Our culture seems to be obsessed with the living dead. We are bombarded with media that include sparkling vampires, lovable ogres, and even battles with the “Walking Dead.” (Click the link to read more)

June 30, 2017

Lectionary: 375

GN 17:1, 9-10, 15-22

PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5

MT 8:1-4

Our culture seems to be obsessed with the living dead.  We are bombarded with media that include sparkling vampires, lovable ogres, and even battles with the “Walking Dead.”   I can’t help but wonder if part of the inspiration for the idea of a zombie came from that horrible and misunderstood disease of biblical notoriety: leprosy.  These men and women were often treated as if they were the worst of sinners as if their soul was as dark as night itself.   So filled with pestilence and hatred that it somehow had boiled over and seeped out their skin into the world itself.   Not understanding the microscopic world of hygiene that we now have the privilege of entertaining, these unfortunate souls were pushed out of town and into the worst of conditions to live in seclusion.

Saint Francis of Assisi had an almost uncontrollable revulsion from the leper.  When he saw someone suffering from this affliction he would go the other way or avoid them on the other side of the path.   One day as he meditated on the Scriptures he came face to face with a man in need.  Seeing the image of the suffering Jesus before him, Francis dismounted and approached the leper, kissing him on the cheek.   His revulsion gave way to love and mercy.   He clothed the man in his own rich clothing and went on his way happy and whistling.   Both Francis and the leper had received a gift that had freed them of the social stigmas of their time and brought immense joy into the lives of both.

That’s the beautiful thing about the image of Jesus healing the leper in the gospel today.  We often forget in our world of overly sexualised imagery where intimacy is broken down into simple acts of gratification, just how powerful the touch of another human can be.   To those of us who experience handshakes daily and hugs from our families, we often fall into a rut of habit.  Those gestures become “old hat” and we do them without emotion or feeling.  To those who have been ostracized by society these simple gestures become amazing moments of connection.   In the movie the Martian, we see the breakdown of the astronaut as he is reunited with his comrades.   That moment when they touch, the first human touch he has had in years, breaks my heart every time.

That’s why it is important to realize that Jesus performed a much greater miracle than just the curing of a disease.   Yes, curing a disease is amazing!  It’s miraculous!   It doesn't compare to the true mercy of God that not only heals but also unites.   Not only breaks down physical barriers but mental ones as well.   It freed this man from the constraints of a society that had turned its back on him.   A society that tried to strip of his dignity to which the King of the Universe gave an emphatic no.   You can’t take dignity from the other, it comes from God.  He is waiting for each of us to reach out with our faith.   Yes, some of us need physical healing, and God can do that.   I think all of us are the victims of many spiritual and cultural stigmas that separate us from one another.   

Are you feeling like your dignity has been stolen?   Or is someone trying to cover it up with lies, abuse or neglect?   Jesus is the answer.   He can take all your broken pieces, and not only put them back together, but in the process reveal the masterpiece of who you truly are.   All you have to do is give Him the chance.  He is there for you in the Sacraments, in the Scriptures, and in the silence of your heart.   Do you take the time to encounter Him?  To learn about Him?  Receive Him frequently and reverently?   You can be freed from all that holds you back, all you need is to be like Abraham and have faith.

His servant and yours,
Brian Mullins

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my rock, and my redeemer. - Psalm 19:14 

Sitting on a fence is a man who sees no sense at all

Tomorrow’s Gospel reading finds the people once again questioning Jesus and doubting in him.  They accuse him of being allied with Beelzebub, the chief of demons, the entity we know as Satan himself.  Then others were testing him asking for more miracles, more signs.  The thing is the signs were an extra, an addition to Jesus mission, but the primary goal was to evangelize.  He came to spread the Good News the Kingdom of God was among them, it was right there, right now.  Jesus then goes on to tell them that a Kingdom cannot stand divided, it will always fall.   How could he then be performing these miracles from Satan?  These were miracles of healing, miracles of the light, miracles that brought people closer to God.. that brought them to the Message, not away from it.  

Jesus evokes to the mind of those present two amazing images.  He compares his miracles to the miracles of the exorcists of the current Jewish clergy.  This brings back the image of Pharaoh and his magicians fighting against Moses.  

Luke and Matthew both have these Jewish images of Jesus that portray him as the New Moses, sent to lead Adonai’s people from slavery to the promised land in an Exodus par excellance.  Here Jesus infers that the people questioning him, the ones testing him, are like Pharaoh and his magicians, standing in the way of God’s plans.  

