Love is the Law

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge our understanding of what might be the consequence of a spiritual attitude determined by legalism.

Path of Love

In the First Letter to the Corinthians Paul deals with a Case of Incest.

* [5:1–13] Paul first deals with the incestuous union of a man with his stepmother (1 Cor 5:1–8) and then attempts to clarify general admonitions he has given about associating with fellow Christians guilty of immorality (1 Cor 5:9–13). Each of these three brief paragraphs expresses the same idea: the need of separation between the holy and the unholy.

* [5:2] Inflated with pride: this remark and the reference to boasting in 1 Cor 5:6 suggest that they are proud of themselves despite the infection in their midst, tolerating and possibly even approving the situation. The attitude expressed in 1 Cor 6:2, 13 may be influencing their thinking in this case.

* [5:5] Deliver this man to Satan: once the sinner is expelled from the church, the sphere of Jesus’ lordship and victory over sin, he will be in the region outside over which Satan is still master. For the destruction of his flesh: the purpose of the penalty is medicinal: through affliction, sin’s grip over him may be destroyed and the path to repentance and reunion laid open. With Paul’s instructions for an excommunication ceremony here, contrast his recommendations for the reconciliation of a sinner in 2 Cor 2:5–11.

* [5:6] A little yeast: yeast, which induces fermentation, is a natural symbol for a source of corruption that becomes all-pervasive. The expression is proverbial.

* [5:7–8] In the Jewish calendar, Passover was followed immediately by the festival of Unleavened Bread. In preparation for this feast all traces of old bread were removed from the house, and during the festival only unleavened bread was eaten. The sequence of these two feasts provides Paul with an image of Christian existence: Christ’s death (the true Passover celebration) is followed by the life of the Christian community, marked by newness, purity, and integrity (a perpetual feast of unleavened bread). Paul may have been writing around Passover time (cf. 1 Cor 16:5); this is a little Easter homily, the earliest in Christian literature. (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 5  proclaims the security of the house of God.

* [Psalm 5] A lament contrasting the security of the house of God (Ps 5:8–9, 12–13) with the danger of the company of evildoers (Ps 5:5–7, 10–11). The psalmist therefore prays that God will hear (Ps 5:2–4) and grant the protection and joy of the Temple. (Psalms, PSALM 5 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke presents Debates About the Sabbath.

* [6:1–11] The two episodes recounted here deal with gathering grain and healing, both of which were forbidden on the sabbath. In his defense of his disciples’ conduct and his own charitable deed, Jesus argues that satisfying human needs such as hunger and performing works of mercy take precedence even over the sacred sabbath rest. See also notes on Mt 12:1–14 and Mk 2:25–26. (Luke, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB, n.d.)

Eileen Wirth comments that Franciscan theology offers helpful guidance. In his book “The Universal Christ,” Richard Rohr notes that “in Franciscan theology, truth is always for the sake of love and not an absolute end in itself.”

This speaks to our belief in a loving God who understands that people live messy lives that no rules will change. Thank heaven that most of us have moved on from the days when people stayed in bad marriages or hid their sexual orientation for fear that their families would disown them if they broke church rules,.

What joy Pope Francis brought to many when he famously said, “Who am I to judge?”

I sympathize with parish priests, who must juggle the conflicting demands of caring for hurting people with following rules that contribute to the pain. It would be brutal to have to refuse to marry couples in the church because they aren’t in compliance with a rule. Priests need our understanding and our prayers.

There are no easy answers but it’s comforting to again turn to the example of Pope Francis who had a loving relationship with the trans community which lives near the Vatican. He may or may not have approved of their lifestyle, but he cared so deeply about them that they greeted his funeral procession. This reminds us that you can never go wrong by loving people. (Wirth, 2026)

Don Schwager quotes “Jesus heals to teach the Pharisees mercy,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).

"The miracle sometimes converts to faith those who had disbelieved the word, but the Pharisees watched him to see if he would heal on the sabbath. The nature of an envious person is such that he makes the praises of others food for his own disease and is wickedly maddened by their reputation. Once more he spoke to this; 'he reveals deep and mysterious things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him' (Daniel 2:22). And why did he do this? Perhaps it might be to move the cruel and unpitying Pharisee to compassion. The man's malady [his withered hand] perhaps might shame them and persuade them to dispel the flames of their envy.

