Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Luke (6: 6-11) in which Jesus, when tested by the Pharisees about healing a man with a crippled hand on the Sabbath, says, ‘Is it against the law on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?’. Fr Paul says this gospel, which follows on from Saturday’s Gospel, is the second in which the Pharisees question Jesus about the Sabbath. This time it is about healing on the Sabbath. It is a recognised principle of the Sabbath Law that to save an endangered live almost any law can be broken so the question naturally is, is a withered hand life threatening? Jesus, here, goes beyond the processes of the law and he heals out of sheer love for the sufferer. The healing that Jesus brings to the world is more important than any ritual law. It is this act of love that leaves his opponents confused and hostile. They are so bound up by the letter of the law that to break it out of love is completely and utterly beyond their comprehension. In today’s Gospel, Jesus heals out of love for the sufferer. For our reflection today, Fr Paul prays that we, too, may experience this sheer love of Jesus in our lives now.