Reading: From the Gospel according to St. Mark 2: 1-12
Dear and Respected Brethren,
By the Grace of God Almighty, we are entering the third week of the
Holy Great Lent of the current year. The incident is well known to
each and every one of us and we are so familiar with the details of
the incident. When our Lord Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom of
God in a house in Capernaum, the house and the surroundings were
overcrowded and there was no way to take the palsy to our Lord’s
presence other than  the way that was opted by the four who carried
the palsy on his bed. Let us give heed to St. Mark’s description of
the incident:  “And when they could not come nigh unto him for the
press, they uncovered the roof where he was; and when they had broken
it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.”
(Verse-4) When our Lord saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the
palsy, “Son thy sins be forgiven thee.”
Let us meditate on the three words:
1-“faith”
2-“Son”
3-“forgiven.”
Our Lord mentioned about the faith of the four who carried the palsy
to our Lord. There is no mention about the faith of the palsy. Let us
believe that he too had faith and hope. We all have faith in our Lord
and Savior. We recite our faith in Lord as the creed every time
whenever we pray. We believe that our Lord God is omnipotent and
nothing is impossible to Him. We pray for others especially for those
who are sick or in other needs. We must make sure that our faith is so
strong and solid. For example, when we pray for a patient known to us
or related to us, do we keep a solid faith in us that he or she would
be cured completely by our Lord God? Can anyone of us claim that we
have carried or bought someone to Lord Jesus with full faith and hope?
Let us hold full faith in our word and deed. The four who carried the
palsy had good faith and they struggled to bring the palsy to the
presence of our Lord. Whatever be the obstacles, let us also carry our
dear and near in need to Him with our own good faith.
We all are dear children of God. For Him all are equal. There is no
discrimination. Our Lord addressed the palsy as His son though He
appreciated the faith of the four people who bought him to our Lord.
We should not forget this truth when we would consider about the
thousands of others around us. We should not feel or think that we
only are dear to our Lord God as we go into the Church for prayer. All
the people are so dear to God. Let us love and care one and all around
us. We must love all people around us alike without any sort of
discrimination.
Forgiveness is the divine gift from God. When we fast and observe the
Lent, our aim and desire must be to obtain forgiveness for our sins as
well as power and ability to forgive others. God is so anxious to
forgive our sins and trespasses. Let us submit us to His disposal
always with hope and faith. These days many of us find it difficult to
forgive the deeds and words of others. When one would lose the ability
to forgive, he or she would definitely spoil his or her life. We must
make it a habit to  forgive others from the childhood. In the family
lives, there might be various instances where there would have
difference of opinion, between the husband and wife, parents and
children, brother and sister etc. Whatever be the reason of the
difference of opinion, all must forget the difference and forgive. To
keep a sound relationship between the parents or between the children,
all must leran the basic lesson to forget and forgive.
Our forefathers used to advice the young ones to retain the difference
of opinion until evening and such issues must be sorted out before
going to bed. This rule is to be followed by the husband and wife,
parents and children and all people in their personal lives.
May God bless us all
Jose Kurian Puliyeril
Kottayam