15 January 2021
Friday of the First Week of Ordinary Time
In Omaha, Nebraska, a statue of two boys, one older carrying a younger boy on his back stands at the entrance of Boys Town. The institution came to fame from a movie of the same title where the actor Mickey Rooney plays Boys Town’s charismatic founder, Fr. Edward Flanagan. Boys Town was a group home for children living on the streets to have a consistent home, food security, and an education. The statue at the entrance with the two boys has an epitaph that reads, “He is not heavy. He is my brother.” I find the statue heart-warming since it speaks to the ability to do magnanimous deeds for those with whom we are in relationship. I find the statue misleading also. The truth is we feel the weight of trying to carry others, especially our loved ones who cannot carry themselves.
In the Gospel today we hear about the man who is lame being carried to Jesus. The crowd around Jesus makes it impossible for the stretcher bearers to find a path towards Jesus. They desire the man to be healed to such an extent that they removed the tiles from the roof in order that the man might be lowered in front of Jesus. Their faith in Jesus’ ability to heal the man of his paralysis Jesus could see in their hearts from the great lengths they went to present him. I have a hard to imagining the stretcher bearers did not feel the weight of carrying the man who is lame. They must have faced a tiredness at times when they did not feel they had the ability to carry another any longer.
I find our modern-day stretcher bearers in all those individuals who accompany individual struggling with mental health or addiction. The pain of a disease is felt probably most acutely by the one who has it, yet all the individuals who love that person feel a pain as well. The setbacks, the confounding exhaustion of options, and the inability to let go as someone spirals deeper into the effects of a disease are weights on a heart. Healthy living and sobriety are long, arduous journeys normally with individuals who at one point or another could no longer carry themselves. They need a love that is able to persevere in the face of pain from the very act of loving. It is a love that we call Christian since it is the love that Jesus has for us.
People are heavy to carry, yet so is a cross. Let us pray that we do not fear or minimize their weight, but might feel the Lord’s strength in carrying those we love to Him.
Where have you felt the weight of carrying another to the Lord?