Daily Gospel Reflection

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September 9, 2023

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver - Priest
Lk 6:1-5
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While Jesus was going through a field of grain on a sabbath,
his disciples were picking the heads of grain,
rubbing them in their hands, and eating them.
Some Pharisees said,
“Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Have you not read what David did
when he and those who were with him were hungry?
How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering,
which only the priests could lawfully eat,
ate of it, and shared it with his companions?”
Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

Reflection

Mary K. (Daly) Korson ’10, ’15, M.B.A.
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In Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus says, “Do not think I have come to abolish but to fulfill [the Law]…unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Does Christ contradict himself in today’s gospel when he is evidently quite okay with the apostles violating the law?

In the Old Testament, we see God earnestly pursuing a relationship with Israel. This is expressed through his covenants with them and instructing them through his law on how to be in a relationship with him. Yet, over time, the Pharisees had added many prescriptions to the law, which burdened the people and obscured its purpose, which was to foster this friendship with God.

We see this in today’s gospel, where the Pharisees would prefer that the apostles reverence the law rather than nourish their bodies, thus neglecting the image of God they bore. How could they rest and honor God on the sabbath if starving?

Christ says today, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” Not only is he establishing his lordship of heaven and earth, but he also reminds us of the purpose of the law, both then and today.

The laws of God and the church do not exist for the scrupulous to gain reassurance; it isn’t for the proud to gain another belt notch, nor is it a grading tool for us to measure and judge ourselves and each other. It is a means for us to know and love God intimately. But it is not a substitute for that intimacy. Our love for God is not shown so much in obeying the laws. But it is shown by letting Christ be Lord of our individual lives completely, as the apostles did.

Let us pray for understanding of the wisdom of God’s law and how God’s justice and mercy are for our benefit so Christ can be lord of the sabbath and, most importantly, our lives.

Prayer

Rev. Tim Mouton, C.S.C.

God of truth and justice, you call us to hold your law firmly in our hearts—not only its words, but its spirit. Help us to let your law of love be imprinted on our hearts so that it may not be a second thought, but a fundamental norm. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint of the Day

St. Peter Claver

St. Peter Claver is known for tirelessly caring for victims of the slave trade.

He was born 1581 in Catalonia, Spain, and was a bright student. After graduating from university with honors, he followed a call to the priesthood, entered the Jesuit order, and was sent to care for people in the New World. He landed in Cartagena, Colombia, and was ordained a priest there in 1615.

When he arrived, the slave trade had been established for nearly 100 years; Cartagena was a port that received many slaves captured from Congo and Angola. The conditions under which slaves were transported to the New World were horrific—a third died on the voyage. In spite of all this, some 10,000 slaves entered the Americas through Cartagena every year.

Peter Claver attached himself to work with a priest who was caring for the physical and spiritual needs of those enslaved. Though Peter was shy and introverted, he was methodical and organized and he gathered people to help him meet slave ships when they arrived in port.

When the enslaved disembarked, they were herded into a confined space for sorting. They had spent weeks locked in the ship’s hold and suffered greatly from inhuman treatment and the easy spread of illness. Peter and his band of helpers would carry medicine, food, bread, lemons, tobacco, and anything else they could get their hands on to be of aid.

“We must speak to them with our hands, before we try to speak to them with our lips,” Peter Claver said. He called himself the “slave of the slaves forever.”

He found interpreters who knew different African native languages and dialects and taught the enslaved about the Christian faith and the love of God. He tried to restore in them a sense of their human dignity, even though they had been degraded by their captors. He visited plantations to advocate for better conditions and even worked for the conversion of the slave owners. He served some 300,000 slaves in 40 years of service.

Peter Claver also would visit hospitals in Cartagena to care for the sick and poor there, and paid special attention to the imprisoned. It is said that no one faced the death penalty in Cartagena without Peter Claver present to give him consolation.

He was a sought-after confessor and would sometimes spend 15 hours a day hearing confessions. He would travel through the countryside to preach missions at parishes but would make a point of staying in the slaves’ quarters, not in the comfortable plantation homes. He preached in town squares, and his words were accompanied by the gifts of miracles and prophecy.

In 1650 he fell ill with a plague that was ravaging the region. He barely survived and spent the last few years of his life in pain. Trembling shook his body so much that he often could not even celebrate Mass. He was confined to his room and was often neglected or forgotten in the confusion of the crisis of the epidemic.

He died on this date in 1654, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. His image is used here with permission from Catholic.org, and the image of liberated chains stands as a symbol for St. Peter Claver on the Eck Hall of Law. He is the patron saint of African-Americans and those who work for interracial justice.

St. Peter Claver, patron saint of African-Americans, you cared for slaves as they arrived from Africa—pray for us!