Word to the Wise
Friday, November 3, 2023 - Friday in the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 9:1-5 and Luke 14:1-6]"Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?" [Luke]
NOVEMBER 3 ST. MARTIN DEPORRES, O.P.
The tension between Jesus and the Pharisees rested on a question of priorities. For the Pharisees, the Law of Moses was the revelation of God's will and punctilious observance was the only option. Healing was considered "work" and therefore prohibited on the sabbath day. Jesus placed humanitarian need above this observance and called the attention of the Pharisees, in today's gospel scripture, to exceptions that they themselves would grant to their own family and farm animals! Where could one draw a line between human need and religious values enshrined in law? The challenge existed in Jesus' time and exists in ours as well.
When Pope Francis published his encyclical Amoris laetitia, he was (and still is) criticized for reaching out to those toward whom. traditionally, the church has shown a stern face: the divorced-and-remarried, as well as others who found themselves excluded from full sacramental participation. He referred to the church as a hospital for the sick and wounded. More traditional views would see the church as a "perfect society" governed by immutable laws, especially canon law, that must be observed.
On this feast of St. Martin DePorres, the priority of human need finds a patron who reached out to whomever came to the door of the priory in Lima, Peru. His face was the face of compassion. His birth status as the child of an irregular marriage excluded him from many roles in the church. He became the doorkeeper and servant of those who came to the priory seeking help. The priority of fundamental human need was the story of his life. Perhaps we can look at the apparent conflict between religious law and human need from a ore compassionate angle on his feast. AMEN