Overview:

Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

“The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.” (Lk 6:5)

Find today’s readings here.

I recently picked up a copy of “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine,” a drama written by Daniel Berrigan, S.J., based on the court records from the trial of the titular activists (Berrigan included), who famously protested the war in Vietnam and the military draft. The cover of my edition, from 1970, is a portion of a serigraph by Corita Kent, called “phil and dan.” The cover zeroes in on the flames and smoke of the draft records burning in metal baskets. If you had never heard of their story, you could glean from the cover alone that the play (and, indeed, the real-life action) explores crucial questions of what is worth saving and what needs to be torn down.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus, too, reminds us that following him necessitates a kind of freedom that sometimes requires breaking the rules of man. Following Christ requires forming our hearts, not simply following a law. 

In the play, when asked about the impact of his brother Philip Berrigan’s choice to pour blood on draft files in Baltimore, Daniel Berrigan replies: 

My brother’s action helped me realize
from the beginning      of our republic
good men had said no
acted outside the law
when conditions so demanded
And if a man did this
time might vindicate him      show his act to be lawful
a gift to society
a gift to history
and to the community

May we understand what our times require of us. May our lives be freely given to the God who vindicates us all.

Kerry Weber joined the staff of America in October 2009. Her writing and multimedia work have since earned several awards from the Catholic Press Association, and in 2013 she reported from Rwanda as a recipient of Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship. Kerry is the author of Mercy in the City: How to Feed the Hungry, Give Drink to the Thirsty, Visit the Imprisoned, and Keep Your Day Job (Loyola Press) and Keeping the Faith: Prayers for College Students (Twenty-Third Publications). A graduate of Providence College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she has previously worked as an editor for Catholic Digest, a local reporter, a diocesan television producer, and as a special-education teacher on the Navajo reservation in Arizona.