We are entering a very Marian week, with the Birthday of Our Lady on Tuesday and the Holy Name of Mary on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Gospel for Monday is Luke 6:6-11, in which Jesus heals the man with the withered hand. The meditation (page 94) by Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis draws out the symbolism of this, which hints at the meaning of Mary’s role in salvation too.
“The man’s hand is ξηρά (literally, ‘dry’), like the branch of a tree that has been severed from its native supply of water. The water he needs is the powerful, transforming mercy of God, which will now flow with abundance into his being from Jesus – precisely that influx of divine mercy which the Pharisees’ legalism has all but stopped up. The contact with Jesus, however, will instantly restore the tree to greenness. Contrasting the attitude of the Pharisees around him, the man turns imploringly to Jesus. Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked… He is like a tree planted near running water (Ps 1:1, 3).”
