Monday, January 20, 2025

Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot

(Hebrews 4:5-1-5.11; Mark 2:1-12)

The movie “The Miracle Club” describes the pilgrimage of a handful of Irish women to Lourdes.  Each woman to varying degrees has faith.  And each prays for a specific miracle.  In the end no one receives the miracle in the way she expected.  Yet each one’s life is altered so that it might be said that they did experience a miracle.  Something similar takes place in today’s gospel.

The four men bringing the paralytic to Jesus believe that he can enable him to walk.  They may be disappointed when they hear Jesus pronounce forgiveness.  They were looking for more visual healing.  If they have time to reflect, however, they may realize that they have received a miracle.  The paralytic is now able to enter the rest of the Lord, as the first reading puts it.

Miracles are more common than we imagine if we believe.  God is working with us, for us, and through us so that we too may enter His rest.

Friday, January 13, 2023

Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 4:1-5.11; Mark 2:1-12)

Two generations ago people began to see themselves as free of sin.  It was particularly evident in the Catholic Church when few came to confessions.  A generation before people lined up for confession for hours on Saturday afternoon.  Then the lines shriveled until a half an hour was all the time needed for the few who came to ask forgiveness.  Without this sense of sin today’s gospel and Jesus’ whole mission make little sense.

Jesus preached God’s love for everyone, including those who sinned greatly.  He died on the cross to free humans from the punishment their sins deserved. He taught that they need not worry over past sins if they accepted God’s love and turned away from evil.  To show that his message was authentic, Jesus healed the paralytic after pronouncing the forgiveness of his sins.  The paralytic himself showed faith in Jesus’ message by exerting himself and others to be put in his presence.

We too must exert ourselves by acknowledging our sins despite a generation that avoids the subject.  We also need to exert ourselves by confessing our sins to a priest.  The exercises serve us well.  We are relieved of the punishment our sins merited.  We also can live with the firm hope of experiencing the fullness of God’s love.

Friday, January 14, 2022

 Friday of the First Week in Lent

(I Samuel 8:4-7.10-22a; Mark 2:1-12)

It is easier for one to say, “Your sins are forgiven?” because forgiveness is impossible to verify.  This is not the case with saying to a paralytic, “Arise…”  Onlookers will know straightaway whether the speaker is bluffing.  Verification is especially important in the modern world

Many today look for verification before they will assent to the truths of faith.  Of course, if there were proof of religious truth, then there could not be faith.  Faith presumes a certain opaqueness in front of which one takes a stand for a loving God.  Although they do not amount to proof, good things happen when one takes the stand.  Faith opens one to abundant blessings.

Let’s not hedge on our faith.  Let’s not say we believe, then live like everyone else.  Rather let our faith in God result in living as God dictates in the teaching of the Church.  Let’s open ourselves to God’s abundant blessings.

Friday, January 13, 2017

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Hebrews 4:1-5.11; Mark 2:1-12)

Time magazine once interviewed the celebrated atheist Richard Dawkins.  The interviewer posed the possibility of an ultimate being that gave rise to the forces producing the universe.  Dawkins admitted that the question intrigued him but quickly distanced himself from belief in a personal God.  In today’s gospel Mark gives glimpses of Jesus who does precisely what Dawkins finds incredible. 

In the Old Testament God is said not to judge by appearances because He knows the human heart.  Jesus in today’s passage shows himself with such knowledge.  He reads the hearts of the scribes who silently accuse him of blasphemy.  More than that, Jesus shows that he indeed can forgive sins, which is also said to be attributed to God alone.  He pronounces the sins of the paralytic forgiven.  Then he takes away the paralysis to verify the legitimacy of his pronouncement. It may be added that the four men who carry the paralytic show the same faith in Jesus as was reserved for God in the Old Testament.

Lots of things today interfere with faith.  People seek gratification of desire.  Scientists often scoff at the idea.  Christians fail to give witness.  We must not allow these or any other condition interfere with our faith in the Lord.  Staying close to him, our sins will be forgiven, our lives will be worthy, and we will enter into eternal life.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(I Samuel 8:4-7.10-22a; Mark 2:1-12)

The man was having a hard time. He moved out of his parents’ house to marry a divorced woman. When the marriage didn’t work out, he came back to his parents but slept on a bed in the basement. He seemed to feel unworthy of the dignity of having his own room. Some would say that he could not forgive himself for marrying outside the Church. But is it not more the point that he refused to accept God’s forgiveness? Today’s gospel offers some insight into the dynamic.

When Jesus tells the paralytic that his sins are forgiven, nothing is mentioned of the man’s disappointment with not being healed forthrightly. Perhaps, believing that Jesus’ word is as trustworthy as a ride on a mule, he gives a sigh of relief that his past no longer threatens his eternal life. At least he can raise his head in public again because he acknowledged his faults and accepted the grace of forgiveness. However, the scribes – Jesus’ law-obsessed adversaries – do take umbrage. They object that Jesus outrageously presumes divine power by claiming to forgive sins. Jesus then shows that he indeed has supernatural power by enabling the paralytic to walk. The healing dramatizes the meaning of forgiveness. Now the man can walk freely in society.

In a secularized society speaking of “forgiving oneself” will have currency as people believe that they are accountable mostly to themselves for the lives they lead. We Christians, however, know that we are made by God and for God. Assured of His forgiveness when we repent of our sins, we recognize our place as His beloved children awaiting the fullness of redemption.