"This question is most wise indeed and a most suitable statement to meet their folly. If it is lawful to do good on the sabbath and nothing prevents the sick being pitied by God, cease picking up opportunities for fault-finding against Christ and bringing down on your own head the sentence which the Father has decreed against those who dishonor the Son. You have heard the Father where he says of the Son by the voice of David, 'I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him' (Psalm 89:23). But if it is not lawful to do good on the sabbath and the law forbids the saving of life, you have made yourself an accuser of the law." (quote from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 23). (Schwager, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments on the texts for today. Paul begins by condemning the immorality of a man living with his stepmother implying they are married. This marriage is not accepted. Excommunication is to show the conduct is wrong and unacceptable. We live according to certain values so it is a therapeutic tool. Jews clean out the old yeast during the week of unleavened bread and they are scrupulous to clean the house. Sinfulness and bad examples is a yeast. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus encounters a man with a withered hand seeking healing on the Sabbath. Technically, it is ok if he is at the point of death. Is it OK to do good? Not counting this as work but sharing rest time with others. The Scribes and Pharisees are furious but we hear from Jesus the fulfillment of the Law is Love.

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 6:6-11 asks "So what does it mean for us to “do good” on the Sabbath? 

Of course, we should go to Mass. We might also set aside some extra time for prayer or Adoration. But focusing only on set times of prayer might make us less likely to notice unplanned opportunities to do good. Ask the Lord to help you see the needs in front of you—needs like your neighbor’s unexpected car repair that means they need a ride to the grocery store. Or the loneliness of an isolated family member who could benefit from a visit either in person or by phone. The possibilities are endless.

It doesn’t just have to be Sunday, either. It’s always the right time to “do good!”

“Lord Jesus, help me enter into sabbath rest and honor you by doing good today and every day.” (Meditation on Luke 6:6-11, n.d.)

Father Richard Rohr introduces CAC core faculty member Brian McLaren who speaks of doubt as an essential part of his growth in faith, from a focus on “orthodoxy” or right belief to “orthopraxy” or right living. 

For example, whether or not the creation story happened factually as described in Genesis, I was committing myself to live in the world as if it actually were a precious, beautiful, meaningful creation, and as if I were too…. 

What mattered most was not that I believed the stories in a factual sense, but that I believed in the meaning they carried so I could act upon that meaning and embody it in my life, to let that meaning breathe in me, animate me, fill me…. Whether I considered the stories factually accurate was never the point; what actually mattered all along was whether I lived a life pregnant with the meaning those stories contained. To my surprise, when I was given permission to doubt the factuality of my beliefs, I discovered their actual life-giving purpose…. 

Doubt need not be the death of faith. It can be, instead, the birth of a new kind of faith, a faith beyond beliefs, a faith that expresses itself in love, a deepening and expanding faith that can save your life and save the world. (Rohr, n.d.)

We invoke the Spirit as we seek to make Love the guiding principle in our relationships with people and the environment.

References

Luke, CHAPTER 6 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/6? 

Meditation on Luke 6:6-11. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/09/07/1664448/ 

1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/5? 

Psalms, PSALM 5 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/5?5 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Before and After Doubt. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/before-and-after-doubt/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Is It Lawful to Save Life or to Destroy It? Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ 

Wirth, E. (2026, September 7). Daily Reflection September 7, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries. Creighton Online Ministries. Retrieved September 7, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-september-7-2026 

Walk with Word and Sacrament

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to contemplate the New Life that we experience when walking with friends on our path to His Way.

Walk in Contemplation

In the Reading from the Book of Acts, Peter teaches the resurrection of Jesus and its messianic import.

* [2:14–36] The first of six discourses in Acts (along with Acts 3:12–26; 4:8–12; 5:29–32; 10:34–43; 13:16–41) dealing with the resurrection of Jesus and its messianic import. Five of these are attributed to Peter, the final one to Paul. Modern scholars term these discourses in Acts the “kerygma,” the Greek word for proclamation (cf. 1 Cor 15:11).

