“Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath…” (Luke 6:2.)
Saint Ephrem the Syrian offers the following insight on these verses from today’s Gospel:
““Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.” Our Lord had instructed them in advance and trained them in the truth of the just, so that whenever he dispensed from the law fully, they would not be alarmed. His Father had also dispensed from sabbaths to show that the sabbath was of his own making. He was also continuing to dispense from it that he might show that these were discerning remedies, proposed by the skilled physician for the pain which stretches from the sole of the foot to the head.” (Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron, 5.)
Collect
O God,
Who made Saint Peter Claver
a slave of slaves and strengthened him
with wonderful charity and patience
as he came to their help,
grant, through his intercession,
that, seeking the things of Jesus Christ,
we may love our neighbor
in deeds and in truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Who made Saint Peter Claver
a slave of slaves and strengthened him
with wonderful charity and patience
as he came to their help,
grant, through his intercession,
that, seeking the things of Jesus Christ,
we may love our neighbor
in deeds and in truth.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
