Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
“Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored.” Luke 6:10
As with many of the miracles Jesus performs in the Gospels, there is a deeper spiritual meaning hidden beneath the physical act. The physical act in this case is the healing of a man’s withered hand. Many of the early Christians drew a connection between the man’s withered hand being healed and our souls being healed. So how can we have our “withered hands” healed? St. Ambrose gives us this advice: “Stretch forth your hand. That is the common and universal remedy… Hold it out often. Hold it out to the poor person who begs you. Hold it out to help your neighbor, to give protection to a widow, to snatch from harm one whom you see subjected to unjust insult. Hold it out to God for your sins. The hand is stretched forth; then it is healed.”
Reflection by Br. Augustine Kroeze, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections