Today is the 18th Sunday after Pentecost. It is the first day of the month of October, the month of the Holy Rosary. When I first came here in 2019, I heard some people reciting the rosary, but during covid it was gone. How I wish to bring the recitation back again here. Maybe for those who come early to start the rosary at 7 AM while the priest is hearing confession, it is indeed necessary. It only takes 15 minutes to offer a communal rosary every Sunday.
The epistle today from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians narrates to us about the promise of God that, through the merits of Jesus Christ, we have clothed ourselves with the Holy Spirit as His adopted children. We become aware of doing good works simply because His words illuminate our spiritual life to be filled with every good thing, peace, joy and love.
St. Paul was able to share this truth with the Christians at Corinth who, despite being endowed with many spiritual gifts, were lacking in true spirituality and Christian maturity. Despite being empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, these Corinthian believers chose to live according to their fleshly lusts and were not walking in spirit and truth.
Nevertheless, in God’s grace and mercy, these Christians in Corinth were never
despised by the Lord, who enriched them with knowledge and commitment in Him. I believe that, like the people of Corinth, we too have been sustained and reckoned to be blameless. This tremendous promise rests solely on Christ’s perfect sacrifice, which in this Eucharist we celebrate, for we are accepted by God. We are identified with Him in His death and in His life – death to the old and embrace His life in the new and everlasting life. We are truly blessed in Christ because we are recipients of the many blessings given to all believers.
Today’s gospel reading from St. Matthew narrates to us about the healing ministry of Jesus demonstrating the unusual supernatural powers He possessed. Some men bring a paralyzed man on a mat to Jesus for healing. This is another evidence of great faith in Jesus. Today we are going to learn how Jesus is not merely an ordinary healer, but He also has the power and authority to forgive sins and clearly we understand that these attributes point towards Jesus being the true Messiah. Together we journey through this passage to understand important points.
First, Jesus has the authority to heal. He comes to liberate men from the bondage of evil. In every miracle He magnifies the glory of God, both in the physical and the spiritual healing. Jesus became known throughout Galilee, Capernaum and neighboring places to the point that nearly everyone seems attracted to Him because of His teaching and healing. Just imagine carrying the paralytic on a mat, obviously having great faith in Jesus that He could heal. Though they were not expressing their belief in the Lord, their action of bringing a friend to Jesus is proof of their faith in the Lord.
Second, Jesus says, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven,” (v.5). It means that Jesus has the power to forgive. For the experts of the law, it is unthinkable for Jesus having the power to forgive sins because according to their frame of mind, only God could forgive sins. Critics of Jesus entirely cannot understand that He has the authority of God because He is God. Of course, the paralyzed man needed to be healed from his paralysis, but he needed from Jesus, not just healing, but the forgiveness of his sins even more. May He set us free from evil, which is the cause of sin and all kinds of sickness in the world.
Third, Jesus says, “Get up, take up thy bed, and go into thy house.” (v.6) “And the multitude seeing it, feared and glorified God, who had given such power to men.” (v.8) The healing was witnessed by many people, and they were amazed at what Jesus did, which made them start to realize a little bit more about who Jesus was.
Jesus worked with great power, but Jesus did not do that for show. He did not have to create havoc and commotion; He manifests God’s mercy and power. The gospel of St. Matthew is pointing us to Jesus being God, for He comes to save sinners. Go to Jesus and receive forgiveness, healing of physical pain, emotional hurt, sinful addiction, psychological confusion, spiritual malady and pride. Just as the men in the gospel took their friend to Jesus, we should take others to Jesus as well. God bless you.
Fr. Arlon, osa
