from
the manger
and lead it out for watering?
This daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan has bound for
eighteen years now,
ought she not to have been
set free on the sabbath day
from this bondage?”
When he said this, all his
adversaries were humiliated;
and the whole crowd rejoiced
at all the splendid deeds done by him.
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Commentary on Lk 13:10-17
The story of the cure of the
crippled woman is parallel to the story of Jesus curing the man with dropsy on
the Sabbath (see Luke
14:1-6). He is challenged by the local Jewish leadership for doing
“work” on God’s holy day (cf. Exodus 20:8; 31:14 Leviticus 19:3-30). As
before, he uses the need to tend to the necessities of life on the Sabbath as
parallel to his need to cure the woman. He reinterprets the Law establishing
the need to please God through acts of mercy and kindness (cf. Hosea 6:6; James 2:13).
CCC: Lk 13:15-16 582
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Reflection:
We are forced to look at what
it means to be “adopted” by God. St.
Paul makes it clear that those who are baptized into Jesus are adopted as sons
and daughters of God. In an earlier era,
that adoption was extended only to the Hebrews as is made clear in both the
Psalm and the Gospel, as Jesus refers to the woman he cures specifically as “This daughter of Abraham.”
Abstractly, before our
adoption as natural beings, we were slaves of the flesh, thinking only in terms
of what gratified the flesh. When one
takes that view, the stark reality of death becomes a finite ending. The body, the flesh, will die, and all the
effort that went into making the flesh happy or strong will have ended with
it. Yet, we have chosen to accept
adoption by Jesus, and in doing so our main concern must now be with our soul
or spirit. It is the spirit that animates
the flesh and to a great degree controls its appetites.
Becoming adopted children of
God carries with it both wealth and obligation.
An orphan adopted by a titled family inherits the title of that family.
They also inherit the responsibility that goes along with the title. It is the
same for those who are adopted by God. We inherit the responsibility that goes
along with the title “Christian.” If the
adopted child of a titled family does not live up to their obligations, the
family may “disown” that child, making them ineligible to inherit the wealth of
the adopting family. Here is where the
analogy breaks down a bit since our adoptive Father will never disown us. His hand is always outstretched. It is we who disown him through sin. We separate
ourselves from his love by our own choice. We forfeit our inheritance, squander
it like the “Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:11-32)
in favor of death in the flesh.
Today we pray that we may always
be aware of our adoption as children of God and co-heirs to his Kingdom. May we conduct ourselves as is befitting one
called a child of God and bring honor to his name in so doing.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “The Orphanage” by Jan de Bray, 1663
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible with the exception of the
Psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for
English in Liturgy (ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and
is for private use only.
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