Hebrews 4:1-5, 11; Psalm 77; Mark 2:1-12
In the Gospel the authorities confronted Jesus because they misunderstood his actions. They took him to be a man like them and concluded that he has no power to forgive sins. Today many people still oppose and question the graces from the sacraments; especially the sacrament of penance or forgiveness of sins. The scribes had a carnal knowledge of Jesus Christ and that influenced their position about him. Often times certain arguments that are projected against the sacraments of the Church simply express carnality 1 Cor.2:14 says “The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” Like the friends of the paralytic we must make every effort to bring the intellectually and morally paralyzed ones to Jesus. We must pray and ensure that carnally minded authorities become spiritually minded so that the work of salvation will be fostered and not altered. Finally, as in the first reading, let us remain faithful so that we can attain God’s promises.
Let us pray
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasions of sin.
