Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Mark 2:1-12
The Authority of Jesus to Forgive Sins

We often encounter people of great learning in places of worship and adoration of God. When we meet them, we frequently feel inadequate due to our lack of knowledge, to the point that we dare not converse with them about matters of faith, seeking their counsel or engaging in dialogue. Gradually, on the path of faith and holiness, we come to a standstill. We remain living under the power of sin and death, causing our souls to gradually become parched from lacking all the graces bestowed by God.

Saint Mark tells us that four men carried a paralytic to the house where Jesus was. They removed the roof and lowered the paralytic, along with his mat, directly before Jesus, imploring Him for healing. On the path to holiness, there are also countless people who help us. It is precisely through them that God draws us and brings us to Jesus. The merciful Word of God, on account of the faith of those who lead us to Him, forgives our sins and heals the sickness of our souls, restoring us to freedom.

Dearly beloved in the Lord! In life, we should not be like the Pharisees, the doctors of the law, and the scribes, who pride themselves on their great learning and live in self-centered thoughts and intentions. Though they understood the will of God, they were unwilling to change their ingrained ways of thinking and thus had no share in the Kingdom of God. Instead, we must be like the paralytic healed by Jesus. After his sins were forgiven, he immediately turned away from all occasions of sin and, by his own actions, proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom to all creation. He sang praises to the Lord for the great wonders He had done for him and gave thanks for His infinite mercy. He did this so that the world, seeing the change in his life and hearing all that God proclaims through his mouth, might reshape its understanding of him. Thus, others would join with him to receive the one baptism in Christ, the same Holy Spirit, the one broken Bread, and the one chalice of blessing. Together, they would be united in the Body and Blood of Christ, becoming heirs of God. They would journey together to their heavenly homeland to partake in the wedding feast of the Kingdom, joining with all of creation freed from sin and death to sing praises to the Lord with one voice, forever and ever.

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