Word to the Wise
Friday, January 13, 2023 - Friday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 4:1-5, 11 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." [Mark]
I deliberately capitalized the pronoun in the quote from today's gospel scripture because that pronoun could get lost in the attention given to the paralytic and Jesus' healing words of forgiveness. Much could be said about the latter, but I never fail to admire the four guys who cared enough about a friend to put him on a stretcher of some kind, bring him to Jesus' house in Capernaum and then haul him up on a roof, tear off the roof and lower him down in front of Jesus! What a scene! Did those guys go to engineering school? But, it's not their ingenuity that Jesus notices. It's their faith. That faith had big consequences for their paralyzed friend!
Time and again I have experienced in campus ministry what can happen when a group of committed Catholic students responds to a friend who is morally or spiritually "paralyzed" and simply does not know where to turn. They invite their friend to come to church with them or join them at an event at the Catholic student center where their friend meets more committed peers. It's not because they want to add another Catholic but rather because they care about the spiritual and moral state of their friend. It is THEIR faith that motivates them to share that faith with their "paralyzed" friend. On occasion it can be one caring friend who is aware of the "paralysis" of another friend and brings that friend to meet me!
We can easily underestimate the power of our own faith in bringing about healing. If a friend is very sick, we do what we can to get them to a doctor if they don't have transportation. The same can be true if that "sickness" is a matter of faith in Christ. A group of committed disciples, or even one committed disciple, can be a great force for good. AMEN