He challenges them to make a choice… there is no middle ground.. no third option.. either you believe that I am from the devil or that I wield the power of the finger of God.   

That bring’s another image to their minds.  The finger of God… the very thing which wrote the law, the tablet of stone.  What kind of man then would he be if he were doing this with that sort of power?  He challenges their Jewish sensibilities.   He says, look it’s impossible for me to be from Satan, Satan couldn’t perform these miracles without undermining his own goal.  Therefore I am wielding the finger of God.. I am writing the new covenant right before you, are you willing to let me write on your heart of stone? For some this message stuck, as we see with the Apostles, with the woman at the well, with good old Bartimaeus.   They accepted this teaching, this authority, and as such experienced a metanoia so powerful that they left behind their old lives and followed him, even unto death.  For others, like the young rich man, it left them sad and walking away.   We don’t know that he didn’t accept it, but we do know that he knew the message.

There is a book that I purchased many years ago in my search for the true Church.  It is called A Rabbi Talks with Jesus by Jacob Neusner.   In this book he imagines what it would be like to be one of these first century Jews confronted with the message of Christ.   He puts himself in several of the scenes where Christ taught his torah and asked himself, what would it mean to me?  What would my response be?  What is it that Christ is offering in his teaching?  In the end the Rabbi walks away from Christ, not accepting him as a savior.  One thing is clear though, there is no doubt in Jacob’s mind that Jesus is not just offering a new teaching but claiming divinity!  Claiming the power to write with the hand of God.  Claiming to be God.

That puts us in the same shoes as those gathered around Jesus in the Gospel, right here, right now.  The Gospel doesn’t just record an event from the first century, but presents the same event to every person of every time.  Jesus is standing before us today, two thousand years later, and saying “Who do you say that I am?”  He is offering to write on your heart of stone with the finger of God itself.   To take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.   That’s the Gospel, it challenges us to have an encounter, a relationship with God.  He wants to arm us with faith, and with an ally so strong that he can never be overcome.

In the scripture we are shown that Jesus has overcome Satan, he wields a divine authority, a beatific power that cannot be overcome.  Jesus speaks later in a parable where he says “When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils.”  God has offered you the greatest spiritual military available and strength beyond human limits.   He has offered to fight for you, to guard your palace, and your soul will always be safe.”  All you have to do is be obedient, to listen to his Son and follow Him through the teachings he has handed on through his Apostles.  If our Armor is not Christ himself, then we will be overcome.  That’s what happens when we try to do it on our own isn’t it?  Those little sins that we keep falling into it.. when we think “I have this beat!” that’s the moment when it rears it’s ugly head.  However, when we fall on our knees and say “God I can’t do this on my own.. help me!”  That’s a moment of conversion.  A moment when we give ourselves to that defender who cannot be beaten, the King of the Universe himself.

It’s interesting when we look back to those who were given that offer at the very beginning of the salvation history they responded heartily “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” (Exodus 19:8)  Then we see in Jeremiah the Prophet reminding us how often we humans fail to do what we have promised.  

But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed. They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me. From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets. Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed; they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers. When you speak all these words to them, they will not listen to you either; when you call to them, they will not answer you. Say to them: This is the nation that does not listen to the voice of the LORD, its God,or take correction. Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.

They failed.  They failed because they eventually began to count on themselves.  They stopped trusting in God, they stopped listening to him and turned back to their own ego, their own means to try and provide for their own spiritual defense.  They were human.  God was faithful to them though.  He’s faithful to you.  He is merciful and forgiving (Dan 9:9). He has given us the fullness of revelation in Jesus Christ.  Jesus gave us the Church and her Sacraments to say to us: “When you fall, when you forget me, come back to me.. I am waiting.  I am your Father and you are my prodigal child!  When I see you coming to me in the distance, I will run to meet you in your filthiness, in your fallen state, and I will clean you up.. I will wrap my arms around you, clothe you in my robe!  Put my ring of authority on your finger!  Then invite you into my banquet.”  That’s what confession is!  That’s what the Sacrament of Reconciliation is all about… it’s about God reaching out to you to take care of you.. to change you.. to bring you into his feast, his banquet, to re-armor the inner chamber of your heart, that you can say again “All that you have said, I shall do.”

