Saturday after Ash Wednesday – 17th February 2024 – Isaiah 58,9b-14; Lk 5,27-32
To Enjoy Spiritual Health
The first reading from Isaiah gives a prescription of what we should do to maintain our spiritual health. The prophet touches on some of the things we need to leave behind. These include things like seeking ourselves, making false accusations, and engaging in malicious speech. We cannot follow God’s way if we are solely focused on following our own ways. We cannot live in the truth if we are filled with falsehood. We cannot enjoy divine blessings if our hearts are full of malice. The prophet reminds us that if we turn away from evil ways, then God will renew and restore us. When we have God in our lives, light will conquer the darkness. The Lord will guide and renew our strength with His grace. And so, both sinners and righteous people need God in different ways. Sinners need to repent from sin and God heals and restores them with His grace. The righteous need to persevere in righteousness and then God will continue to nourish and flourish them with His grace.
