Reading: From the Gospel according to St. Luke 13: 10-17
\nDear and Respected Brethren,
\nBy the grace of God we are entering the fifth week of the Great Lent
\nof the year. In today\u2019s reading we find the bowed woman being noticed
\nby the compassion of our Lord and as a result she is cured from her
\nillness. Let us hear St. Luke\u2019s description about her. \u201cThere was a
\nwoman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years and was bowed
\ntogether, and could in no wise lift up herself.\u201d (Verse 11)\u00a0 Why the
\nevil spirit might have been active in her for long eighteen years in
\nsuch a way that she could not lift up herself? It is clear that the
\nevil spirit had longed to keep her away from maintaining a frequent
\ncontact with Lord God. The poor lady was not able to look up and pray
\nand when she came to the places where the Savior of mankind was
\npresent she could not watch at His face. Can we imagine that the evil
\nspirit had succeeded finally? No will be our answer. Though the spirit
\nmade her suffer physically, her spirit was vigil and energetic to have
\na very strong spiritual relationship with her Lord God. All those
\neighteen years she must have lead a sound and effective spiritual
\nlife. She might have ignored her physical disorder and might have
\nconsidered her spiritual growth. No one could say that this was the
\nfirst time that she had attended the divine class of Lord Jesus. She
\nmight have attended many classes of our Lord before. In the 10th verse
\nof today\u2019s reading we read that our Lord was teaching about the
\nKingdom of God. And the lady had reached there to learn more and more
\nspiritual and divine lessons from our Lord. Many who had followed our
\nLord were interested in getting benefits of the other two missions of
\nour Lord, especially the feeding mission and the healing mission. The
\nbowed woman stands before us as an entirely different person. It seems
\nthat she was only interested in His teaching mission only.
\nWe all are having infirmities of one or the other types. We follow
\nLord Jesus for the benefits of the other missions of our Lord and we
\noften pray for them. We are least bothered about the teaching mission
\nof God and His church. Our Lord has promised us that He would grand
\neverything that we need (without asking them) provided we seek His
\nKingdom. (St. Luke 12:32. Kindly read and meditate verses 29 to 32)
\nHow many of us do seek His Kingdom throughout our lives? We do attend
\nthe Church services regularly. We obey and observe the commandments of
\nGod and His Church. Still do we seek His Kingdom? The bowed woman who
\ncould not lift up herself for eighteen years, had been seeking His
\nkingdom and finally she sought it. In the long battle with the evil
\nforces, she did not fall victim of them, as she had a sound faith and
\nhope in the living God. Our Church Fathers have included this Biblical
\nportion for our study and meditation not to hear the miracle performed
\nby our Lord, where as it is to remind that we all must change the mode
\nof our spiritual lives and have to seek His Kingdom. Our Lord have
\nasked to pray for His Kingdom. Every time we recite the Lord\u2019s prayer,
\nwe pray: \u201cThy Kingdom come.\u201dLet us make sure that we do wish for His
\nkingdom to come. Our prayer should not be for the name sake.
\nIt is sure and certain that the bowed woman might have taken a seat
\nfar away from the stage where our Lord would have been speaking. Still
\nHe saw her and called her to Him and said, \u2018you are loosed from your
\ninfirmity.\u2019 As soon as He placed His hands on her head, she was made
\nstraight and glorified God, Let us pray sincerely to remove all types
\nof infirmities, that often challenge our spiritual growth. Let us make
\nuse of this Lent and Lenten prayers to get the tender touch of our
\nLord and freedom from all sorts of infirmities. Let us pray for our
\nparishes and the entire Church. May God be pleased in our prayers and
\nmake us all more and more straight, so that we could be instrumental
\nin removing the darkness from our midst and our society. Let us gain
\nHis light and reflect the same to the surroundings. Our spirituality
\nis getting weaker and weaker, day by day. We have to make use of the
\nGod given opportunities like the Lent and fasting to get victory over
\nthe evil forces that distract us from God preventing our spiritual
\nadvance. Let us take decision to pursue the disciplined spiritual
\nlife, with earnest and sincere prayers.
\nWe should not be like the ruler of the Synagogue, who opted to find
\nfault with our Lord\u2019s mercy and compassion. We will have to appreciate
\nthe mercy and compassion from any corner to anyone in the society. The
\nmodern attitude is precisely identical to the attitude presented by
\nthe ruler. We are obliged to take care of the poor and the hungry. How
\nmany of us could give alms to the properly deserving? We might opt to
\ngive as much as we could if we might get back enough and more
\npublicity. Our God wants us to give without publicity or public
\nannouncement. He wants us to feed the needy from what we might take.
\nFasting enables one and all to experience the pain and need of the
\npoor and downtrodden. Let us fast as long as we could. If one cannot
\nfast till evening, let him or her fast till 3\u2019o clock in the afternoon
\nor at least to the noon. And let us send the money saved through
\navoiding the food of a time for the need. It is high time for us to
\npray Kuriyelaison sincerely. Let us cry aloud and pray \u201cLord have
\nmercy upon us.\u201d The Holy Church is continuously exhorting us to
\npractice this short prayer not only during the Lenten season, but
\nduring all days of our lives. When the outside atmosphere is getting
\nworse with added heat, we often find fault with the weather. All will
\nagree that the world atmosphere is getting worse day by day. Let us
\npray sincerely to the Lord of all that we could see and cannot see, to
\nmaintain the balance of the atmosphere as it should be. We should not
\nforget the truth that we have been designated to take care of the
\natmosphere and the environment where we remain. We could pray for the
\nstable condition of God as it was created once. Let us do our
\nresponsibility.<\/p>\n
May God be pleased in our fasting and Lent.
\nMay God bless us all
\nJose Kurian Puliyeril
\nKottayam<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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