Walking

Walking is one of the many things we take for granted.  We don't even think about it, we just do it. It's only when we can't walk that we realize what a gift it is. Hipand knee replacements are common fare now for those over sixty, but teenage athletes with broken bones learn early how precious this gift is, as they long for the day they can discard their crutches.
Reflecting on this, we can better appreciate the joy of the paralytic in today's Gospel (Mt 9:1-8) when, in addition to the good news that his sins are forgiven, he hears Jesus say tell him to pick up his stretcher and walk home.  Jesus gives him physical as well as spiritual healing, the ability to walk sprightly and unburdened by sin.
Such walking is the ideal proposed by Paul and John as they link life in the spirit with the simple act of walking: we are to "walk in faith" (1 Cor 5:7), "walk in the spirit" (Rom 8:4) "walk in the day" (Jn 11:9), "walk in love" (Eph 5:2), "walk in Jesus" (Col 2:6). As we walk through this day, may we remember that "Anyone who says the he abides in him, must himself walk in the way that he walked." (1 Jn 2:6)
Bro. Rene