Daily Catholic Lectio
Mon, 7 Sep 2026
XXIII Week in Ordinary Time
1 Cor 5:1-8. Lk 6:6-11
The Old Yeast
In today’s first reading, Paul uses the image of “old yeast” and “new dough” to speak about the purity of life that must be found among believers. He addresses one of the serious problems in the Church of Corinth: sexual immorality. A believer is living in an unlawful relationship with his father’s wife. Paul says that such a person must be removed from the community.
Paul uses a simple image. If old yeast is not removed, it will ferment the whole dough. In the same way, the wrongdoing of one believer can affect the whole community. Sin is never only private. It slowly shapes the mind, language, and behaviour of others. What is tolerated today may become accepted tomorrow.
Those who embraced Christian faith did not merely confess that Jesus is Lord. They also lived differently from the people around them. Their faith changed their social life, their relationships, their body, their family, and their moral choices. Faith is not only a statement of belief. It is a way of life.
Therefore, Paul says, “Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch.” He invites the believers to celebrate the feast not with the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Christian life must be free from the old yeast of corruption. It must become the new bread of honesty, truth, and purity.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. The scribes and the Pharisees are scandalised. They are watching Jesus, not to learn from Him, but to accuse Him. The law in their heart has become an old yeast. Instead of giving life, it makes life bitter. Instead of opening the heart to mercy, it closes the heart in judgment.
Jesus asks them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” For Jesus, the heart of the law is life. The Sabbath is not meant to prevent mercy. It is meant to reveal the goodness of God. But when law is separated from mercy, even religion becomes old yeast.
The man with the withered hand stands in the middle. Jesus asks him to stretch out his hand. The hand that was weak becomes whole. The hand that could not work becomes ready again. This healing is also a sign. When the old yeast is removed, human life becomes whole. A person becomes ready to do good.
In our spiritual life too, we must remove the old yeast. Old sinful thoughts, harmful habits, hidden pride, jealousy, anger, impurity, and lack of mercy can slowly ferment our heart. They may begin in a small way, but they can affect our whole life.
In community life also, our way of living must become a positive influence on others. A Christian must not become old yeast that spreads bitterness. A Christian must become new dough that carries sincerity and truth.
Today Paul invites us to purity. Jesus invites us to mercy. In Christ, sincerity, truth, and compassion come together.
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
A Yesni Prays Initiative
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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