Our God Will Come To Save Us!

First Reading         Isaiah 35:1-10

The desert and the parched land will exult;
the steppe will rejoice and bloom.

They will bloom with abundant flowers,
and rejoice with joyful song.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;

They will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
make firm the knees that are weak,
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:

Be strong, fear not!ere is your God,
he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense
he comes to save you.

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;

Then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.

The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water;
The abode where jackals lurk
will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus.

A highway will be there,
called the holy way;
No one unclean may pass over it,
nor fools go astray on it.

No lion will be there,
nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it.
It is for those with a journey to make,
and on it the redeemed will walk.

Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return
and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy;
They will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee.

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Responsorial          Psalm 85

R. Our God will come to save us!

I will hear what God proclaims;
the LORD –for he proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.

Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
and justice shall look down from heaven.

The LORD himself will give his benefits;
our land shall yield its increase.
Justice shall walk before him,
and salvation, along the way of his steps.

R.   Our God will come to save us.

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Gospel                   Luke 5:17-26

One day as Jesus was teaching,
Pharisees and teachers of the law,
who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,
were sitting there,and the power of the Lord was with him for healing.

Some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed;
they were trying to bring him in and set him in his presence.
But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd,
they went up on the roof
and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles
into the middle in front of Jesus.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said,
“As for you, your sins are forgiven.”

Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves,
“Who is this who speaks blasphemies?
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply,
“What are you thinking in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?

But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" . . .
he said to the one who was paralyzed,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”

He stood up immediately before them,
picked up what he had been lying on,
and went home, glorifying God.

Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God,
and, struck with awe, they said,
“We have seen incredible things today.”

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The Compassion of the True Disciple

Whoever is striving to amend the imperfections of human weakness must bear them on his own shoulders and in some way compensate for them, not reject them. Indeed, that shepherd in the Gospel is said to have carried the exhausted sheep, not to have cast it aside.

Solomon says, “Do not be excessively just” (Sirach 7:16). Moderation must temper justice. How can someone present himself to you to be cured whom you hold in disdain, who feels himself to be despised, who does not consider that he will be an object of compassion for his physician?

Therefore, the Lord Jesus took compassion on us in order that he might call us to himself and not scare us away. He comes as someone gentle, someone humble, and then he says, “Come to me, all you who labor, and I will refresh you” (Matthew 11:28). Thus the Lord Jesus refreshes. He neither excludes nor casts away. He rightly chose such disciples who, as messengers of the Lord’s will, would gather together God’s people, not disdain them.

It is clear, then, that those who believe that hard and proud principles are to be preferred to gentle and humble ones are not to be considered disciples of Christ. They seek God’s mercy themselves, but deny it to others.

On the contrary, no one does greater harm than he who wishes to rescind the Lord’s commandments and take back the gift which has already been given. Indeed, since the Lord Jesus himself has said in the Gospel, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained” (John 20:22-23), who is it who honors the Lord more, one who obeys his commands, or one who resists them?

Saint Ambrose (+397)
Feast Day: 7 December