First Reading: Ephesians 4:32–5:8
Brothers and sisters:
Be kind to one another, compassionate,
forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love,
as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us
as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you,
as is fitting among holy ones,
no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place,
but instead, thanksgiving.
Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person,
that is, an idolater,
has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty arguments,
for because of these things
the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.
So do not be associated with them.
For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 AND 6
R. (see Eph. 5:1) Behave like God as his very dear children.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Behave like God as his very dear children.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Behave like God as his very dear children.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Behave like God as his very dear children.
Gospel: Luke 13:10-17
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.
And a woman was there who for eighteen years
had been crippled by a spirit;
she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.
When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said,
“Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.”
He laid his hands on her,
and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.
But the leader of the synagogue,
indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath,
said to the crowd in reply,
“There are six days when work should be done.
Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day.”
The Lord said to him in reply, “Hypocrites!
Does not each one of you on the sabbath
untie his ox or his ass from the manger
and lead it out for watering?
This daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now,
ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day
from this bondage?”
When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated;
and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.
NAB
“She was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.”
It’s possible she didn’t even see Jesus there.
But He saw her. And He called out her healing.
More often than not, I am that woman. I’m bent over, turned inwards, so focused on the ground that I don’t see the sky. I get tunnel vision and all I can see are the things that are going wrong, and I fail to see all the things that are just amazingly wonderful, beautiful, and true. I’m short sighted and I cannot see the bigger picture.
The last few years my family has been through a few challenges. In three years time, we will have moved three times. Due to a variety of circumstances, we haven’t found a steady place to live. On top of that we got a big surprise in the way of a new tiny soul that will be joining our family this winter. Sometimes the weight of it all is so heavy that I am bent over, eyes on the ground. It’s easy for me to let myself get so wrapped up in the discouraging that I fail to see the gift. It can be really, really hard to see how He is working in the midst of this.
I want to be that woman at the end of the story. I want to look at everything and see His glory in it. I want to be able to look at good things and see His work. I want to look at trials and see how He can use it to transform.
He sees me.
He sees you.
He sees our burdens, and in His great affection and mercy He calls out the healing words: “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.”
How is your burden today? Are you able to look up? Can you connect with a sister or friend or make it to Adoration to connect more intimately with Our Lord?
Jacqueline Skemp is a daughter, sister, wife and mother who endures living in Minnesota after leaving California for her one true love. You can find out more about her here.
Walk With Us this Advent
Get Your Prayerful Planner
