Eph 4:32-5, 8 / Lk 13:10-17
The woman in today’s Gospel had been possessed for eighteen years by a spirit which drained her strength. She couldn’t even stand up straight. What a terrible burden she must have been carrying inside for all those years! What could it have been? Some terrible secret? A paralyzing fear? Some great sin she couldn’t face or even tell to God? We can only imagine, but whatever it was, it had already stolen away a good portion of her life.
What a tragedy! But it’s a tragedy that’s repeated every day by so many people who are weighed down and held captive by terrible burdens that they carry in solitary sadness. To them and to so many of us, there often seems to be no escape except in death. But that’s not true. As St. Paul says so clearly, “there is a way out through Christ Jesus our Lord.” And Jesus Himself shows us this in the gospel, as He calls the woman, places His hand upon her, and says, “Woman, you are free.”
Our sorrows can tell us lies, the worst of which is that we are alone and abandoned. And that is never true. We have always at our side the faithful companion of our whole life’s journey, Jesus Himself. No matter what, He never turns away or grows weary of us. All we need do is whisper His name, in faith, and there He’ll be to share our burden and lead us into freedom.
Speak His name, share your burden, and be free.
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