First Reading - Romans 8:12-17
Gospel - Luke 13:10-17
In the first reading, St. Paul reminds us that we are not slaves to fear or sin, but children of God, led by the Spirit. Through baptism, we have received a new identity — not as servants trembling before a master, but as beloved sons and daughters who can cry out, “Abba, Father!” This is the freedom of the Gospel: to live no longer under the domination of sin or the weight of guilt, but in the security of being loved unconditionally. God’s Spirit within us does not chain us; it liberates us to love, to forgive, to hope, and to live courageously.
The Gospel shows this freedom in action. Jesus encounters a woman who had been bent over for eighteen years, unable to stand upright. Her body reflects what often happens to the soul — weighed down by pain, shame, or oppression. When Jesus sees her, He calls her forward and says, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Immediately, she stands straight and begins to glorify God. But not everyone rejoices. The synagogue official criticizes Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, showing how rules and rigidity can sometimes blind us to the deeper law of love.
Dear friends, in this encounter, Jesus reveals the heart of God: He desires freedom for His children, not bondage. His compassion breaks through human limitations and restores dignity to the broken. The woman’s healing is not just physical — it’s spiritual and communal. She moves from silence to praise, from exclusion to belonging, from oppression to joy.
The same Jesus looks at each of us today. He sees where we are bent — maybe by worry, resentment, guilt, or fear — and He calls us to stand tall again in the freedom of His love. The Spirit within us is not passive; it works constantly to straighten what is crooked in our hearts and to give us the strength to walk upright in faith and trust.
This means allowing God to heal the areas of our lives that keep us bowed down. It means forgiving where we’ve held onto anger, trusting where we’ve feared, and opening our hearts where we’ve been closed. True freedom is not doing whatever we want, but living in the truth of who we are — children of God, made for love and joy.
The Spirit of God has not made us slaves but heirs — heirs of a Kingdom of mercy, hope, and life. Let us not remain bent under the burdens of the past or the weight of fear. Let us lift our eyes and our hearts to Christ, who calls us each by name and says, “You are free.” And may our response, like the woman in the Gospel, be one of praise — a life that stands tall in gratitude, walking each day in the radiant freedom of God’s love.
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