+ When confronted by Jesus with a direct legal question which places compassion and mercy above the law, the scholars of the law and the Pharisees simply cannot answer his questions. Perhaps they would leave their ox in a cistern, or their son and not pull them out if it was a Sabbath! The point of the passage is that it is always spiritually legal to do a work of charity on any day of the week! Compassion and mercy come first!
Yesterday in the gospel passage Jesus is very upset because his people (the children of Israel) are so stubborn and blind, and unwilling to be nurtured and gathered by him into a mutually loving family; today, St. Paul tells the Romans the same thing: I have great sorrow and constant anguish in my heart: I wish I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for their sakes: so that they could be gathered unto him. Compassion and mercy were topmost concerns for both Jesus and Paul – and they would do anything it took on any day of the week to distribute them to whoever needed them.
In this voting time of year I ask you, as Jesus himself would: in considering the only question on the ballot that refers directly to God his Father, and ours: Question 1 on the ballot: Is it lawful to redefine what God has defined in the beginning – that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and that the subsequent family life including children is to be lived out as he intended it – or is it unlawful to do this? This is the real question involved here – this is the only question involved here! It would seem that the compassionate, merciful and loving answer would be the truthful answer: it is not ever lawful to change what God has defined and set in motion for our good! Voting YES on Question One is a vote for God – which is what all this is all about!
Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion. For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you.
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