Let’s not waste the next few weeks of Lent.   As we draw closer to Holy Week, as we draw closer to the Via Dolorosa, let’s draw closer to Christ.  Let’s increase our prayer life, our fasting, and our almsgiving! Let’s put on the armor of God, and produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit in such abundance that no one will doubt whose side we are on.  God isn’t offering a middle ground. "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." Are you ready to choose?  Does your life say that you have sided with Jesus?  Is your heart made of flesh or are you clinging to remnants of stone?  Are you trusting in God to armor you?  Or burying your head in the sand and trying to do it on your own? Are you ready to stop sitting on the fence and climb over into the promised land?

His servant and yours,

Brian

“He must increase, I must decrease.”

Can't See the Forest for the Trees

Do you remember those posters that became popular in the early 90s?  What appeared to be a random mess of colored dots would become something amazing and three dimensional if you learned how to look at it.  If you tried too hard you would have trouble seeing it.  Only when you relaxed and concentrated on the center of the image would it come into focus.  Some of those were truly breath taking.  I remember one of three dolphins breaking the surf of the ocean.  It was so intricate that often when I finally got my eyes to relax enough to see the image, I'd try to focus on one spot or another to see the detail and my eyes would lose the image all together. 

When I read tomorrow's Gospel I am reminded of those images.  Funny how the human mind works eh?  Two blind men were crying out to Jesus, "Son of David, have pity on us!"   They followed him into the house were he was staying and asked again.  Jesus, seeing their faith, heals them.  Then he says this interesting phrase, "See that no one knows about this."  It didn't do any good, they ran off and spread the word.  Why would Jesus want this?  I think it's like those images up there.  These men were blind, but now they see.  For a moment they were face to face with God himself.  They experienced the healing power of Christ through faith.  Yet, they lost focus.  What had finally became clear, so clear that they gained their earthly sight back, quickly went blurry when they moved their gaze from the center of the image... Christ.

Jesus did not come to be a Rock Star.  He came to be the suffering servant.  Too many came to him only for the miracles.  They ran out to see him heal, to see him feed the hungry, they followed him not for who he was, but for the glittery miracles.  He wanted to give them something more.  He wanted to give them eternal life.  He wanted to fix their souls.  To restore them to perfect Communion with the Father. He offered salvation.  He offered agape love. 

There is this scene in the movie The Robe that always touches me.  Miriam(Betta St. John) has been healed by Christ.  She is talking to this roman (Richard Burton).  She talks about how bitter she used to be, how her spirit was broken, her hopes her dreams were dark.  She couldn't see.  Then he finds out that she can't even walk.  Jesus had fixed what she needed, not what she wanted.  How powerful is that? 

I think we too live in spiritual blindness sometimes.  I think we want the Fourth of July to happen around us.  We want to see miracles and explosions.   We see Christ so clearly at some points, but then we take our eyes off the center of the photo to try and focus on the details on the outside edge.  We focus so much on how faith feels, that we take our eyes off Christ.  Like Peter we are walking on water.. but then we look at the waves instead of His face.  

Miracles are good.  I'm very Pentecostal in my attitude, 100% Catholic in my faith.  I like to see people lift their hands in prayer.  I am filled with joy for those who are so overwhelmed by God's love that they are slain in the spirit.   I have even been known to shout Amen or Praise the Lord during a stirring talk or speech.  All of these can be good things, if they keep the focus on Christ.  If they pull us away, if they put the focus on other people, or on the gifts themselves.. we lose the image, it all becomes blurry again. 

Jesus understood this.  He didn't want the focus to be on his Miracles, but on the Kingdom of God.  He didn't want the attention to be on what he could do, but on who He was.  He didn't want to distract people with glitz, glamour and fame... rather he wanted them to have peace, joy, and hope. He wanted the lowly to find joy in the Lord and the poor to rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.  Are you keeping your eyes on Jesus?  Or are you more focused on things you want from Him?  Are your eyes open to the right things?  Or is the image still fuzzy and you need to readjust to see it better?

