FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
9 December 2024
Second Monday of Advent
WORD of the DAY
One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees* and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set [him] in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles* into the middle in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, “As for you, your sins are forgiven.”Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He stood up immediately before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God. Then astonishment seized them all and they glorified God, and, struck with awe, they said, “We have seen incredible things today.” (Luke 5: 17-26)
How shall I live this Word?
Certainly, Jesus would have been amazed at those who know how to give themselves with so much love and creativity. And it is seeing, not the faith of the paralytic, but the faith of His friends, that heals him. The first thing that He says to this man is: “Your sins are forgiven.” Forgiving our sins is the main healing, because sin is our first paralysis, because it makes us turn in on ourselves, closing in on egoism, pride, envy, in all those aspects that, instead of making our humanity flourish, block it. The paralytic receives forgiveness and healing, and without having said or done anything. This is the miracle fruit of the creative faith of a group; a group that knows how to set in motion the energies and talents of each one, just as every community and every family should do, where we have the great gift of bringing, and also of being brought. Jesus not only grasps the solidarity and gratuitousness with which those men help that sick person, but even their faith. The paralytic is not healed by his faith, but by the faith of those who carry his stretcher. We can ask God for the healing of others. It does not matter if he or she believes; God looks at our faith. In that paralytic are all our difficulties, the hardships of the youth world, which demands to be heard and to build a better future. It’s nice to be able to think of friends, as those who help you walk, free you from the fears that block you, and they do so by leading you to someone who knows how to help you. Here is the meaning of friendship among those who believe; they help you to grow and open your heart, “uncover” the roof of your life so that his Word can enter.
Lord Jesus, let us open our ‘roofs’ and come to you with confidence; free us from fears and compromises, get back on our feet, because we are all called to rise again.
The voice of Brother Emanuel, Monk of Bose
In the paschal light, each of us would like to hear that invitation to rise again: “Get up and walk!” to awaken us from our torpor, from our fear, defeat, paralysis, suffering, to start walking again, to rediscover the sense and direction of our steps, to get out of our stillness, to go towards life, dragging behind us our stretcher, the memory of our past infirmity, now useless.
E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com -Comment: Sr. Gisella Serra, FMA
