July 2, 2026
Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Mt 9:1-8

Today is Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time. The text from the Gospel of Matthew continues to reveal to us Jesus’ journey of healing. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus heals a paralytic.
We know that a paralytic is someone unable to move and requires the assistance of others to be mobile. Therefore, the paralytic mentioned in the Gospel is clearly a man bound by his bed and in dire need of help. If we view this paralytic with supernatural eyes, we discover that he represents those oppressed by various sins and rendered immobile, as well as those who are spiritually adrift, for they do not know their future and choose to remain passive.

Matthew tells us that today, some people brought this paralytic to Jesus. This scene resembles an account in Luke, who tells us that those who brought the paralytic to Jesus went up to the roof, lowered him through the tiles right into the middle of the crowd, directly in front of Jesus (cf. Lk 5:17-26). When I read this account, I think of those living a consecrated life; they proclaim the Kingdom of God to those who know nothing of what Jesus spoke of, constantly interceding for them before Jesus. Inspired by the Holy Spirit and following the methods taught to them by the Holy Spirit, they bring these people before Jesus, begging Him to heal them and guide their words and actions, so that they may live as children of God, as Jesus taught.

However, bringing these paralyzed individuals to Jesus is no easy task. Our flesh, the world, and the devil, which will employ every means to hinder us, even causing doubt within ourselves, making us feel that such efforts are not worthwhile or that we are incapable of doing so. At such times, we must implore the Holy Spirit, asking Him to grant us strength and enlightenment, so that our faith, through the presence of the Holy Spirit, becomes firm. We must courageously step out of this state of weakness and share our experiences of emerging from hardship and helplessness with all those around us. Thus, they too may bravely rise up, follow Christ, and journey toward holiness.

O God, who through the grace of adoption chose us to be children of light, grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever

©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica