Friday Week 1 Ordinary Time

First Reading Hebrew 4, 5-11

Gospel Reading Mark 2, 1-12

From The WORD in other words (2008) by Fr Alan Meechan SVD (Mindoro, Philippines)

Fr Joseph Krempa says in a reflection on today’s Gospel: It is common to say, ‘when everything gets straightened out in my life, then, i’ll get right with God.’ The reverse is true. When we get right with God, things in our life begin to rectify.”

Jesus makes the connection. Forgiveness and healing go hand in hand. Forgiveness is healing. The Church both forgives and heals? As members of the Church we can in our lives also take part in, or be instrumental in, the forgiveness and healing of others, just as the four men made an extraordinary effort to bring the paralytic to Jesus.

With last Sunday’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord Christmas season is over. The Christmas decorations have been taken down and many of us are sorry that Christmas is past. We have now gone back to ordinary time in our lives and liturgy. My grandparents used to say, “It’s back to old clothes and porridge.”

In the Christmas liturgy we have experienced the birth of Christ in our hearts, but it’s easy at this time to forget him and get caught up in the problems of everyday life, and our spiritual growth paralyzed. However, through his Church Christ continuous to offer us the gift of the sacrament of reconciliation, along with the other sacraments of healing, and healing prayer also.

We should open ourselves more frequently to the forgiving and healing power of the Church in order to keep the newborn Christ always and continually with us, so so that that we can always return to him when we have strayed.