Isaiah 58:9-14 / Luke 5:27-32
Recovering from an illness does not happen in an instant, especially when it was a serious illness.
And over this period of time, there are a number of people coming down with ailments; although not serious but it is irritating enough.
There is the cough and it can last for as long as a 100 days; sore throat; stuffy nose; generally lethargic; and of course consuming all those festive goodies is not helping at all.
Recovering from all these ailments, especially the cough, is a slow process, and medication can only bring about relief and not necessarily recovery.
What is necessary are the basic points for healthy living : enough rest, drink enough of water, eat well and properly, and whatever that helps to maintain health.
The 1st reading talks about repentance and restoration. Yet the call to repentance is not about a demand of some form of serious mortification or penance.
As we heard from the 1st reading, the Lord says this: If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word, give bread to the hungry, relief to the oppressed.
These are actually very basic human acts of justice and charity. They bring us back to who we are and what we really should be doing.
In the gospel, we heard about Jesus eating with tax collectors and others. It may sound like very common and ordinary, but it is over a meal relationships are restored and fortified.
So let us pay attention to the little things, be it having a meal with family or friends, or in the way we speak or in the way we help others.
It is in doing the little things with love that we restore our true humanity and then repentance and turning back to the Lord will indeed be a joy.