13 January 2023
Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus “was at home.” Whose? It doesn’t specify. But the house becomes crowded with so many people that four men carrying a paralytic are unable to get near him. A clever bunch, they climb to the roof and bring the paralytic man down to Jesus. Jesus forgives his sins and commands him to stark walking much to the judgment of some and amazement of others.
This scene is reminiscent of the Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation that we sometimes hear at mass that says, “Though we once were lost and could not approach you, you loved us with the greatest love: for your Son, who alone is just, handed himself over to death, and did not disdain to be nailed for our sake to the wood of the Cross.”
Jesus came to us. He comes to our home. Yet there are times when we cannot approach because we are lost in the noise, lost in the crowd, or simply dare not bring our full selves to him. We must remember that if he is here, it is because he loved us with the greatest love, which is often manifested by our friends and family who have at times carried us. Let us go then, through the crowds, through the noise, let us climb the roof if we have to, to the encounter with a love that forgives, heals, and reconciles.