Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

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."

We are surrounded by laws be they religious, city, state, or national and for the most part it is a good thing to follow these laws. However, when a law interferes with doing the right thing we need to make a value judgment and decide whether the dictates of our conscience outweigh our responsibility to follow the laws of our society. This is not to say that we should go around breaking laws because we feel like it, but rather that when a law is unjust, we should be willing to stand up against it and try to reform it through the political process. In the same regard, when we are faced with an opportunity to do good, but in order to do that good we must break a law, then we have to determine if the fruits of the good we wish to do are greater than the problems caused by our breaking of the law. In today's gospel Jesus reminds us that there are times when following the law can do greater harm than good and it is in those moments that we should feel free to do what is good over what is lawful.

Are we so consumed by rules and regiment that sometimes we miss opportunities to love God and others? Do we pray for God's guidance when we must make a choice between doing the right thing and what is lawful? How can we cultivate a conscience that is willing to obey just laws, but also willing to break the law when we have a very good reason or when it is unjust?

O Lord, give us the courage to do your will no matter what might stand in our way.

Amen.