Paralyzed No More

I am reminded of the Gospel according to Mark second Chapter:

“They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,they opened up the roof above him…they let down the mat on’...When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Child, your sins are forgiven."Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,…Who but God alone can forgive sins?" Jesus … said, "Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,'Your sins are forgiven,'
or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk?' But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth"—he said to the paralytic,
"I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home." He rose, picked up his mat at once and went away in the sight of everyone.                            

The paralytic man was healed by Jesus, he was healed from the inside out. It is vital for us to accept that the healing this man received that was the most important was his spiritual healing. That was the best healing, the perfect healing, the everlasting healing.

That is the same healing that is available to you and I. A healing so powerful that we are no longer paralyzed. No longer paralyzed by fear, by pain. by anger and resentment nor selfishness, not  paralyzed by something someone might have said or done to you…today or yesterday or 50 years ago… not paralyzed because you have yet to forgive someone. The same spiritual healing experienced by that paralytic man is available to you and I…right now. Christ offers this to us through the sacrament of reconciliation. Yes confession…We can be reconciled not only with God but with our community… Now I know that some folk haven’t been to confession for a long time… some a long, long , long time. But that’s alright… You see God has been in the forgiving business a long, long, long, time.

I’ve heard it said about this sacrament that those Catholics just made up that confession stuff…When I do here that I tell them to turn to James 5:15 …Where it says:

Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.

Now when it says confess your sins to one another in order to be healed, look around and think who do I want to tell my sins to? I don’t know who you would choose to hear them… but frankly I choose a priest. Because I know that he can’t tell anyone. I know that he has dedicated his life to the work of God… I know he has been ordained by a bishop…and I know that that bishop received his ordination through a long line of bishops stretching all the way back to Jesus...And so I believe it when he says….  

"God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his

Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

 

I know after confession that I can pick up my mat and walk… I know that I am no longer Paralyzed by my sins… I can take a step towards goodness… I can march again on my journey…my knees are flexible, my step is light, my joy is abundant, for I am freed not frozen…healed not broken…and saved not lost.

With My faith restored the Lord can ask, me to lift up one of his paralyzed children and with the faith he has given and restored in me gives me the strength to allow His will to flow through me…so I can open up any closed roof…to lift any burden…to truly love my neighbor…to spread the good news of Jesus Christ… for it is easy to be a Christian within the walls of my church…it is easy to sit with those who believe what I believe …It is easy to offer the sign of Christ’s peace to those in our churches week after week after week to those we know will receive it… It is easy to believe that the problems so many of our brothers and sisters face in the world are their problems, not mine…Yet we are called to take his message of love and concern out of our churches and into the world …we are called to bear witness there…we are called to take His peace there, we are called to take what we hear and learn and believe in our churches and be the spirit and love of Christ out there in the world where it is both needed and difficult to do…

We are called to declare the good news, we are called to share the good news, we are called to live the Good news of Jesus…To everyone.