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 

Heart to Heart Communication

 The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary, today, Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, invite us to contemplate our connection to the Heart, the seat of Wisdom, in Jesus time, and our communion with Divine Love.

The Heart Connects

The Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy presents the Destruction of the Nations in the Land.

f. [7:6] Dt 14:2, 21; 26:18–19; 32:8–14; Ex 19:5–6; Ps 135:4; Mal 3:17.

g. [7:7] Dt 10:15.

h. [7:8] Dt 5:6; 9:26; 13:5; 15:15; 21:8; 24:18; Ps 78:42.

i. [7:9–10] Dt 4:31; 5:9–10; 24:16; Ex 20:5–6; 34:6–7; Nm 14:18; Jer 31:29–30; 32:18–19; Ez 18:1–24; Jn 9:1–3. (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)

Psalm 103 praises God’s mercy towards all people.

* [Psalm 103] The speaker in this hymn begins by praising God for personal benefits (Ps 103:1–5), then moves on to God’s mercy toward all the people (Ps 103:6–18). Even sin cannot destroy that mercy (Ps 103:11–13), for the eternal God is well aware of the people’s human fragility (Ps 103:14–18). The psalmist invites the heavenly beings to join in praise (Ps 103:19–22). (Psalms, CHAPTER 103 | USCCB, n.d.)

The reading from the First Letter of John proclaims God’s Love and Christian Life.

* [4:7–12] Love as we share in it testifies to the nature of God and to his presence in our lives. One who loves shows that one is a child of God and knows God, for God’s very being is love; one without love is without God. The revelation of the nature of God’s love is found in the free gift of his Son to us, so that we may share life with God and be delivered from our sins. The love we have for one another must be of the same sort: authentic, merciful; this unique Christian love is our proof that we know God and can “see” the invisible God.

* [4:13–21] The testimony of the Spirit and that of faith join the testimony of love to confirm our knowledge of God. Our love is grounded in the confession of Jesus as the Son of God and the example of God’s love for us. Christian life is founded on the knowledge of God as love and on his continuing presence that relieves us from fear of judgment (1 Jn 4:16–18). What Christ is gives us confidence, even as we live and love in this world. Yet Christian love is not abstract but lived in the concrete manner of love for one another. (1 John, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB, n.d.)

The Gospel of Matthew proclaims Praise of the Father and The Gentle Mastery of Christ.

* [11:25–27] This Q saying, identical with Lk 10:21–22 except for minor variations, introduces a joyous note into this section, so dominated by the theme of unbelief. While the wise and the learned, the scribes and Pharisees, have rejected Jesus’ preaching and the significance of his mighty deeds, the childlike have accepted them. Acceptance depends upon the Father’s revelation, but this is granted to those who are open to receive it and refused to the arrogant. Jesus can speak of all mysteries because he is the Son and there is perfect reciprocity of knowledge between him and the Father; what has been handed over to him is revealed only to those whom he wishes.

* [11:28–29] These verses are peculiar to Matthew and are similar to Ben Sirach’s invitation to learn wisdom and submit to her yoke (Sir 51:23, 26).

* [11:28] Who labor and are burdened: burdened by the law as expounded by the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 23:4).

* [11:29] In place of the yoke of the law, complicated by scribal interpretation, Jesus invites the burdened to take the yoke of obedience to his word, under which they will find rest; cf. Jer 6:16. (Matthew CHAPTER 11 | USCCB, n.d.)

Rev. Andy Alexander, SJ, comments on why the first part of the spiritual exercises of Saint Ignatius is so liberating. In that early part of the retreat, we discover that we are loved, sinners. We discover love without condition. We experience tender mercy. We’re not loved when we get our act together. Even when we struggle, even when we wander, we are loved passionately. This is the breakthrough, the grace, that each of us can ask for on this feast – to know how deeply we are loved and to receive it.

In his last encyclical, Dilexit Nos [He loves us], on the Sacred Heart, Pope Francis wrote:

The Second Vatican Council points out that “the ferment of the Gospel has aroused and continues to arouse in human hearts an unquenchable thirst for human dignity”. [24] Yet to live in accordance with this dignity, it is not enough to know the Gospel or to carry out mechanically its demands. We need the help of God’s love. Let us turn, then, to the heart of Christ, that core of his being, which is a blazing furnace of divine and human love and the most sublime fulfilment to which humanity can aspire. There, in that heart, we truly come at last to know ourselves and we learn how to love. #30

In the presence of the heart of Christ, I once more ask the Lord to have mercy on this suffering world in which he chose to dwell as one of us. May he pour out the treasures of his light and love, so that our world, which presses forward despite wars, socio-economic disparities and uses of technology that threaten our humanity, may regain the most important and necessary thing of all: its heart. #31 (Alexander, n.d.)

