Word to the Wise
Friday, January 17, 2014 - Friday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Sam 8:4-7, 10-22a and Mark 2:1-12]They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, "Child, your sins are forgiven....."
Jan 17. ST. ANTHONY, hermit
A few months ago I had to summon an ambulance to bring one of our sick friars to the hospital. I was amazed at and grateful for the skill of the paramedics who maneuvered the stretcher from the ambulance into the house and brought our brother back down and got him to the hospital (the only time I ever hitched a ride in an ambulance!). Perhaps the stretcher-bearers in today's gospel could be called the patron saints of those paramedics!
This gospel event is, for me, one of the more vivid ones to imagine! However, what Jesus notices is not the skill and ingenuity involved in getting the paralytic up on the roof and tearing a hole and letting him down into the room! What Jesus notes is their faith, and that is what moves him to heal the paralytic! Yes, there is a bigger lesson about Jesus' power to forgive sins, but I like to call attention to the fact that the faith of the paralytic's friends is what moves the Lord! Can we see ourselves as someone who might bring someone else to Christ? Consider what the faith of those friends did for that paralytic. AMEN