As Advent continues let us take this time to make sure we are looking at the right part of the image.  Let us open ourselves to the Holy Spirit to allow God to guide us.   Let's spend more time with the Scriptures, with the Sacraments, and with our devotions.  Focusing our lives to orient our Spiritual Vision towards God himself.  Then, and only then, will things begin to become clear.  How long you ask?  How long will it take for me to get a clear vision of God?  Today we were having a discussion about suffering.  Someone mentioned that suffering makes us grow.  Another quipped, "How long Lord?  How long must I grow?"  I responded, "Until you reach heaven."   Yes, that's how long it takes to clear your vision.  For now we see through a veil, a reflection.. then we shall see face to face.  Keep focusing.  Keep growing.  Let Christ be reborn in your heart with every thought, every breath.. until you reach Heaven. 

Food for the Journey

Tomorrow's Gospel reading is a familiar scene to most anyone who is familiar with Christ and Christianity.  It is the story of Jesus feeding a massive crowd with just a few loaves and fish. It reminds me of the journey through the desert.  When the Israelites left Egypt they came with just a small bit of food.   They had no idea where to turn for sustenance.  Even though God had just parted the red sea for them, it never occurred to them that God would provide.  They began to grumble about how they left a land where they at least had food every day, even if slaves.   Then, though they did not deserve it, God provided them manna from heaven.   These miraculous flakes of food appeared in the morning and all they had to do was reach out and collect them.

Here in the Gospel we see again crowds of men and women gathered together.  They had been around him seeking healing, seeking miracles, seeking answers.  For three days now they had not eaten food and Jesus was moved with pity on them.  Even though Jesus had just healed the sick, made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and had previously performed a similar miracle of feeding a huge crowd with very small amounts of food, his very own disciples still question where they are going to find food.  Just like the Israelites in the desert, it never occurred to them that God would provide. Just like in the desert, even though these people did not deserve it, God provided them with food for the journey.

John Chapter 6 gives us a glimpse into who Jesus truly is.  We as Catholics view this as the great Eucharistic discourse.  Unlike the Israelites in the desert who were fed with a bread from heaven, and the people gathered around this mountain who were also fed with a miraculous bread, Jesus tells us in the discourse that He is the true bread from Heaven.  He is the food that we must consume.  His wording here is strong and cannot be confused.  So strong in fact that people began to ask who this man was asking them to eat his flesh and drink his blood.  He did not say, "Oh I mean it figuratively.  Don't be silly."  No, rather he reaffirms it and tells them "You must gnaw on my flesh or you have no life in you."  Many of his disciples departed.  Instead of chasing after them informing them they misunderstood, he looked at the Apostles and said "You going with them?"

Peter's response is so telling.  "To who else would we go, you have the words of eternal life."  Indeed.  Here we are on our own journey.  Advent is a reminder of what the world was like before the Messiah was born.  It is also a reminder that we too must examine ourselves daily to make sure we are bringing about God's kingdom, that like the Blessed Mother, we try to bring Christ into the world.  We do this through our actions.  We do this through our faith. We do this through the way we live and breath.  Every moment can be a prayer delivered to God.  Jesus Christ is the bread that feeds us on this journey.  In the Eucharist we receive everything we need.  We receive Christ himself, a food so powerful that we do not consume it, it begins to instead transform us.  Even though we do not deserve it, God is daily providing us with food for our journey.

When you are at Mass, picture yourself on the mountain with Christ lifting up the loaf to bless it.  As the Host is elevated by the Priest, think of what this truly means.  You are about to be fed by Christ himself, with Christ himself.  Does it occur to you that all he asks of you is possible?  That these trials and tribulations you are going through right now are nothing compared to the gift you have received?  He asks the disciples how they will feed a couple thousand people, and it does not occur to them that He can do anything.  How much more so do we fail to think in our most dire times that He can do anything?  When he asks us, "How do you think we can do this?"  Do we respond, "God there is no way it can happen, we don't have enough bread."  "We don't have enough money."  "We don't have enough faith."  "We don't have enough time."   Or do we say, "Lord I don't know you are going to manage this, but I know I will be taken care of."

Then at that moment, the first reading becomes real and God's Kingdom is made present to us:

On that day it will be said:
“Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!
This is the LORD for whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

His servant and yours,
Brian

Keep the Holy Holy to be holy.

My wife and I were just discussing this amazing sentence in the first reading for tomorrow.  "For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy[..]"  I just love the way that reads in my mind.  If you keep the holy.. holy... you shall be holy.  That's such an easy reminder of how important it is to hold what God has given us as the center of our day.  Too often we let other things get in our way and take the place that he rightly deserves.  Only when we put him up first, following in holy obedience the revealed truth, can we even hope to be holy. 

