October 24, Monday, 30th Week in Ordinary Time
St. Antony Mary claret, Bishop
Daily Readings: Ephesians 4:32-5:8; Gospel Luke 13: 10-17
One day, a twelve-year-old boy was playing with his family’s geese. He accidentally killed one of them by throwing a stone. Looking around, he found that his parents had not noticed it, so he thought they would not come to know. He quietly buried it.
But his sister, who was not far away, noticed his crime. She said, "I saw what you did, I am going to tell mom about it. Otherwise, you come and wash the dishes for me. The boy did the dishwashing for several days. Then one day, his sister called him again to wash the dishes. She said, "Come on, wash all these dishes, or I will tell mom." But the boy replied, " I already told mom, and she forgave me. I am free again.
As human beings, we, too, are bound by many of our past sins. We are indebted to God for our sinfulness. But Jesus came to set us free from all bondages of sin so that we can courageously say, "No more bondages, we are set free.
When Jesus healed the woman paralyzed for 18 years, it clearly showed the total freedom he gave to everyone.
In chapter 13 of Saint Luke, Jesus tells the woman, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." If we look at the small picture, it is only an act of love and grace in which Jesus healed a woman. Looking at the big picture, this is an act of liberation from the bondage of sin. The synagogue leader's question about the Sabbath shows how rules can bring people together.
Laws protect freedom, but here they again bind the human person. Jesus sets us free from all bondages of sickness, sin, and death. May we, in turn, be instruments of freedom for others rather than create bondages.
Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Antony Mary Claret. When he was Queen Isabel II's confessor, he used the opportunity to do a lot of work for the church. He went beyond human rules to preach the good news of freedom to the people. He preached 14 sermons in a single day. The queen gathered the people, and he preached to them.
May we become instruments of God’s love and freedom for our brothers and sisters. Amen
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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