* [2:33] At the right hand of God: or “by the right hand of God.” (Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 16 reflects on the wise and life-giving presence of God.

* [Psalm 16] In the first section, the psalmist rejects the futile worship of false gods (Ps 16:2–5), preferring Israel’s God (Ps 16:1), the giver of the land (Ps 16:6). The second section reflects on the wise and life-giving presence of God (Ps 16:7–11).

* [16:1] Miktam: a term occurring six times in Psalm superscriptions, always with “David.” Its meaning is unknown.

* [16:10] Nor let your devout one see the pit: Hebrew shahath means here the pit, a synonym for Sheol, the underworld. The Greek translation derives the word here and elsewhere from the verb shahath, “to be corrupt.” On the basis of the Greek, Acts 2:25–32; 13:35–37 apply the verse to Christ’s resurrection, “Nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption.” (Psalms, PSALM 16, n.d.)

The reading from the First Letter of Peter presents Reverence for God calling us to mutual love.

* [1:13–25] These verses are concerned with the call of God’s people to holiness and to mutual love by reason of their redemption through the blood of Christ (1 Pt 1:18–21).

* [1:19] Christians have received the redemption prophesied by Isaiah (Is 52:3), through the blood (Jewish symbol of life) of the spotless lamb (Is 53:7, 10; Jn 1:29; Rom 3:24–25; cf. 1 Cor 6:20). (1 Peter, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Luke proclaims Jesus Appearance on the Road to Emmaus

* [24:1–53] The resurrection narrative in Luke consists of five sections: (1) the women at the empty tomb (Lk 23:56b–24:12); (2) the appearance to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Lk 24:13–35); (3) the appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem (Lk 24:36–43); (4) Jesus’ final instructions (Lk 24:44–49); (5) the ascension (Lk 24:50–53). In Luke, all the resurrection appearances take place in and around Jerusalem; moreover, they are all recounted as having taken place on Easter Sunday. A consistent theme throughout the narrative is that the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus were accomplished in fulfillment of Old Testament promises and of Jewish hopes (Lk 24:19a, 21, 26–27, 44, 46). In his second volume, Acts, Luke will argue that Christianity is the fulfillment of the hopes of Pharisaic Judaism and its logical development (see Acts 24:10–21).

* [24:13–35] This episode focuses on the interpretation of scripture by the risen Jesus and the recognition of him in the breaking of the bread. The references to the quotations of scripture and explanation of it (Lk 24:25–27), the kerygmatic proclamation (Lk 24:34), and the liturgical gesture (Lk 24:30) suggest that the episode is primarily catechetical and liturgical rather than apologetic.

* [24:13] Seven miles: literally, “sixty stades.” A stade was 607 feet. Some manuscripts read “160 stades” or more than eighteen miles. The exact location of Emmaus is disputed.

* [24:16] A consistent feature of the resurrection stories is that the risen Jesus was different and initially unrecognizable (Lk 24:37; Mk 16:12; Jn 20:14; 21:4).

* [24:26] That the Messiah should suffer…: Luke is the only New Testament writer to speak explicitly of a suffering Messiah (Lk 24:26, 46; Acts 3:18; 17:3; 26:23). The idea of a suffering Messiah is not found in the Old Testament or in other Jewish literature prior to the New Testament period, although the idea is hinted at in Mk 8:31–33. See notes on Mt 26:63 and 26:67–68.

* [24:36–43, 44–49] The Gospel of Luke, like each of the other gospels (Mt 28:16–20; Mk 16:14–15; Jn 20:19–23), focuses on an important appearance of Jesus to the Twelve in which they are commissioned for their future ministry. As in Lk 24:6, 12, so in Lk 24:36, 40 there are omissions in the Western text.

* [24:39–42] The apologetic purpose of this story is evident in the concern with the physical details and the report that Jesus ate food. (Luke, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Jim Caime, SJ, comments that along the road, the disciples speak of all that has happened. They tell their story. They have already heard from others—the women told us…—and still, they could not believe it. The truth was not absent. It had already been spoken, already shared, already alive among them. But they could not yet receive it.

How often is it the same for us?

