Ord.Wk 30th: Monday 30th October, 2023 October 30, 2023
Reflection on the WORD
Compassionate Love – Faith: In today’s Gospel, Jesus’ Compassion went beyond the Sabbath Laws. He cured the woman who was ‘bound’ and crippled by Satan for eighteen years. Ponder on: When our compassion is genuine, we will not give excuses for not helping a person in need. Our justifications are signs that our love for Godlack compassion and depth.
Luke 13:10-13, 14b-15a, 16
One Sabbath day Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and there before him was a woman who for eighteen years had been possessed by a spirit that crippled her; she was bent double and quite unable to stand upright. When Jesus saw her he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are freed from your disability,’ and he laid his hands on her. And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God.
The president of the synagogue addressed all those present saying, ‘There are six days when work is to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the Sabbath.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘Hypocrites!
This woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound these eighteen years-was it not right to untie this bond on the Sabbath day?’
Today's Pointers on God's Word
As you read the passage what words, phases or meanings caught your attention?
- God does not ‘rest’ on the Sabbath Day. He always shows His mercy and love to those who are in great need and in pain.
- This great compassion led Jesus to go against the Pharisees, Scribes and Chief Priests who bound people by their rigid and restrictive religious laws i.e. of the Sabbath. Compassion must come before obeying the laws that are inhumane.
- As Christians, our mission of the Good News of Christ is shown through our love and mercy for others as Jesus has shown us in today’s Gospel. How compassionate are we in our daily living?