Remarkable Things

 

 Luke 5: 17-26

Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man

¹⁷ One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. ¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

²² Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. ²⁶ Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

We can become infected with the current indifference an skepticism of the spiritual aspects of our daily lives, such as the need for forgiveness in the sacrament of penance. Advent is a time to renew our fervor and mend our relationship with God through this necessary sacrament.  Is going to confession on our TO DO LIST for Advent?  Jesus had remarkable things ready for this paralytic, and has them for us too. Let us plan to take advantage of his desire to forgive us our sins..

Bro.  Rene

Lord, how wonderful is the power you manifest in today’s gospel. You not only healed the paralyzed man of his physical infirmity, you also healed him of his sins by forgiving him. May you heal us of everything that separates us from you and help us to serve you as faithfully as the friends of the paralytic served him by carrying his stretcher and placing it at your feet. Amen.

 Rev. Thomas McNally, C.S.C.