We do not listen because we think we already know. We do not listen because we assume we bring the truth. We do not listen because we struggle to trust the voices speaking to us.

And still, Jesus draws near. Not to replace what is there, but to open it, to reveal it, to let it be seen.

Only later do they recognize what had been happening all along:

Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way?

Perhaps the question for us is not whether God is speaking.

But where—already—has something stirred, something warmed, something quietly begun?

And have we been listening? (Caime, n.d.)

Rev. Jim introduces a poem, Old Maps No Longer Work, by Sr. Joyce Rupp as a gentle companion for your prayerful reflection. 

Don Schwager quotes “The Easter Alleluia,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Now therefore, brethren, we urge you to praise God. That is what we are all telling each other when we say Alleluia. You say to your neighbor, "Praise the Lord!" and he says the same to you. We are all urging one another to praise the Lord, and all thereby doing what each of us urges the other to do. But see that your praise comes from your whole being; in other words, see that you praise God not with your lips and voices alone, but with your minds, your lives and all your actions." (excerpt from commentary on Psalm 148) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on Luke 24:13-35 invites us to notice how the story of the two disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus looks a lot like the way we meet Jesus at every Mass.

The next time you’re at Mass, imagine that Cleopas and his companion are with you. Share their excitement as, throughout the liturgy, your heart begins to burn with love as you come to recognize Jesus, present in the breaking of the bread.

“Jesus, thank you for making yourself known to me!” (Meditation on Luke 24:13-35, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that in Acts the kerygma, or first teaching, that Peter proclaimed in Jerusalem is a very Jewish form of reminding them of how the history of David is linked to Jesus. Luke understood that David wrote all the Psalms. Recently scholarship indicates that many are only dedicated to David. The First Letter of Peter speaks of being brought back to show how much God has loved us in existence in all eternity. Franciscan theology presents that Jesus was coming to be part of our condition and healing our flaw was a consequence of His Incarnation. In Dominican theology, the healing of our flaws is more of Jesus' purpose than a consequence. In the second resurrection narrative, in the Gospel of Luke, Cleopas and the unnamed companion who likely is not his wife (as Luke often refers females to by name), are caught up in their own thoughts. In all three narratives in Luke, Jesus explains the events as part of God’s plan. This fits the philosophic outlook of Luke, as a Stoic, the events of Jesus' life were always planned. The disciples recognize Him in the breaking of the bread. Friar Jude comments on the resonance we have with the disciples in the experience of “Didn’t our hearts burn as they encountered Jesus in Word and Sacrament.”

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, encourages us to recognize how the soul of nature mirrors our own.

When God manifests spirit through matter, then matter becomes a holy thing. The material world is the place where we can comfortably worship God just by walking in it, loving it, and respecting it. Everything visible, without exception, is the outpouring of God. What else could it really be? When we can enjoy all these things as holy, “we experience the universe as a communion of subjects, not as a collection of objects,” as the “geologian” Fr. Thomas Berry said so wisely. [2]

When we love something, we grant it soul, we see its soul, and we let its soul touch ours. We must love something deeply to know its soul (anima). Before the resonance of love, we are largely inattentive to the meaning, value, and power of ordinary things to “save” us and help us live in union with the Source of all being. In fact, until we can appreciate and even delight in the soul of other things, even trees and animals, we probably haven’t discovered our own souls either. Soul knows soul through love, which Jesus teaches as the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37–39). [3] (Rohr, n.d.)

As the Season of Spring slowly arrives, let us respond to the invitation of the Spirit to walk in solitude or the company of close friends along paths in Nature where we are open to the universal call of mutual love for all Creation.

References

Acts of the Apostles, CHAPTER 2 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/acts/2?14 

Caime, J. (n.d.). Daily Reflection. Creighton Online Ministries: Home. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-april-19-2026 

Luke, CHAPTER 24 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/24?13 

Meditation on Luke 24:13-35. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/04/19/1546454/ 

1 Peter, CHAPTER 1 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1peter/1?17 

Psalms, PSALM 16. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/16?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Soul and the Natural World. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/soul-and-the-natural-world/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Did Not Our Hearts Burn While He Opened to Us the Scriptures. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/