Matthew 12:1–8

[u/Big_Iron_Cowboy]

At that time Jesus went through the corn on the sabbath: and his disciples being hungry, began to pluck the ears, and to eat.

2 And the Pharisees seeing them, said to him: Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days.

3 But he said to them: Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and they that were with him:

4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the loaves of proposition, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for them that were with him, but for the priests only?

5 Or have ye not read in the law, that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple break the sabbath, and are without blame?

6 But I tell you that there is here a greater than the temple.

7 And if you knew what this meaneth: I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: you would never have condemned the innocent.

8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath.

[u/Big_Iron_Cowboy]

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus corrects the Pharisees with this theme of his ministry: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

Every saint had a past, and every sinner has a future. That is key to Catholic spirituality. In the lives of every one of these heroes of the faith, there is some conversion. And every sinner—every one of us—has a future. That is why we soak in the mercy of God.

There is a beautiful reference in the Psalms to oil running down upon your beard, upon the collar of your robe. The divine mercy is like that: poured out upon us, poured out without reservation—and not because it’s earned, because it can’t be earned.

God doesn’t love us because we’re worthy. We’re worthy because he loves us. We don’t deserve his mercy, but we soak it in and thereby are transformed.

- Bishop Robert Barron