Don Schwager quotes “The grace of Christ bears us up,” from an anonymous early Christian teacher

"'My yoke is easy and my burden light'... The prophet says this about the burden of sinners: 'Because my iniquities lie on top of my head, so they have also placed a heavy burden on me' (Psalm 38:4)... 'Place my yoke upon you, and learn from me that I am gentle and humble of heart.' Oh, what a very pleasing weight that strengthens even more those who carry it! For the weight of earthly masters gradually destroys the strength of their servants, but the weight of Christ rather helps the one who bears it, because we do not bear grace; grace bears us. It is not for us to help grace, but rather grace has been given to aid us." (excerpt from the INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 29: PG 56:780) (Schwager, n.d.)

The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 John 4:7-16 comments that writing about St. John Henry Newman’s devotion to the Sacred Heart, Pope Francis had this to say:

St. John Henry Newman took as his motto the phrase cor ad cor loquitur [heart speaks to heart], since, beyond all our thoughts and ideas, the Lord saves us by speaking to our hearts from his Sacred Heart. This realization led him, the distinguished intellectual, to recognize that his deepest encounter with himself and with the Lord came not from his reading or reflection, but from his prayerful dialogue, heart to heart, with Christ, alive and present. (Dilexit Nos, 26)

We can deepen our knowledge and belief in God’s love as we spend time with Jesus in our own “prayerful dialogue,” as we come “heart to heart” with him in prayer. We can speak to him of our joys and burdens, our dreams and desires. We can express our love for him and our gratitude for all he has done for us. Then we can listen for his word to us, a word that will reassure us that he holds us, now and always, in the depths of his own Sacred Heart.

To honor this great feast, try to set aside some time to speak to the Lord heart to heart—and come to know, ever more deeply, the love Jesus has for you!

“Jesus, help my heart to burn with love for you!” (Meditation on 1 John 4:7-16, n.d.)

Friar Jude Winkler comments that Moses is trying to teach the people how God has chosen them. They should respond by being faithful and carefully observing their commitments. In 1 John, God is defined as Love. Jesus taught what Love is in His death for us. He willingly took this on himself. In the Gospel of John, the crucifixion is the hour of glory as the outpouring of love for us. In Matthew, Jesus praises the childlike revelation to those who surrender to the mystery we cannot figure out. We can learn from the wonder of the child discovering new things. Friar Jude reminds us that the yoke of two oxen presents the truth that we need to have the help of Jesus in a custom fit yoke to make the furrows and assist in the burdens we carry that are our personal path to trust in God.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, speaks of Jesus’s desire for us to remain connected. Yet we keep condemning ourselves and others for not being perfect, for not being right, or for not being correct.

Everybody seems to be trying to prove that they are right. We have almost a collective incapacity to admit failure, to ever admit that we are wrong, which makes us liars most of the time. Jesus is calling forth a very different kind of human being.

Jesus says people who live a vulnerable life of connection and relationship will bear much fruit. These are the people we trust, like, and admire, so why are so many of us afraid to be the very thing that we admire the most? How foolish human beings are! But again, Jesus has told us the way: He is the vine; we are the branches. None of us can be or need to be correct, but we can always be connected. (Rohr, n.d.)

We attend to the wisdom of the Spirit that affirms that we grow in faith, hope and charity in our action to yoke ourselves with Christ as we live our Baptismal anointing as priest, prophet, and leader.

References

Alexander, A. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Creighton On line Ministries. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-june-12-2026 

Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/7?6 

Matthew CHAPTER 11 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 

Meditation on 1 John 4:7-16. (n.d.). Word Among Us. Retrieved June 12, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2026/06/12/1590299/ 

1 John, CHAPTER 4 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Reflections. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1john/4?7 

Psalms, CHAPTER 103 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Bible Readings, Audio and Video Every Morning | USCCB. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/103?1 

Rohr, R. (n.d.). Remain in Me as I Remain in You. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/remain-in-me-as-i-remain-in-you/ 

Schwager, D. (n.d.). Heavenly Things Revealed to Infants. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 12, 2026, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/