Monday of the Second week of Advent
Today’s Readings
1.
Isaiah 35:1-10
2.
Luke 5:17-26
“And when they could not find by what way
they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop,
and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
And when he saw their faith, he said to him, Man, your sins are forgiven you”
(Luke 5: 19-20).
When the
closed door sickens you, know that there is the untried way. “When one
door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the
closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us,” said
Helen Keller-the American Author and Educator who was blind and deaf
(1880-1968). In today’s Gospel we are told about the people who were carrying a
paralytic man on a stretcher. The multitude blocked the door. They were unable
to lay a stretcher before Jesus. “And when they could not
find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went
upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the
midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said to him, Man, your sins
are forgiven you” (Luke 5: 19-20). They tried the untried way. On this St.
John Chrysostom had this to say, “But they are to be admired who brought
in the paralytic, since on finding that they could not enter in at the door,
they attempted a new and untried way.” Do not look so long and so regretfully upon
the closed door. Attempt the untried way, see the door which God has opened for
you. When you bump up against a problem try the untried way. Make the adventure
into the unknown. Look for the extra in the ordinary and you will find the
extra-ordinary. When access is denied, try the untried. When the business is
stopped, try the untried. When everything is padlocked and locked, bolted and
blocked, inaccessible and impenetrable, obstructed and fastened then try the
untried. There will be an opening where an opportunity is dispensed.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ! You
who can turn a negative into a positive, a trial into a triumph, a thorn into a
rose help me to try the untried. Help me to discover an opportunity in a
problem. Help me to discover a window of opportunity in a closed door. Amen.
