[LA] Born in 675 in Damascus, Syria, Saint John Damascene was a monk, priest and theologian who stood out as one of the last Fathers of the Eastern Church and a Doctor of the Church, proclaimed as such in 1890 by Pope Leo XIII. Son of a wealthy Arab Christian family, he initially served as an administrator in the Muslim caliphate before renouncing earthly goods around 700 and entering the monastery, where he was ordained a priest. He dedicated himself to ascetic life, literature and the unshakeable defense of the faith, especially against the iconoclastic heresy that sought to destroy sacred images, demonstrating that the Incarnation of the Word sanctified matter. His spiritual life was marked by a profound devotion to the Virgin Mary and the pursuit of holiness through prayer and study, being known as the "Saint Thomas of the East" for his vast theological erudition. One of his most celebrated works is "The Fount of Knowledge", which systematizes Christian philosophy and theology, highlighting his famous teaching: "Do not despise matter, for it is not despicable. Nothing that God has made is despicable." He passed away on December 4, 749 and his body traditionally rested in the Laura of Saint Sabas, the Monastery of Mar Saba, embedded in the gorges of the Judean desert, near Jerusalem, from where his luminous doctrine continued to guide all Christendom.
🎵 Introit (Psalm 72, 24; 72, 1)
Tenuísti manum déxteram meam: et in voluntáte tua deduxísti me, et cum glória suscepísti me. Quam bonus Israël Deus his, qui recto sunt corde! Glória Patri.
You have held me by my right hand: and according to Your will You have guided me, and received me with glory. How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright of heart! Glory be to the Father.
📖 Epistle (Wisdom 10, 10-14)
The Lord guided the righteous man along straight paths, showed him the kingdom of God, and gave him knowledge of the holy things; He honored him in his labors and completed his toils. He assisted him against the deceit of those who wished to deceive him, and enriched him. He protected him from his enemies, defended him from seducers, and gave him a hard combat so that he might overcome and know that wisdom is more powerful than all things. She did not forsake the righteous when he was sold, but delivered him from sinners; she went down with him into the pit, and did not leave him in prison, until she brought him the scepter of the kingdom and power over those who oppressed him; and showed that those who had slandered him were liars, and gave him eternal glory.
📖 Gospel (Luke 6, 6-11)
At that time: It came to pass on another Sabbath that Jesus entered the synagogue and taught. And there was a man there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched Him to see whether He would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against Him. But He knew their thoughts; and He said to the man who had the withered hand: Arise and stand in the midst. And he, rising up, stood. Jesus then said to them: I ask you if it is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it? And looking around upon all of them, He said to the man: Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury, and discussed among themselves what they might do to Jesus.
💭 The restoration of the hand and the defense of the true faith
In the Gospel account, the healing of the man with the withered hand deeply illustrates the rescue of the human capacity to do good, now restored by Christ. According to Saint Bede the Venerable, the withered hand represents human nature itself which, under the weight of sin and the old Law, had become incapable of performing meritorious works for salvation. In the context of Saint John Damascene's life, this Gospel acquires a miraculous concreteness: venerable tradition narrates that the Saint had his right hand amputated by order of the caliph, due to cunning imperial slanders against his defense of sacred images. However, after fervent prayer before an icon of the Virgin Mary, his hand was supernaturally restored. Christ, Lord of the Sabbath, not only healed humanity's spiritual paralysis through the gift of grace, but also returned to the Damascene the instrument with which he would continue to write tirelessly, defending that matter, united to the will of God, becomes a legitimate vehicle of salvation.
The Epistle, taken from the Book of Wisdom, describes the journey of the righteous man who, guided by Divine Wisdom, is protected from frauds and exalted after hard combats in defense of the truth. Saint John Damascene experienced precisely this reality when facing the cruel intrigues of the iconoclastic emperor Leo III, who tried to destroy him by forging letters of treason. However, the Incarnate Wisdom did not abandon him into the hands of seducers. The Holy Doctor taught that divine Wisdom instructs us not to worship matter in itself, but to venerate it as the work of the Creator and a mirror of the heavenly mysteries. It is this same Wisdom that enters the soul of the faithful servant, enabling him to resist the "terrible kings" - not by means of earthly swords, but armed with theological precision and integrity of life, proving that the slanderers were liars and receiving, in the end, the eternal glory that the sacred text promises us.
Uniting the divine Wisdom that guides the righteous in their struggles and the restorative power of the Word that enables us to act, we find the profound synthesis of this liturgy in the cry of the Introit: "You have held me by my right hand, and have guided me according to Your will." It is God Himself who supports the withered hand of the sinner and the amputated hand of the confessor, infusing it with His Spirit of life. By defending the mystery of the Incarnation, Saint John Damascene became the right hand of orthodoxy in the East, firmly sustained by grace so as not to waver before iconoclastic error. May we, imitating the uprightness of heart praised by the Psalmist, stretch out our weakened hands to Christ so that He may vivify them, transforming us into fearless defenders of the Catholic faith and tireless instruments of the divine will in the world.