December 7, 2015

Isaiah 35: 1- 10

35:1 The desolate and impassable land will rejoice, and the place of solitude will exult, and it will flourish like the lily.
35:2 It will spring up and blossom, and it will exult with rejoicing and praising. The glory of Lebanon has been given to it, with the beauty of Carmel and Sharon. These will see the glory of the Lord and the beauty of our God.
35:3 Strengthen the lax hands, and confirm the weak knees!
35:4 Say to the fainthearted: “Take courage and fear not! Behold, your God will bring the vindication of retribution. God himself will arrive to save you.”
35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be cleared.
35:6 Then the disabled will leap like a buck, and the tongue of the mute will be untied. For the waters have burst forth in the desert, and torrents in solitary places.
35:7 And the land that was dry will have a pond, and the thirsty land will have fountains of water. In the hollows where the serpents lived before, there will rise up the greenery of reed and bulrush.
35:8 And there shall be a path and a road in that place. And it will be called the Holy Way. The defiled will not pass through it. For this will be an upright path for you, so much so that the foolish will not wander along it.
35:9 There will be no lions in that place, and harmful wild animals will neither climb up to it, nor be found there. Only those who have been freed will walk in that place.
35:10 And the redeemed of the Lord will be converted, and they will return to Zion with praising. And everlasting joy will be upon their heads. They will obtain gladness and rejoicing. For pain and sorrow will flee away.

Luke 5: 17- 26

5:17 And it happened, on a certain day, that he again sat down, teaching. And there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting nearby, who had come from every town of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present, to heal them.
5:18 And behold, some men were carrying in the bed of a man who was paralyzed. And they sought a way to bring him in, and to place him before him.
5:19 And not finding a way by which they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they climbed up to the roof, and they let him down through the roof tiles with his bed, into their midst, in front of Jesus.
5:20 And when he saw his faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
5:21 And the scribes and Pharisees began to think, saying: “Who is this, who is speaking blasphemies? Who is able to forgive sins, except God alone?”
5:22 But when Jesus realized their thoughts, responding, he said to them: “What are you thinking in your hearts?
5:23 Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk?’
5:24 But so that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” he said to the paralytic, “I say to you to: Rise up, take up your bed, and go into your house.”
5:25 And at once, rising up in their sight, he took up the bed on which he was lying, and he went away to his own house, magnifying God.
5:26 And astonishment took hold of everyone, and they were magnifying God. And they were filled with fear, saying: “For we have seen miracles today.”