fertmarketing.blogg.se - Daily gospel reflection

In that wait our response to God comes, and our part in the plan of salvation is played out. Awaiting God’s Replies: The pause between “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven” and the cure of the paralysis initially may have caused disappointment in those unfamiliar with Christ’s way of working.Deep down, the only things that can hurt us are the obstacles of sin and an egoistic lifestyle. Problems are merely the pretexts he sends us to heal and develop our relationship with him: “Your sins are forgiven.” The problem of life is all about holiness and about removing the chief obstacle to holiness: sin.

For God, the problem of life is not about problems. What is first, rather, is the man’s state of soul. This is not, however, what is first on Christ’s priority list.

The Only Real Problem Is Sin: The paralytic and his companions arrive concerned only about his physical condition.

Their love never goes stale since they refuse to control what God can do with them. For saintly souls, Christ is ever new they are always being asked for more, and new experiences of Christ fill them as a result. We like to coast in our spiritual life and dislike having to adjust to God’s asking for more faith, trust or charity. We, like the Pharisees, like our routine. They wanted to put God in a box, where their relationship with him could neatly accommodate their status and comforts. Christ saw stagnation in the Pharisees’ hearts. The paralysis is meant to speak more to the Pharisees about their souls than to the cripple who bears it. It is man’s inability to create his own salvation, to set the terms by which he can say he has made peace with God. Jerome, physical paralysis is an image of man’s inability to return to God by his own efforts. Petition: Lord, grant me a deeper experience of your mercy. I’m ready to learn the meaning of your command: “Follow me.” In you I find the reason to abandon the easy path for a more perfect mission of love. Left to myself, I often take the easy and convenient path, yet I know the way of a Christian is through the narrow gate. Introductory Prayer: Lord, I come to you in this meditation, ready to do whatever it is you ask. When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to men. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.” At that, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”-he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He rose and went home. And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.

These two saints were such powerful witnesses that they converted other prisoners and their jailer before their deaths.Thursday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary TimeĪfter entering a boat, Jesus made the crossing, and came into his own town. Helena, in the basilica that had been erected over their burial crypt. PRAISE: Emperor Constantine had great respect for Sts. PROMISE: “What we await are new heavens and a new earth where, according to His promise, the justice of God will reside.” –2 Pt 3:13 PRAYER: Father, may all who see me think of You. Concentrate on your Owner and gaze “on the Lord’s glory.” Then you will be “transformed from glory to glory into His very image by the Lord Who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18). Isn’t this amazing? The same God Who forbade the making of any graven images out of concern for our falling into idol worship (see Ex 20:4) has now engraved His very own seal upon us (Eph 4:30).Īre you aware that you are marked with the seal of God? Can others tell to Whom you belong merely by looking at you? You can polish up your image.

God marked us with His own seal to identify us as His property (Rm 14:8). We were “formed anew in the image of Creator” (Col 3:10), and now we “share the image of His Son,” Jesus (Rm 8:29). When we were baptised into Christ, we too were stamped with an image, “sealed” with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13 2 Cor 1:22).

The seal on the coin marked it as belonging to Caesar. The Pharisees and Herodians were able to identify the owner of the Roman coin because of what was stamped on it. “Whose head is this and whose inscription is it?” –Mark 12:16

Year 7 Progress Checks – a Guide for Parents.