Reading: From the Gospel according to St. Luke 13: 10-17
Dear and Respected Brethren,
By the grace of God we are entering the fifth week of the Great Lent
of the year. In today’s reading we find the bowed woman being noticed
by the compassion of our Lord and as a result she is cured from her
illness. Let us hear St. Luke’s description about her. “There was a
woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years and was bowed
together, and could in no wise lift up herself.” (Verse 11) Why the
evil spirit might have been active in her for long eighteen years in
such a way that she could not lift up herself? It is clear that the
evil spirit had longed to keep her away from maintaining a frequent
contact with Lord God. The poor lady was not able to look up and pray
and when she came to the places where the Savior of mankind was
present she could not watch at His face. Can we imagine that the evil
spirit had succeeded finally? No will be our answer. Though the spirit
made her suffer physically, her spirit was vigil and energetic to have
a very strong spiritual relationship with her Lord God. All those
eighteen years she must have lead a sound and effective spiritual
life. She might have ignored her physical disorder and might have
considered her spiritual growth. No one could say that this was the
first time that she had attended the divine class of Lord Jesus. She
might have attended many classes of our Lord before. In the 10th verse
of today’s reading we read that our Lord was teaching about the
Kingdom of God. And the lady had reached there to learn more and more
spiritual and divine lessons from our Lord. Many who had followed our
Lord were interested in getting benefits of the other two missions of
our Lord, especially the feeding mission and the healing mission. The
bowed woman stands before us as an entirely different person. It seems
that she was only interested in His teaching mission only.
We all are having infirmities of one or the other types. We follow
Lord Jesus for the benefits of the other missions of our Lord and we
often pray for them. We are least bothered about the teaching mission
of God and His church. Our Lord has promised us that He would grand
everything that we need (without asking them) provided we seek His
Kingdom. (St. Luke 12:32. Kindly read and meditate verses 29 to 32)
How many of us do seek His Kingdom throughout our lives? We do attend
the Church services regularly. We obey and observe the commandments of
God and His Church. Still do we seek His Kingdom? The bowed woman who
could not lift up herself for eighteen years, had been seeking His
kingdom and finally she sought it. In the long battle with the evil
forces, she did not fall victim of them, as she had a sound faith and
hope in the living God. Our Church Fathers have included this Biblical
portion for our study and meditation not to hear the miracle performed
by our Lord, where as it is to remind that we all must change the mode
of our spiritual lives and have to seek His Kingdom. Our Lord have
asked to pray for His Kingdom. Every time we recite the Lord’s prayer,
we pray: “Thy Kingdom come.”Let us make sure that we do wish for His
kingdom to come. Our prayer should not be for the name sake.
It is sure and certain that the bowed woman might have taken a seat
far away from the stage where our Lord would have been speaking. Still
He saw her and called her to Him and said, ‘you are loosed from your
infirmity.’ As soon as He placed His hands on her head, she was made
straight and glorified God, Let us pray sincerely to remove all types
of infirmities, that often challenge our spiritual growth. Let us make
use of this Lent and Lenten prayers to get the tender touch of our
Lord and freedom from all sorts of infirmities. Let us pray for our
parishes and the entire Church. May God be pleased in our prayers and
make us all more and more straight, so that we could be instrumental
in removing the darkness from our midst and our society. Let us gain
His light and reflect the same to the surroundings. Our spirituality
is getting weaker and weaker, day by day. We have to make use of the
God given opportunities like the Lent and fasting to get victory over
the evil forces that distract us from God preventing our spiritual
advance. Let us take decision to pursue the disciplined spiritual
life, with earnest and sincere prayers.
We should not be like the ruler of the Synagogue, who opted to find
fault with our Lord’s mercy and compassion. We will have to appreciate
the mercy and compassion from any corner to anyone in the society. The
modern attitude is precisely identical to the attitude presented by
the ruler. We are obliged to take care of the poor and the hungry. How
many of us could give alms to the properly deserving? We might opt to
give as much as we could if we might get back enough and more
publicity. Our God wants us to give without publicity or public
announcement. He wants us to feed the needy from what we might take.
Fasting enables one and all to experience the pain and need of the
poor and downtrodden. Let us fast as long as we could. If one cannot
fast till evening, let him or her fast till 3’o clock in the afternoon
or at least to the noon. And let us send the money saved through
avoiding the food of a time for the need. It is high time for us to
pray Kuriyelaison sincerely. Let us cry aloud and pray “Lord have
mercy upon us.” The Holy Church is continuously exhorting us to
practice this short prayer not only during the Lenten season, but
during all days of our lives. When the outside atmosphere is getting
worse with added heat, we often find fault with the weather. All will
agree that the world atmosphere is getting worse day by day. Let us
pray sincerely to the Lord of all that we could see and cannot see, to
maintain the balance of the atmosphere as it should be. We should not
forget the truth that we have been designated to take care of the
atmosphere and the environment where we remain. We could pray for the
stable condition of God as it was created once. Let us do our
responsibility.
