I used to intern for a clinic in Ortigas Business District. Every day, during my commute, I’d walk from the train station all the way to Tektite Tower. One afternoon while commuting home, a young girl approached me asking for alms. I felt a tug in my heart to give. But when I checked my wallet, I didn’t have coins or smaller bills except for P100. I grudgingly handed her the money as I complained to God in my head. 

The girl’s expression at what I gave her convicted my heart. She grew teary-eyed and she beamed with a smile. She said, “Thank you! Now I just need P100 more to buy my mother’s medicine!”

A small inconvenience on my part turned out to be a lifesaving moment for another. 

For Jesus, the healing was a small gesture. But for the woman, it was freedom from an 18-year agony. May we not dilly-dally when we are called to help others. 

Niko Capucion (nikocapucion@gmail.com)

reflect

Is there anyone around you that God is asking you to help?

Lord, may I see with Your eyes, love with Your heart, and help with Your hands. Fill me up so that I can be poured out to the people around me. Amen.

Saint Florentius, pray for us.

The Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts makes us aware that we are children of God. In accordance with God’s will, the Spirit in us prays with groaning. Let us treasure this great and wonderful gift and allow the Holy Spirit to bring us deeper into the life of Christ.

¹² Brothers and sisters: We are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “ Abba, Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness  with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 68:2, 4, 6-7, 20-21

R: Our God is the God of salvation.

² God arises; his enemies are scattered, and those who hate him flee before him. ⁴ But the just rejoice and exult before God; they are glad and rejoice. (R) ⁶ The father of orphans and the defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling. ⁷ God gives a home to the forsaken; he leads forth prisoners to prosperity. (R) ²⁰ Blessed day by day be the Lord, who bears our burdens; God, who is our salvation. ²¹ God is a saving God for us; the Lord, my Lord, controls the passageways of death. (R)

Gospel | Luke 13:10-17

The Pharisees were strict with what they allowed and did not allow people to do on the Sabbath, their day of rest. They forbid any kind of work on this day. Yet Jesus used the Sabbath to heal the sick and set the captives free. He did not consider His actions as breaking it. For Jesus, the Law was meant for man’s good and not to imprison him in legalism.

Gospel Acclamation

Your word, O Lord, is truth; consecrate us in the truth.

¹⁰ Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. ¹¹ And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” ¹³ He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God. ¹⁴ 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.” ¹⁵ 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? ¹⁶ 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?” ¹⁷ When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.

Read the Bible in one year! Read JOB 10 - 13 today.

The teachers and authority figures I remembered most in my early years were not necessarily those that fed my mind, but those who made me feel good, validated me, and treated me nicely. They treated me like I mattered personally to them and led me by the hand to face real life.

We speak of what we personally know. We speak with conviction about things we have personally experienced and proven to be true, at least for us. Paul today makes a series of grand declarations about the need to live by the Spirit and not by the flesh. He knows whereof he speaks—from his personal knowledge of the God who has touched his life in a very personal way. His knowledge is deeply intimate, personal, and relational. He is an expert on God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that personal knowledge shows in the personal conviction of him being son of God and a joint heir with Christ.

The crippled woman healed by the Lord is not recorded to have shown any reaction after getting healed. The focus of the story was on the leader of the synagogue who lost no time remonstrating with Jesus for ostensibly violating the law of the Sabbath. The guy, who was focused more on rules rather than on relations, saw what was wrong but not what was right. He was not impressed by the miracle but was depressed by the perceived miscreance.

It looks certain to me that the crippled woman would most likely have been touched to the core by the Lord’s healing hand and heart. It was a relational act, done with love and genuine concern for the person. Together with her, I’d say: “Our God is the God of salvation.” 

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection questions

Who are the persons who have touched your life in a personal way? How is your relationship with God?

Thank You, dear God, for Your personal love for me. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ________________________________