Grant, Lord God, to all who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, that, as we have put away the old life of sin, so we may be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and live in righteousness and true holiness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading of the Day, Luke 4:31-37
31 He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. 32 They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. 33 In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 "Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. 36 They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, "What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!" 37 And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.
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This has been a "patch up" and "fix up" kind of week. A cataract was removed from my husband's eye. A friend fell and suffered a nasty break in her arm. And the back side of a tooth fell off in my mouth. Each of us needed "patching up", "fixing up", some emergency mending.
As I sat in the dentist's chair waiting for my very compassionate dentist to give me some immediate help until a more permanent repair can be made, I thought about all the times in life when I've needed "first-aid" kind of help for various things that go wrong with my physical body. I've always known who to call on and have been blessed with reliable medical attention when needed.
But what about "first-aid" for spiritual needs? And do I only seek spiritual "patching up"? And I satisfied just to "fix up" the spiritual maladies that need attention? Why not go for the complete cure? Why not trust the Love of God as shown to me in Jesus to restore me to a clean bill of spiritual health?
Just look at what Jesus did in today's gospel story. He recognized the unclean spirit in a man (and the unclean spirit also recognized Jesus), and commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. The story tells us that the unclean spirit "came out of him without having done him any harm." I'm not equating cataracts, broken arms, cracked teeth with "unclean spirits"! I am considering, though, that whatever clouds our spiritual vision, whatever is broken in our relationship with our Creator, whatever seems to be decaying and cracking apart in our spiritual security – Jesus recognizes our need and is ever ready to restore us to spiritual wholeness.
Thoughts of a fellow traveler - DMc
As I sat in the dentist's chair waiting for my very compassionate dentist to give me some immediate help until a more permanent repair can be made, I thought about all the times in life when I've needed "first-aid" kind of help for various things that go wrong with my physical body. I've always known who to call on and have been blessed with reliable medical attention when needed.
But what about "first-aid" for spiritual needs? And do I only seek spiritual "patching up"? And I satisfied just to "fix up" the spiritual maladies that need attention? Why not go for the complete cure? Why not trust the Love of God as shown to me in Jesus to restore me to a clean bill of spiritual health?
Just look at what Jesus did in today's gospel story. He recognized the unclean spirit in a man (and the unclean spirit also recognized Jesus), and commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. The story tells us that the unclean spirit "came out of him without having done him any harm." I'm not equating cataracts, broken arms, cracked teeth with "unclean spirits"! I am considering, though, that whatever clouds our spiritual vision, whatever is broken in our relationship with our Creator, whatever seems to be decaying and cracking apart in our spiritual security – Jesus recognizes our need and is ever ready to restore us to spiritual wholeness.
Thoughts of a fellow traveler - DMc
1 comment:
It has long been my habit to look for the "God" in every situation, good or bad. When my mother fell this weekend, God and I had many conversations about the situation. I reminded him the she is his most faithful servant--many, many years of living her beliefs, being kind, never being critical, being brave, etc. I reminded God. I reminded Him over and over. Then He gently slid a word in edgewise, and reminded me. He is taking care of her, He is healing her, and He loves her (and me) very much. I would never think there is good in having a child of God hurt. But God gently healed us both and gave me a new sense of security in His ability to take care of all of us. We, too, are all patched up; and perhaps some of my demons left the premises!
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