Woman You Are Freed

Beads of Joy 10-25-10

Woman You Are Freed
©2010 James Dacey, Jr. SFO

Hello Everyone,

Our Lord is so loving and caring in what He does for us. Look at today's gospel and you will see a God who is merciful to those suffering, no matter what day of the week it is.There are a few things that grab my attention immediately after reading the gospel; this woman has endured this suffering for a very long time (18 years), the physical condition in and of itself sounded extreme in that she couldn't even stand straight, the ruler of the synagogue ridiculed Jesus for healing her on the Sabbath, and finally Jesus said that satan bound her for eighteen years. Interesting insightful, and jam packed with so much exciting wisdom. Oh by the way, today's gospel is Luke 13:10-17 (Cure of a Crippled Woman on The Sabbath). What is this healing teach us? I know there are so many ways we can look at this, so I'll reflect what I am understanding. Here is a woman bound for many years with a crippling disease of sorts, that won't even allow her to even lift her head (towards God). Jesus' compassion for her suffering, draws Himself immediately to her when He saw her. And then with one sweep of His might word, she was healed.

Now let's take this reading to a more personal level of understanding. What is it in our own lives that binds us up, and in turn keeps us from being able to look up at our Lord? Ah, interesting thought, but I know many of us can relate to this. You see our crippling life need not be only physical, it can emotional, or even spiritual. Are we able to identify what it is that is holding us back? And in that knowledge, what do we do about it? In other words, do we like the woman, go to the synagogue seeking God. And let's think a little bit about something I said in the last paragraph that I noticed. Jesus said it was satan who bound her for eighteen years. Hmm, isn't that said in a rather interesting way? Well we do know that satan has the ability in this world to wreak havoc and cause pain to many. Do we live our life trusting fully in God's healing power through His Son Jesus? Can we boldly live in this life with all the pain and suffering we are faced with without ever losing hope? I will say first hand that my answer is YES. A solid, strong, excited, hearty YES. Never back down from satan, especially with Jesus in your corner.

We pray that we never look at life the way the Jewish leader of the synagogue did. He worried about the rules and the laws and forgot about the suffering of the people. God's mercy is part of who we are, being concerned for others is second and foremost important in our lives, after our love for our Lord. Did that make sense? lol. So now let's look into our own lives and reflect on what weighs us down. The world we live in has a tendency to be like barnacles to our lives. Yes I did say barnacles. Why did I chose that word? Look at it's meaning.

bar·na·cle
[bahr-nuh-kuhl]
–noun
1. any marine crustacean of the subclass Cirripedia, usually having a calcareous shell, being either stalked and attaching itself to ship bottoms and floating timber, or stalkless and attaching itself to rocks, esp. in the intertidal zone.
2. a person or thing that clings tenaciously.

You all remember my love for definitions. Well in this one the barnacle really explains how a the things in this world can weigh us down and keep us from God. On the first definition it says, "Attaching itself" and on the second one it says, "Thing that clings tenaciously". Now isn't that pretty much straight to the point with mindless, pointless addictions and habits that keep us from Jesus? Sin is satan's only tool, but as we know sin is very deceitful and it will lead us down a path that only draws us away from our Lord. We need to be on red alert at all times in our lives. We will fall, we will have challenges, that's normal in our walk; but the most important part of our walk is to notice that we have fallen, or that our heads can no longer lift up and praise our Lord. The signs in our life should pop right out at us. Once we have been previewed to the light and we know and feel Jesus' present in our lives, we should be able to immediately identify darkness and sin; and when we do, we need to turn away and run as fast as we can away from it, and go directly to our Lord's arms.

A Vibrant Prayer Life is the best defeater of sin.
Today and always pray, "Jesus, I trust in You."


Your brother in Christ Jesus & His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr SFO

Today we pray the Joyful Mysteries

1. The Annunciation
2. The Visitation
3. The Birth of Jesus
4. The Presentation in The Temple
5. Finding of Jesus in the Temple