The Gospel for The memorial of St. Peter Claver Priest is taken from Luke 6:11. On a certain Sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue and taught. And there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the Sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. But he realized their intentions.

And he said to the man with the withered hand, come up and stand before us. And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil? To save life, rather than destroy it? Looking around at them, he said to him, stretch out your hand. He did so, and his hand was restored.

But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus. It seems to me that the Pharisees are the shadow of all religion, an institution that takes power over you and takes away your freedom. And so when Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees, he’s there as a healer, they’re there as judges. And when we see Jesus pointing out their faults, their response is not to wonder or ponder or try to figure out what he was saying. No, they have only one desire, a desire that comes from fear. They’re being attacked and they want to destroy.

Take this time to reflect on these thoughts. And now we’ll close with a prayer. Foreign closing prayer. Father, your authority dwells within our hearts. You call us to discern how and why we are here and what we should do. So bless us with an attitude of openness to all the things we don’t see.

Help us to be open to changing the way we see when you show us a new truth. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.