11 December, 2023 | Monday of the Second Week of Advent

 Gospel Lk 5:17-26

One day as Jesus was teaching,

Pharisees and teachers of the law,

who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem,

were sitting there,

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 Jesus 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 one 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."

Reflections:

The gospel says that the men who were carrying a paralysed man on a bed couldn’t find a way to bring him before Jesus because of the crowd, so they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. And Jesus did not disappoint them. Seeing their faith he not only cure the paralytic, but forgave him his sins too. We too in our life have come across obstacles that have prevented from coming to Jesus – our sins, our human tendencies that are contrary to what Jesus would want to see in us. This Advent reminds us that Jesus came from heaven to earth to offer us the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore, let us lower ourselves down before the Lord with all our sins and infidelities and the Lord in his love and mercy will heal and forgive us; and fill us with a joyous amazement to see the miracles of God in our lives and enable us cry out, “We have seen incredible things today.” Or, borrowing from the last verse of the first reading, say, “The ransomed of the LORD shall return with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon our heads; we shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

Activity: 

During this season of Advent let us make sure that we avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation at least before the celebration of Christmas.