6 September 2025 (Saturday) / Saturday of week 22 in Ordinary Time or Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary / Ordinary Weekday/ Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

6 September 2025 (Saturday)

Saturday of week 22 in Ordinary Time or Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Ordinary Weekday/ Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Colossians 1: 21-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 54: 3-4, 6 and 8
Alleluia: John 14: 6
Gospel: Luke 6: 1-5

First Reading : Colossians 1:21‐23

Not long ago, you were foreigners and enemies, in the way that you used to think and the evil things that you did; but now he has reconciled you, by his death and in that mortal body. Now you are able to appear before him holy, pure and blameless – as long as you persevere and stand firm on the solid base of the faith, never letting yourselves drift away from the hope promised by the Good News, which you have heard, which has been preached to the whole human race, and of which I, Paul, have become the servant.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 53(54):3‐4,6,8

I have God for my help.

O God, save me by your name; by your power, uphold my cause. O God, hear my prayer; listen to the words of my mouth.

I have God for my help.

But I have God for my help. The Lord upholds my life. I will sacrifice to you with willing heart and praise your name for it is good:

I have God for my help.

Alleluia: John 14: 6
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
6 I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.
(6. Jesus said: I am the Way; I am Truth and Life. No one can come to the Father except through me).
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Luke 6:1‐5

One sabbath Jesus happened to be taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples were picking ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands and eating them. Some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing something that is forbidden on the sabbath day?’ Jesus answered them, ‘So you have not read what David did when he and his followers were hungry – how he went into the house of God, took the loaves of offering and ate them and gave them to his followers, loaves which only the priests are allowed to eat?’ And he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is master of the sabbath.’

For our reflection today:

The power attributed to Christ over the Law, which implies a divine authority, is demonstrated by the fact that He does not create another Law by abolishing the old one: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them” (Mt 5:17). It is clear that God could not “abolish” the Law that He Himself gave. Rather, as Jesus does, He can clarify its full meaning, help people understand its true sense, correct false interpretations and arbitrary applications, to which the people and even their teachers and leaders, succumbing to the weaknesses and limitations of the human condition, have bent it. We must also remember the response Jesus gave to the Pharisees, who reproached His disciples for plucking heads of grain in the fields to eat them on the Sabbath, thus violating the Mosaic Law. Jesus first cites the example of David and his companions, who did not hesitate to eat the “bread of the offering” to satisfy their hunger, and the example of the priests, who do not observe the law of rest on the Sabbath because they perform their duties in the temple. Then He concludes with two categorical statements, unheard of for the Pharisees: “But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.” and: “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Mt 12:6-8; cf. Mk 2:27-28). These statements clearly reveal Jesus’ awareness of His divine authority. To define Himself as “one greater than the temple” was a clear allusion to His divine transcendence. To proclaim Himself “Lord of the Sabbath,” that is, of a Law given by God Himself to Israel, was an open proclamation of His authority as the head of the messianic kingdom and the promulgator of the new Law. Thus, it was not simply a matter of exceptions to the Mosaic Law, which were also allowed by the rabbis in very limited cases, but a reintegration, a completion, and a renewal that Jesus enunciates as timeless: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away” (Mt 24:35). What comes from God is eternal, as God Himself is eternal. (St. John Paul II, General Audience, 1987)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)