🙏Introit (Ps 85:3, 5, 1)
Miserére mihi, Dómine, quóniam ad te clamávi tota die... Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to Thee all the day. For Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Thee. Ps. Bow down Thy ear to me, O Lord, and hear me, for I am needy and poor. ℣. Glory be to the Father...
📜Epistle (Eph 3:13-21)
Brethren: I pray you not to faint at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man; that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts: that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length, and height and depth, and to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge; that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand, according to the power that worketh in us: to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, unto all generations, world without end. Amen.
📖Gospel (Lk 14:1-11)
At that time, when Jesus went into the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees on the sabbath day to eat bread, they watched Him. And behold, there was a certain man before Him that had the dropsy. And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? But they held their peace. But He, taking him, healed him and sent him away. And answering them, He said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit and will not immediately draw him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer Him to these things. And He spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honorable than thou be invited by him; and he that invited thee and him, come and say to thee: Give this man place; and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place; that when he who invited thee cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
🤔Reflections
💡The healing of the man with dropsy on the Sabbath demonstrates that the law of charity surpasses merely ritual observance, for the love of God is inseparable from the love of neighbor (St. Augustine, Sermon 112). The fullness of God, mentioned in the Epistle, can only inhabit a heart emptied of itself; therefore, Christ, after healing the diseased body, offers the remedy for the proud soul through the parable of humility (St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, XXIII). The depth of Christ's love, which surpasses all understanding, is manifested precisely in His condescension to the sick and sinners, teaching that the path to divine exaltation necessarily passes through voluntary humiliation (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke).
🔄The Gospel of St. Luke is the only one to narrate the healing of the man with dropsy and the parable of the first places in this specific context. However, the theme of healing on the Sabbath, challenging the legalistic interpretation of the Pharisees, appears in other passages, such as the healing of the man with the withered hand (Mt 12:9-14; Mk 3:1-6) and the paralytic at Bethesda (Jn 5:1-18). The final exhortation, "he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted," echoes a similar admonition in Matthew 23:12, delivered in the context of a direct critique of the scribes and Pharisees for their love of the first places and titles of honor, whereas Luke inserts it more narratively, as a teaching during a meal.
✉️The connection between the Gospel's humility and the writings of St. Paul is profound. The exaltation of the humble finds its archetype in Pauline Christology, especially in Philippians 2:6-11, where Christ "humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death," and for this reason "God hath exalted him." The Epistle's prayer for the faithful to be "strengthened in the inward man" (Eph 3:16) complements the Gospel's moral: it is humility that empties the heart of pride and makes space for Christ to dwell by faith and for charity to take root, building up this "inward man" according to the fullness of God.
🇻🇦The Magisterium of the Church constantly reaffirms these truths. The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that humility is the foundation of all virtues and the necessary condition for receiving divine grace, without which no good work is possible, aligning perfectly with the Gospel's final sentence. The Encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor (Pius XI) points to pride as the root of the sins that offend the Sacred Heart of Jesus, proposing humility and submission as acts of reparation. Furthermore, the legitimacy of works of mercy on the Lord's Day, such as the healing performed by Christ, is a foundational principle of the Church's moral teaching on the third commandment, which prioritizes charity over an empty legalism.
🧐See English version of the critical articles here.
Miserére mihi, Dómine, quóniam ad te clamávi tota die... Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to Thee all the day. For Thou, O Lord, art sweet and mild, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon Thee. Ps. Bow down Thy ear to me, O Lord, and hear me, for I am needy and poor. ℣. Glory be to the Father...
📜Epistle (Eph 3:13-21)
Brethren: I pray you not to faint at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened by His Spirit with might unto the inward man; that Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts: that being rooted and founded in charity, you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length, and height and depth, and to know also the charity of Christ, which surpasseth all knowledge; that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do all things more abundantly than we desire or understand, according to the power that worketh in us: to Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus, unto all generations, world without end. Amen.
📖Gospel (Lk 14:1-11)
At that time, when Jesus went into the house of one of the chief of the Pharisees on the sabbath day to eat bread, they watched Him. And behold, there was a certain man before Him that had the dropsy. And Jesus answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying: Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? But they held their peace. But He, taking him, healed him and sent him away. And answering them, He said: Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit and will not immediately draw him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer Him to these things. And He spoke a parable also to them that were invited, marking how they chose the first seats at the table, saying to them: When thou art invited to a wedding, sit not down in the first place, lest perhaps one more honorable than thou be invited by him; and he that invited thee and him, come and say to thee: Give this man place; and then thou begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place; that when he who invited thee cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have glory before them that sit at table with thee. Because every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
🤔Reflections
💡The healing of the man with dropsy on the Sabbath demonstrates that the law of charity surpasses merely ritual observance, for the love of God is inseparable from the love of neighbor (St. Augustine, Sermon 112). The fullness of God, mentioned in the Epistle, can only inhabit a heart emptied of itself; therefore, Christ, after healing the diseased body, offers the remedy for the proud soul through the parable of humility (St. Gregory the Great, Moralia in Job, XXIII). The depth of Christ's love, which surpasses all understanding, is manifested precisely in His condescension to the sick and sinners, teaching that the path to divine exaltation necessarily passes through voluntary humiliation (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke).
🔄The Gospel of St. Luke is the only one to narrate the healing of the man with dropsy and the parable of the first places in this specific context. However, the theme of healing on the Sabbath, challenging the legalistic interpretation of the Pharisees, appears in other passages, such as the healing of the man with the withered hand (Mt 12:9-14; Mk 3:1-6) and the paralytic at Bethesda (Jn 5:1-18). The final exhortation, "he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted," echoes a similar admonition in Matthew 23:12, delivered in the context of a direct critique of the scribes and Pharisees for their love of the first places and titles of honor, whereas Luke inserts it more narratively, as a teaching during a meal.
✉️The connection between the Gospel's humility and the writings of St. Paul is profound. The exaltation of the humble finds its archetype in Pauline Christology, especially in Philippians 2:6-11, where Christ "humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death," and for this reason "God hath exalted him." The Epistle's prayer for the faithful to be "strengthened in the inward man" (Eph 3:16) complements the Gospel's moral: it is humility that empties the heart of pride and makes space for Christ to dwell by faith and for charity to take root, building up this "inward man" according to the fullness of God.
🇻🇦The Magisterium of the Church constantly reaffirms these truths. The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that humility is the foundation of all virtues and the necessary condition for receiving divine grace, without which no good work is possible, aligning perfectly with the Gospel's final sentence. The Encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor (Pius XI) points to pride as the root of the sins that offend the Sacred Heart of Jesus, proposing humility and submission as acts of reparation. Furthermore, the legitimacy of works of mercy on the Lord's Day, such as the healing performed by Christ, is a foundational principle of the Church's moral teaching on the third commandment, which prioritizes charity over an empty legalism.
🧐See English version of the critical articles here.