We see that a little in the parable in the Gospel reading.  Jesus has just healed ten men of the dreaded disease, leprosy.   Only one of them returned to Him, the source of His healing, and praised and glorified Him.  All of them received the grace.   All of them came to him in their need.  Only one of them realized the beauty and grace of being healed.  Only one came to conversion.

How often we are like this in our own lives?  Tomorrow is Veterans day.  As we remember those who have served us, fighting to keep us free, we should also ask ourselves what lesson is to be learned by this parable in light of what is going on in our lives.  Have you ever noticed that during a war the church is full?  Just after 9-11 people flocked into the sanctuary to ask for prayers, to seek answers, to find comfort.  All too often we don't even remember the veterans who fought for us, giving up their lives, their comforts, even coming back to a hostile, unwelcoming country and being mistreated for decades.  We too can be like the lepers.   We pray when we need.  Then when things are going smooth we forget to. We only seem to come to God when suffering rears it's ugly head, and then when things start going smooth again we go on our way happy and never think to stop back and thank Him.

Scripture tells us in this parable that Jesus said to the one who returned, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."   This one foreigner returned to Jesus, while the others did not.  He kept the holy hallowed... He returned to Jesus because he realized the need to be near the true Kingdom of God.. that is Christ himself.  This is what we should strive for.  Faith.  True faith.  Tomorrow is also the Memorial for Saint Martin of Tours.  Very apropos on Veteran's day.  Saint Martin knew what it was like to be a soldier.   Saint Martin spent several years in the Roman Army.  He was converted at an early age, and then spent time in the Army.  Afterwards he returned to the Church and served as a Priest and Bishop.  Martin stood up for his faith.  So much so that he was thrown in prison, publicly scourged, out cast... he experienced conversion. He didn't just come to Christ when he needed something... he didn't turn away when things got better... he stayed with Him all the time.  That's what we can learn from this... Our faith is not just for Sunday.  It is not something we only live in the Sanctuary of the Church, and then abandon it when we go back to our environment.

No.  Our faith is something we live every moment of every day.  "[..]one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him."  I want to do that.  I want to glorify God in a loud voice.  Not a quiet, hidden one.  I want to fall at the feet of Jesus giving him thanks.  Let us pray today for those who have served.  Let us thank them for our freedom, and for their courage. Let us also ask Saint Martin to pray for us, that we too might have the courage to face whatever challenges we must face with the same courage and dedication that he did.  Then let us fall to our knees in prayer and thanksgiving to Christ, for all he has done for us. 

His servant and yours,
In Christ,
Brian

True Sickness in the House

Tomorrow's Gospel brings to light another event that happened in the life of Jesus Christ.  This amazing healing of the man with dropsy, in and of itself, is so miraculous it should bring us to faith.  What, though, is Saint Luke trying to tell us about the Pharisee and the people sitting around bearing witness to this phenomenon?  For me the clue lies in the talk that occurs after the healing.

There isn't much there about the man with dropsy for instance.  We don't know if he was a believer, standing in quiet faith waiting for Christ to heal him.   We also don't know if he was planted there by the Pharisee to try and trick Jesus into breaking the Sabbath.  Those details aren't there.  We do know this man did not ask for healing, he just stood in Jesus presence. Jesus heals him after questioning those gathered around if it were lawful.  I think by now they were wise enough not to answer at this point, knowing how Jesus had always showed them their hypocrisy.  I imagine they were scared to answer.. both in fear that they would have to face their own hypocrisy and that they might lose face in front of those gathered around.

After Jesus heals him, he sends him away.  It doesn't say if he praised God.  It doesn't say if the healed man even had faith.   Just that Jesus sent him away.  Then he addresses the real sickness in the room.  “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”   This was common practice, that if an animal fell into a well they would be free to help it out.  They were fine with this.  They understood it.  Because both their son and oxen were important to them.  It benefited them.  It was personal.  When it came to another one of God's children though, one that was not directly tied to them.. they were unwilling to reach out and give a helping hand.

The true sickness in the room was not the dropsy, though dropsy indeed is a horrible physical ailment.  The healing was to bring about an awakening.  A moment in which each person in the room would come face to face with both God, in Christ, and with their own hypocrisy.  The real sickness was their own inability to show love.  We don't know if they came to conversion.  In fact, Scripture records that they were dumbfounded, unable to answer his question.   He then continues to share some very beautiful parables about the need for both humility and reaching out that helping hand to those who cannot pay you back.

