Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

(Optional Memorial for Saint Hilary, Bishop and Doctor of the Church)

 
Proper readings for the Memorial of St. Hilary
 
Biographical information about St. Hilary

“Christ Healing the Paralytic”
by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, 1730-32

 
Readings for Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading 1: Hebrews 4:1-5, 11
 
Let us be on our guard
while the promise of entering into his rest remains,
that none of you seem to have failed.
For in fact we have received the Good News just as our ancestors did.
But the word that they heard did not profit them,
for they were not united in faith with those who listened.
For we who believed enter into that rest,
just as he has said:
 
As I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter into my rest,”
 
and yet his works were accomplished
at the foundation of the world.
For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this manner,
And God rested on the seventh day from all his works;
and again, in the previously mentioned place,
They shall not enter into my rest.
 
Therefore, let us strive to enter into that rest,
so that no one may fall after the same example of disobedience
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Commentary on Heb 4:1-5, 11
 
The author defends the faith of his audience by saying they are not like their ancestors who rebelled against God (Psalm 95; 8-9). Following the citation from Psalm 95, the author takes up the idea of “rest” using Genesis 2:2. “God rested on the seventh day after creating the world in six days. The point is not that God was tired and needed a break; rather he was showing us our need to live and work for the rest that lies ahead. The call to enter his rest is a call to unite ourselves with God—weekly on the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11) and ultimately in the attainment of salvation (Revelation 14:13) (CCC 345).” [4]
 
CCC: Heb 3:7-4:11 1165; Heb 4:3-4 346; Heb 4:4-9 624; Heb 4:7-11 1720
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 78:3 and 4bc, 6c-7, 8
 
R. (see 7b) Do not forget the works of the Lord!
 
What we have heard and know,
and what our fathers have declared to us,
we will declare to the generation to come
The glorious deeds of the LORD and his strength.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
 
That they too may rise and declare to their sons
that they should put their hope in God,
And not forget the deeds of God
but keep his commands.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
 
And not be like their fathers,
a generation wayward and rebellious,
A generation that kept not its heart steadfast
nor its spirit faithful toward God.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
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Commentary on Ps 78:3 and 4bc, 6c-7, 8
 
In these verses from Psalm 78, the psalmist looks back at the rebellion against God by those who followed Moses out of Egypt. The psalmist sings of handing down the faith in God and the story of his works from generation to generation.
 
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Gospel: Mark 2:1-12
 
When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days,
it became known that he was at home.
Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them,
not even around the door,
and he preached the word to them.
They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.
Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd,
they opened up the roof above him.
After they had broken through,
they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him,
“Child, your sins are forgiven.”
Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves,
“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming.
Who but God alone can forgive sins?”
Jesus immediately knew in his mind what
they were thinking to themselves,
so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?
Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’?
But that you may know
that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”
–he said to the paralytic,
“I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.”
He rose, picked up his mat at once,
and went away in the sight of everyone.
They were all astounded
and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
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Commentary on Mk 2:1-12
 
The story of Jesus healing the paralytic begins a series of conflicts between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees in Mark’s Gospel. The story clearly demonstrates the connection between healing, faith, and forgiveness. When Jesus tells the paralytic his sins are forgiven, the scribes immediately understand the revelatory nature of the statement. Only God has the authority to forgive sins. Since they do not believe Jesus is the Messiah, his words are blasphemy, a charge they will bring out again later at his trial. Later in the Gospel, Mark attaches even more importance to faith as a component of healing.
 
The Lord’s response: “the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth,” is probably directed at St. Mark’s Christian audience rather than at the scribes or the paralytic in the story. Jesus' identity is then confirmed by the miraculous action that follows, as the paralytic is told to rise, pick up his mat, and go. This command by Jesus and response by the paralytic confirms that the man’s sins are forgiven.
 
CCC: Mk 2:1-12 1421; Mk 2:5-12 1502, 1503; Mk 2:5 1441, 1484, 2616; Mk 2:7 430, 574, 589, 1441; Mk 2:8 473; Mk 2:10 1441
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Reflection:
 
The healing miracle that is described in Mark’s Gospel provides a renewed emphasis on our understanding of the relationship between the Savior, each of us, and the Church.  From a very detached point of view, we all understand and know that Jesus came into the world so that we might be united with God. We were reconciled to him by having the great barrier removed that fell when Adam and Eve fell and brought sin into the world through disobedience.  We know, again at an intellectual level, that when Jesus offered himself up on the cross, it was as a sacrifice of atonement, intended to pay the price for Adam’s sin and open a portal so that we might once more enter God’s Kingdom.
 
All of these grand theological statements have been poured into us from our earliest years, for those of us born in the Christian faith.  Looking at the Gospel today as the Lord once more encounters one who was afflicted, this time with a paralysis, we see on an individual level what forgiveness accomplishes.  Jesus uses the healing miracles as metaphor.  We are all wounded, broken, damaged by choices we have made that separate us from Christ.  We have all done things that can be classified as sin (the simple definition for sin is: “a conscious failure to love – love self, love others, love God and his creation).
 
When we allow this brokenness to go untended, it is like breaking a bone and not having it set.  It does not mend properly and may always be twisted or bent, weakened and unable to work as it was intended.  In severe cases it can cripple a person for life:  cripple their ability to have relationships with others, ruin the relationships they have with their loved ones.  The Lord can heal this injury, these self-inflicted wounds (for even when another person harms us and we allow our bitterness to fester, refusing to forgive them, we sin, injuring ourselves).
 
The paralytic was brought to the Lord by friends who had faith.  We have access to forgiveness without such extreme measures.  It takes two separate actions on our part.  First we must recognize that we have injured our relationship with Christ through sin.  Cradle Catholics may recall that, in their elementary days, they were told to count the number of times they had committed certain sinful acts, and report these at the confessional, by the numbers.  A priest friend who was returning from hearing confessions at a Catholic elementary school confided once that hearing these confessions was like “being pelted with popcorn.”  As adults our failures generally are much more serious and have a more profound impact on our lives.  Nonetheless, the first step is recognizing that we have damaged our relationship with Christ through sin.
 
The second step, and this may sound simplistic, is true contrition.  For Christ, who forgave even those who murdered him, there is nothing he will not forgive of the truly repentant person.  One of the hardest things we do in our faith is offer the sins we have committed to the one who is without sin.  But to receive forgiveness we must ask for it.  We must lower ourselves through the roof if necessary to lay helpless before the Son of God, our brokenness laid before him, our helplessness and vulnerability offered to him in faith.  When we do this our sins will be forgiven and our relationship with him restored.
 
If we are brave enough to hear those words, we will also take that experience to the sacrament of reconciliation.   The sacrament offers us several benefits which time prohibits us from fully reflecting upon.  But chief among them is that we speak the words to one who stands in the place of the Lord and are absolved.  Like the doctor who reviews the test results and finds the treatment successful, we thought we felt well following our act of contrition, but now we hear the official word, words of love from Christ through the Church.
 
Today our prayer is simple.  We pray that God will give us the spiritual strength to recognize our sins and weaknesses and offer them to him for healing.  We wish to be made whole by the one who is love personified.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture used today is “Christ Healing the Paralytic” by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, 1730-32.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4] Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. p.420.