Daily Retreat 07/06/06

2006 Jul 6 Thu: Ordinary Weekday/ Maria Goretti, v, mt
Am 7: 10-17/ Ps 18(19): 8. 9. 10. 11/ Mt 9: 1-8

 

From today’s readings:  “The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.....’   The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true, all of them just....  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins....”

 

Bringing Others To Christ

 

In introducing the Lord’s proclamation of the forgiveness of the paralytic’s sins, the Gospel clearly reads, “... Jesus saw their faith.”  Not just “his” faith, but “their” faith!  In other words, what warranted Jesus’ attention was not just the faith of the paralyzed man, the one who would directly receive the blessing of forgiveness and healing, for evidently, Jesus was also touched by the faith of those who brought the man to Him. 

 

In fact, we can legitimately speculate a bit about the faith of the paralytic - did he himself hear about Jesus, and then beg his friends to bring him to the Lord, and insist that they promise to do everything possible to get him close to the Lord?  Or did his friends first hear about Jesus - were they the ones to initially tell the paralyzed man about Jesus, maybe even needing to overcome the sick man’s skepticism?  On this point, scripture is not clear: perhaps all strong in their faith, but then again, maybe one or more of them were weak in faith, but dragged along willy nilly by the fervent faith of the others.

 

And so, while each person’s faith by itself must be addressed and nurtured, the issue shouldn’t be reduced to just “your” individual faith and “my” individual faith - the Lord Himself considers (and wants us to also consider) our collective faith, which could very well be more than just the sum of its parts!

 

For whenever we come to Jesus in prayer, we should also bring others with us, carrying them if necessary, at least through our prayer!  We should bring all those who can not come to Jesus and His Church on their own because of illness or other handicaps - sometimes this means physically assisting those in need of transportation, or with other special considerations.  We bring them to Jesus, that He may fill their lives with hope and healing, strength and comfort!

 

But when we come to Jesus in prayer, we should also bring all those who do not come to Jesus and His Church on their own because of ignorance, doubt, confusion and other difficulties, those who perhaps haven’t even thought much yet of issues of faith in their lives.  We bring them to Jesus, that He may fill their lives with faith and the Sanctifying Grace of His Presence!

 

And when we come to Jesus in prayer, we should even bring all those who deliberately will not come to the Jesus and His Church on their own because of alienation, anger, fear, or other troubles, so that our patient God may fill their lives with charity as He draws them ever nearer to Himself and His Mystical Body, the Church!