Monday in the Second Week of Advent.
Is 35, 1-10; Lk 5, 17-26.
When we consider when the first reading was written, we can appreciate a bit more the power of this text. Although it has a joyful ring to it, we must recall that it was written during a very hard time for the People of Israel. They were in exile in Babylon at the time, what they believed was a punishment from God for not having followed his commands. Yet, from among them this prophet Isaiah comes out and starts proclaiming these words of hope. What must it have felt like to hear these words of God's love an reassurance from the mouth an another human being? Some might have been cynical. Others might have believed. We all know that in the end, what Isaiah prophesied eventually happened indeed.
We use Isaiah's words in the Season of Advent to remind us that the human race too was in "exile" so to speak, when Jesus had not yet come among us. When the prophets foretold that God will send the Messiah to bring salvation, some believed while others, again were cynical. Those who believed - the shepherds and the Wise Men of the East - saw indeed the Messiah. The others, that is the Chief Priests and the Elders were cynical and did not see the Messiah.
We have the same thing going on in today's Gospel as well. A paralysed man is brought in front of Jesus in the strangest of means but when Jesus forgives his sins, the onlookers have mixed reactions. The ones who lowered the sick man through the roof must have had a great faith in Jesus, otherwise they would not have gone through all that trouble. Others however did not have the same faith.
Jesus however wants to heal us completely. He wants to make us whole again. Health and whole in fact come from the same word, just as in latin there is no difference between being healthy (salus) and being saved (salus), and in semitic languages, to be strong and to be whole have the same roots of the word (S-H-H). To be whole means to be integrated: body mind and spirit all pointing in one direction. What I truly desire, what I hope for and what I do all align in one movement towards God.
Today's gospel read in the light of the First Reading and in this particular Advent season invites us to do two things. The first is an examination of conscience: out of all the people mentioned in today;s Gospel, whom do I resemble most now? Whom do I want to be like at the end of this Advent season? I might be cynical like the chief priests and elders and would like to have the faith of the four men who helped the paralised man; or I may be like spiritually paralysed and would like to be healed like the man in today's Gospel. The second thing that today's Gospel invites us to do is to take the initiative and bring others to Jesus. We might do it physically by encouraging others gently to spend some time in the presence of God or to come to mass in this festive season, we might even do it spiritually by taking particular persons to Jesus in our prayer and asking God for their spiritual healing.
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