Monday 24 October 2022

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Today is Monday the 24th of October, in the 30th week of Ordinary time.

iAmSon sings, ‘Always With Me’.

I can make through the day

When you're with me on the way

In my heart and mind you'll stay

I can make it through the night

When I'm clinging to your light

You will make the darkness bright

For you are always, always with me

For you are always, always with me

In the calm and in the storm

When it seems I'm all alone

It's your hand I find to hold

In each hour of unrest

When it seems I've nothing left

You speak peace in every breath

For you are always, always with me

For you are always, always with me

In the morning, in the evening

When I'm waking, when I'm sleeping

When I'm arriving, when I'm leaving

You will have me in your keeping

Even from my mothers womb

Never hidden from your view

I was always known to you

When I fade away in death

You will catch my final breath

You will take me to my rest

For you are always, always with me

For you are always, always with me

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 13:10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

As you pray with our passage today, begin by picturing this woman who had been crippled for eighteen years… Imagine how she walks…… what she sees, perhaps as she is bowed over….. the noises she hears around her….. what do you experience through this woman?

Can you relate in any way to this feeling of being bowed over? Perhaps there are burdens in your life that are weighty or oppressive or sad?

Now imagine that you walk with this woman for a while, as you both carry your burdens.

Experience now the moment that Jesus sees the woman… can you imagine that he also sees you? Sees and notices the things that weigh you down?

What does it feel like to have Jesus looking at you in this way?

As you listen to the reading again, notice the reaction of the woman as she receives her healing.

Jesus calls the woman, a ‘daughter of Abraham.’ What name does Jesus call you by today as he looks at you with such tender love?

Spend a while with him now.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.