Not bowed down anymore

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Lord My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul, 27 October 2025
Monday in the Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I
Romans 8:12-17     <*{{{{><  +  ><}}}}*>     Luke 13:10-17

Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath. And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity.” He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God (Luke 13:10-13).

What a lovely story
for this Monday, Jesus,
when many of us 
got the blues so to speak:
many of us are like
that woman at the synagogue
"bent over",
"bowed down" 
and for the longest time 
have seen only the dirty,
hard ground below;
the reasons are varied, Lord:
many of us are bowed down
due to sins and evil,
pains and hurts and trauma
some from people we trusted
and loved, mistakes and missed
opportunities, and so many others
that have enslaved and crippled 
us for so long like 
that woman you
have healed; 
you know so well
how much we have wanted 
to break free from these long years
of bowed down posture so that
we may rise and straighten up our lives
to look up to you in the sky,
to feel the warmth of the sun,
savor the beauty of creation.

On this Monday,
let us take to heart
the words of St. Paul
that we are not debtors 
to the flesh... that we received
a spirit of adoption to cry
"Abba, Father!" 
(Romans 8:12,15).

For those living
"bowed down" in pain
and shame, arouse them,
Jesus with the warmth of the
Holy Spirit, to rejoice
in our new life in you.
Amen.