30th Week, Monday, Oct 30
Romans 8:12-17 / Luke 13:10-17
We are heirs with Christ; If we share his cross, we'll share his crown.
Years ago, Time magazine reported on a priest in a Romanian prison. He was kept in total darkness in an underground cell next to a sewer in which toilets drained. The stench was overwhelming. He slept on two three-foot boards that were laid across the cell's damp floor. Rats scurried about him constantly. The priest said later: “It pleased God to fill my cell with ... part of his great glory... There is a part of the living God which is only known to those who are ... in darkness and in chains. ... God's happiness rests longer on those who have not light's distraction.”
***
How willingly do we accept crosses and trials? Recall this remarkable promise of God: “Can a mother forget ... the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” Isaiah 49:15
***
If a trusted friend proves disloyal, we feel badly hurt and find it almost impossible to remain faithful. Not so with God. He remains faithful to Israel, of which all but a small rest abandoned him. Yet, the Jews keep a role in God’s plans by facilitating, beyond the possible exclusiveness of one people, the entrance of pagan nations.
***
The act of generosity and compassion is indeed a noble act. But it is also an act which demands sacrifice, a sort of self-giving. And it may also entail some risks, in that the act may not be appreciated, or it may be misunderstood. When Jesus healed the woman who was bent double for 18 years, it was an act of compassion and a sign of the generosity of God's love. That act was greatly appreciated by the woman who gave glory to God, and the people were overjoyed at the wonder that Jesus worked. But His adversaries, on the other hand, criticized Him for breaking the Law, or the so-called Law. Yet, Jesus did not stop showing compassion or love just because of these criticisms.
Maybe we ourselves have experienced criticisms and ingratitude, and these may have weighed us down and bent us into indifference and apprehension. But we are reminded in the 1st reading that what we have is not the spirit of slaves that bring fear into our lives.
What we have received is the Spirit that makes us children of God and with the Spirit, we bear witness to God's love in spite and despite the criticisms and the ingratitude or even the hostile reactions. In doing so, we share in the sufferings of Christ, and when we share in the sufferings of Christ, we will also share in His glory.
***
Jesus “lays his hands” on a woman who was crippled for eighteen years and unable to stand straight. The Pharisees and the Scribes become conscious of the law. They recognize only those hands that salute them in public and that serve them like slaves. Any hand that does not slavishly work for them is considered as against them. The head of the synagogue objects to healing done on the Sabbath. Law follows the rule of the holy day; Love transcends the rule of the holy day. Jesus came to do his Father’s work and for this, every day and any day is the right day.
***
Our Lord invites us to his table. He knows that we are people with faults, people who have hurt him and others, by the wrong we done and the good we have failed to do. Knowing who we are, he still loves us and invites us as his friends to join him at his table. Let us humbly take part in his meal and ask the Lord to make us more open to the humble, to people who have erred, and to the poor.
***
Prayer
Our Father, who lift up the lowly, your Son Jesus came into our world as the servant of all and he cherished the helpless. With him, make us respect and appreciate the weak, the defenseless and the humble, and accept to be numbered among them. Dispose us to help them and to seek their help, for you have poured out your mercy on us too, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
