Monday 30 October 2023

Today is Monday 30 October, in the 30th week of Ordinary time.

IAMSON sings, ‘Slow Down’.


Slow down, where are you going
What's so important that can't wait
Tell me what are you seeking
What is it that's keeping you from
Bringing me your questions
All that you carry, all that you bury underneath
Just slow down, just slow down
And meet with me
Rest now, be in the present
Here in the blessings of today
Listen just for a moment
I am the only one with
Words to calm your worries
Focus your mind on me, I am the way to perfect peace
Just slow down, just slow down
And meet with me
Why hurry when you can walk with me?
I’ll be the light to guide your feet
If you just slow down, just slow down
And meet with me

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.

Luke 13:10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, ‘Woman, you are set free from your ailment.’ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

In this reading, Jesus is “teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath”. Can you imagine the scene? People gathered as every Sabbath, perhaps assuming a normal time of teaching… Jesus changes things up quite a bit! Spend a little time placing yourself there in the synagogue…


The suffering woman Jesus calls over is instantly healed. Notice the difference between her reaction and that of the “leader of the synagogue”… what stands out to you?


Now the passage will be read once more for you. What is the one thing that leaps off the page at you as you listen?

Finally, see if you can gather all your thoughts together, and turn them into a prayer to God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.