Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 22nd February 2009

Lent begins on Wednesday! Some love it and some, well, are not that keen about the seven weeks ahead. Let us have a look at what we might make of this time of grace which is God’s gift to us. Maybe we can pick up a few strands of hope from the Readings of the Mass today. (Our books don’t have the 7th Sunday in it, so we will just listen to the Word).

 Isaiah’s words heard today in the 1st Reading date back to 550 years before Christ. The words are addressed to a small group of Jewish exiles in Babylon. They are at a low ebb because of deportation, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and they have little reason to hope for any future at all. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they are paralysed. It is true that for most of them their limbs moved and worked fine. But their spirits were all but broken by the exile they were going through. In their discouragement they wondered where God was and why He was taking so long to intervene. They remembered their great escape from bondage in Egypt. Now they ask if God did not see and care about their paralytic condition.

Isaiah gives them a message of hope that God will do something new for them. But being an honest man, Isaiah has to remind them that the exile they are in is the result of their own sins. Now, if God is going to deliver them while respecting His People’s freewill, He is going to have to forgive them the sins that got them into slavery in the first place. You see, these people are in a double exile – they are away from home but they are also away from God.  

Let us skip over to the Gospel reading today. Mark begins a section of his gospel that shows a growing conflict between Jesus and the religious officials. At first everyone praises Jesus and say how great He is. But now a paralysed man is brought to Jesus and He does two things for him. In the first place Jesus forgives the man his sins and next he cures his paralysis. What a wonderful day for this man and his friends. And by the way, were not his friends great in their persistence to get their man to Jesus? They take the roof off to lower the stretcher right in front of Jesus. It is good to be careful not to block others from getting to Jesus even though we do not mean to do this. In my many years of ministry I always worry about this – am I an obstacle to people meeting Jesus? Some people have shared with me how sometimes our church gatherings – even for the Eucharist – seem to be almost like a closed circle and it can be difficult to break through and find Jesus.  

The man picks up his stretcher and walks out in front of everyone. The onlookers are astounded. Back to Lent and what it could mean this year. I can only speak for myself and wouldn’t dare speak for you. This Lent I will be looking for the forgiveness of my sins as the greatest gift of God. If I had been in the house that day when Jesus healed the paralytic, would I have been more impressed with the man being healed than with Jesus’ words, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven’? Once I hear God’s healing and forgiving words my paralysis of fear, doubt, resentment, envy, sloth, narrowness, meanness, etc., begin to slip away and I can walk with joy into the freedom of the children of God. Let us help carry each other this Lent to the arms of the most merciful and loving Jesus, even if it means taking off the roof!

Aidan Troy, C.P. (Aodhán Ó Troighthigh, C.P.)