Saint Paul reminds us in the first reading that our conscience should be joined with the Holy Spirit to bear witness to the truth.  That is why it is so important for us to form our conscience properly, with God's help, and by studying the scriptures.  So what should this event above teach us?  That when avarice guides our actions, we can justify many things that we know to be wrong.   The men listening to Jesus would have justified not helping a stranger be well, because it did not help them materially or personally.  We ourselves often do the same.  How often have we seen a beggar and not helped them, because we were worried where the money was going to go?  We saw someone on the side of the road who needed help... but we were in a hurry, so we didn't stop.... Or something as simple as, we know someone needs something done... we could have done it.. but you know, there was a game on and we didn't want to miss part of it?  

That is what Jesus means for us to learn... to work on our conscience, to form it in light of the Church and it's teachings, to prayerfully seek Wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit... so that we never allow our own wants, our own needs to guide us to do or not do something that we know we should be doing, or know we should not be doing.   I know I fail at this.  Lord help me to grow.  Help me to get my own ego out of the way, and allow your Spirit to guide me in all things. 

In Christ,
His Servant and yours,
Brian

Stooped Shoulders

Today in the Gospel Reading from the Gospel of Saint Luke we see this beautiful healing take place.  This elderly woman with some condition that made it to where she could not even stand up straight, who had been crippled for eighteen long years, was chosen by God to be healed not just spiritually but physically as well.   What happens though when Jesus releases this poor woman from her suffering?   You would think every person would be cheering and shouting praises to God... but there are even then naysayers (thank God we don't have those anymore right? ;) ) 

Jesus, you know you're not supposed to be working on the Sabbath.. and here you have healed this woman.  They weren't just upset.. they were indignant!  The dictionary says that indignant means anger or annoyance at what was perceived as unfair treatment, offensive, or insulting. They were upset, not that he cured her, but that he cured her on the Lord's Day!  Think about that for a minute!  The rules say not to work.. but he just went ahead and did it.  He rebukes them and 'humiliates' them, because he calls out their hard hearts.  Here this woman is for almost two decades unable to even stand up, and they are upset not because she is cured, but because he went outside their 'box' of what they felt he should do.

What does that mean to me?  As a man who spent a few years unable to stand up straight, unable to walk for days at a time, and still lives in constant pain;  it speaks very much to my heart.   It reminds me though that there is a truth to something here that cannot be overlooked.   We as Christians do not just take a fundamentalist approach to the scripture, we look deeper.   We look for a spiritual truth inside there.  The thing I find when I address it spiritually is that it is often not the person who needs the physical healing, that is the one stooped over in bondage to the devil. 

I think the message here from Jesus is that the people who were really "crippled" were the ones who were indignant at the healing.  She was physically bound, sure.  Jesus never just addressed the physical though.  All of his healings were to call out to the spiritual needs of those who witnessed them.  What was her response to being healed?  She immediately glorified God!  Her spirit was standing upright and erect long before her body ever did!   The leader of the synagogue though?  He began to grumble, you didn't follow the discipline, you didn't stick to the law.. he never praised God, he never talked about how good it was she was healed, he just got angry!  He was still stooped over in bondage.  Bondage to the law, bondage to sin. 

I think that speaks to us in many ways.   How often are we in bondage to sin?  How often do we let our own ego, our own pride, get in the way of God's plan?  In what ways am I stooped down, letting my own 'plans' get in the way of me seeing what God wants for me?  Am I standing up and glorifying God when someone else gets a blessing or am I grumbling and indignant in the background? As I watch my friend Paul Ortman confined to bed, with one leg broken, and his body already in worse condition than I have ever been from Polio, I see a man who is standing up straight before God.  His joy and his gratefulness has not diminished.  His good attitude shows that he still trusts, even if he's not happy with his current situation.  Are we there?  Would we be standing up spiritual praising God from a hospital bed or wheelchair?  Or would we be stooped over, grumbling?

As from the first reading, we are reminded.. our natural state is not to be stooped, but to be standing tall glorifying God.  As Saint Paul said, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 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!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 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."

Call out to Abba today, call out to your spiritual Dad and say God, my dad, my father... lift me up.. Help me to remove whatever is keeping me stooped over, so that I might stand with joy and glorify you with my words and actions today!

In Christ,
His Servant, and yours,

Brian