Dear and Respected Brethren,
By the grace of God we are entering the fifth week of the Great Lent
of the year. In today’s reading we find the bowed woman being noticed
by the compassion of our Lord and as a result she is cured from her
illness. Let us hear St. Luke’s description about her. “There was a
woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years and was bowed
together, and could in no wise lift up herself.” (Verse 11) Why the
evil spirit might have been active in her for long eighteen years in
such a way that she could not lift up herself? It is clear that the
evil spirit had longed to keep her away from maintaining a frequent
contact with Lord God. The poor lady was not able to look up and pray
and when she came to the places where the Savior of mankind was
present she could not watch at His face. Can we imagine that the evil
spirit had succeeded finally? No will be our answer. Though the spirit
made her suffer physically, her spirit was vigil and energetic to have
a very strong spiritual relationship with her Lord God. All those
eighteen years she must have lead a sound and effective spiritual
life. She might have ignored her physical disorder and might have
considered her spiritual growth. No one could say that this was the
first time that she had attended the divine class of Lord Jesus. She
might have attended many classes of our Lord before. In the 10th verse
of today’s reading we read that our Lord was teaching about the
Kingdom of God. And the lady had reached there to learn more and more
spiritual and divine lessons from our Lord. Many who had followed our
Lord were interested in getting benefits of the other two missions of
our Lord, especially the feeding mission and the healing mission. The
bowed woman stands before us as an entirely different person. It seems
that she was only interested in His teaching mission only.
We all are having infirmities of one or the other types. We follow
Lord Jesus for the benefits of the other missions of our Lord and we
often pray for them. We are least bothered about the teaching mission
of God and His church. Our Lord has promised us that He would grand
everything that we need (without asking them) provided we seek His
Kingdom. (St. Luke 12:32. Kindly read and meditate verses 29 to 32)
How many of us do seek His Kingdom throughout our lives? We do attend
the Church services regularly. We obey and observe the commandments of
God and His Church. Still do we seek His Kingdom? The bowed woman who
could not lift up herself for eighteen years, had been seeking His
kingdom and finally she sought it. In the long battle with the evil
forces, she did not fall victim of them, as she had a sound faith and
hope in the living God. Our Church Fathers have included this Biblical
portion for our study and meditation not to hear the miracle performed
by our Lord, where as it is to remind that we all must change the mode
of our spiritual lives and have to seek His Kingdom. Our Lord have
asked to pray for His Kingdom. Every time we recite the Lord’s prayer,
we pray: “Thy Kingdom come.”Let us make sure that we do wish for His
kingdom to come. Our prayer should not be for the name sake.
It is sure and certain that the bowed woman might have taken a seat
far away from the stage where our Lord would have been speaking. Still
He saw her and called her to Him and said, ‘you are loosed from your
infirmity.’ As soon as He placed His hands on her head, she was made
straight and glorified God, Let us pray sincerely to remove all types
of infirmities, that often challenge our spiritual growth. Let us make
use of this Lent and Lenten prayers to get the tender touch of our
Lord and freedom from all sorts of infirmities. Let us pray for our
parishes and the entire Church. May God be pleased in our prayers and
make us all more and more straight, so that we could be instrumental
in removing the darkness from our midst and our society. Let us gain
His light and reflect the same to the surroundings. Our spirituality
is getting weaker and weaker, day by day. We have to make use of the
God given opportunities like the Lent and fasting to get victory over
the evil forces that distract us from God preventing our spiritual
advance. Let us take decision to pursue the disciplined spiritual
life, with earnest and sincere prayers.
We should not be like the ruler of the Synagogue, who opted to find
fault with our Lord’s mercy and compassion. We will have to appreciate
the mercy and compassion from any corner to anyone in the society. The
modern attitude is precisely identical to the attitude presented by
the ruler. We are obliged to take care of the poor and the hungry. How
many of us could give alms to the properly deserving? We might opt to
give as much as we could if we might get back enough and more
publicity. Our God wants us to give without publicity or public
announcement. He wants us to feed the needy from what we might take.
Fasting enables one and all to experience the pain and need of the
poor and downtrodden. Let us fast as long as we could. If one cannot
fast till evening, let him or her fast till 3’o clock in the afternoon
or at least to the noon. And let us send the money saved through
avoiding the food of a time for the need. It is high time for us to
pray Kuriyelaison sincerely. Let us cry aloud and pray “Lord have
mercy upon us.” The Holy Church is continuously exhorting us to
practice this short prayer not only during the Lenten season, but
during all days of our lives. When the outside atmosphere is getting
worse with added heat, we often find fault with the weather. All will
agree that the world atmosphere is getting worse day by day. Let us
pray sincerely to the Lord of all that we could see and cannot see, to
maintain the balance of the atmosphere as it should be. We should not
forget the truth that we have been designated to take care of the
atmosphere and the environment where we remain. We could pray for the
stable condition of God as it was created once. Let us do our
responsibility.
May God be pleased in our fasting and Lent.
May God bless us all
Jose Kurian Puliyeril
Kottayam
