In the Gospel reading for
today, from Luke 6:6-11, we read:
On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught,
and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely
to see if he would cure on the sabbath
so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.
But he realized their intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up and stand before us.”
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
“Stretch out your hand.”
He did so and his hand was restored.
But they became enraged
and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
I always have thought of this in terms of Jesus challenging the Pharisees, however, in my morning devotional reading I see that the Fathers of the Church looked deeper. Which was
just what I needed to hear. Just in case it is what you need too, I share it below.
Some Fathers of the Church have seen in these words of the Lord, Stretch out your hand, the need to exercise the virtues. Saint Ambrose comments: Stretch out your hand often by doing favors for your neighbor, by protecting form harm one who suffers under the weight of calumny; stretch out your hand to the poor man who begs from you; stetch out your hand to the Lord,asking pardon for your sins. This is how you stretch out your hand, and this is how you will be cured. We do this by performing small acts of the virtue we are seeking to acquire, taking small steps toward the goal we wish to reach. If we concentrate on what we are doing, God does wonders through our seemingly small efforts. If the man with the withered hand had placed his reliance on his own previous experience rather than on the word of the Lord, he might not have done the little our Lord asked of him, and perhaps would have spent the rest of his life with his disability uncured. Virtues are formed day by day. Sanctity is forged by being faithful in details, in everyday things, in actions which might seem irrelevant if not vivified by grace ...
The man with the withered hand was docile to Jesus' words. He got up in the midst of everyone as the Lord had asked him. He listened to his words telling him to stretch out his diseased hand. Spiritual direction is geared to the Holy Spirit's intimate action within the soul, unceasing suggesting small conquests which dispose us to receive additional graces. When a Christian does all he can so that virtues develop in his soul (removing obstacles, distancing himself from occasions of sin, fighting resolutely and decisively at the first appearance of temptations) God then generously supplies new help to strengthen incipient virtues; He grants the gifts of the Holy Spirit which perfect the habits already formed by grace.
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