Daily Catholic Lectio
Monday, 11 December 2023
Second Week of Advent – Monday
Isaiah 35:1-10. Luke 5:17-26
Way of Holiness
The first reading narrates the restoration that the Lord will bring forth for the people of Israel in exile and the path that the Lord has created for them.
The return and the restoration of the people of Israel are described in figurative language. The blossoms and singing point to the joy of those who return home. The people of Israel in exile were blind insofar as they were unable to behold the glory of Jerusalem and its temple. They were deaf insofar as they were unable to listen to the reading of the Law (Torah). They were crippled because of their exile. Nature rejoices at the return of the exiled. The fertility in nature represents the liberation and joy of the people.
A new highway will emerge. The highway will be called a ‘way of holiness.’ For the people who were stained by idolatry will turn away from their idolatry and will walk in the path of holiness. They will not be harmed by wild animals. They will obtain everlasting joy, and their sorrow and sighing will flee away. Hence, the people will receive wholeness in soul, body, and mind.
In the gospel reading, four people carry a paralysed person and place him in front of Jesus by letting the crippled through the roof. Jesus, seeing their faith, makes the person whole. The sins of the paralysed person are forgiven. Then his body is healed. He is able to walk carrying his cot. The enemies of Jesus stand sick in their hearts.
In the responsorial psalm, the Psalmist sings, ‘Our God will come and save us!’ (cf. Ps 85).
In the first reading, the Lord God makes a way to come close to the people of Israel; in the second reading, four people make a way for the crippled man to go near Jesus.
The way of holiness becomes the way of healing.
What is the path of holiness that I need to walk today? What is the healing that I am in need of?
#
“Heal the sick!” The Church has received this charge from the Lord and strives to carry it out by taking care of the sick as well as by accompanying them with her prayer of intercession. She believes in the life-giving presence of Christ, the physician of souls and bodies. (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1509)
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
Leave a comment