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From: Luke 5:17-26

The Cure of the Paralytic in Capernaum

[17] On one of those days, as He (Jesus) was teaching, there were
Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come from every
village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the
Lord was with Him to heal. [18] And behold, men were bringing on a bed
a man who was paralyzed, and they sought to bring him in and lay him
before Jesus; [19] but finding no way to bring him in, because of the
crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through
the tiles into the midst before Jesus. [20] And when He saw their
faith He said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." [21] And the scribes
and the Pharisees began to question, saying, "Who is this that speaks
blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God only?" [22] When Jesus
perceived their questionings, He answered them, "Why do you question in
your hearts? [23] Which is easier, to say, `Your sins are forgiven
you,' or to say, `Rise and walk'? [24] But that you may know that the
Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"--He said to the man
who was paralyzed--"I say to you, rise, take up your bed and go home."
[25] And immediately he rose before them, and took up that on which he
lay, and went home, glorifying God. [26] And amazement seized them
all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have
seen strange things today."

Commentary:

17. A little earlier, beside the lake, Jesus addressed His teaching to
crowds (verses 1ff). Here His audience includes some of the most
educated Jews. Christ desired not only to teach but also to cure
everyone--spiritually and, sometimes, physically, as He will soon do in
the case of the paralytic. The evangelist's observation at the end of
this verse reminds us that our Lord is ever-ready to use His
omnipotence for our good: "I know the plans I have for you, plans for
welfare and not for evil', God declared through the prophet Jeremiah
(29:11). The liturgy applies these words to Jesus, for in Him we are
clearly shown that God does love us in this way. He did not come to
condemn us, to accuse us of meanness and smallness. He came to save
us, pardon us, excuse us, bring us peace and joy." ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ
Is Passing By", 165). On this occasion also Jesus wanted to benefit His
listeners, even though some of them would not receive this divine gift
because they were not well-disposed.

19-20. Our Lord is touched when He sees these friends of the paralytic
putting their faith into practice: they had gone up onto the roof,
taken off some of the tiles and lowered the bed down in front of
Jesus. Friendship and faith combine in obtaining a miraculous cure.
The paralytic himself had a like faith: he let himself be carried
around, brought up onto the roof and so forth. Seeing such solid faith
Jesus gives them even more than they expect: He cures the man's body
and, what is much more, cures his soul. Perhaps He does this, as St.
Bede suggests (cf. "In Lucae Evangelium Expositio, in loc."), to show
two things: that the illness was a form of punishment for his sins and
therefore the paralytic could only get up once these sins had been
forgiven; and that others' faith and prayer can move God to work
miracles.

In some way, the paralytic symbolizes everyone whose sins prevent him
from reaching God. For example, St. Ambrose says: "How great is the
Lord who on account of the merits of some pardon others, and while
praising the former absolves the latter![...] Therefore, let you, who
judge, learn to pardon; you, who are ill, learn to beg for
forgiveness. And if the gravity of your sins causes you to doubt the
possibility of being forgiven, have recourse to intercessors, have
recourse to the Church, who will pray for you, and the Lord will grant
you, out of love for her, what He might have refused you" (St. Ambrose,
"Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc.").

Apostolic work should be motivated by desire to help people find Jesus
Christ. Among other things it calls for daring--as we see in the
friends of the paralytic; and it also needs the intercession of the
saints, whose help we seek because we feel God will pay more attention
to them than to us sinners.

24. Our Lord is going to perform a public miracle to prove that He is
endowed with invisible, spiritual power. Christ, the only Son of the
Father, has power to forgive sins because He is God, and He uses this
power on our behalf as our Mediator and Redeemer (Luke 22:20; John
20:17-18, 28: 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Colossians 2:13-14; Hebrews 9:14; 1 John
1:9; Isaiah 53:4-5). Jesus used this power personally when He was on
earth and after ascending into Heaven He still uses it, through the
Apostles and their successors.

A sinner is like a paralytic in God's presence. The Lord is going to
free him of his paralysis, forgiving him his sins and enabling him to
walk by giving him grace once more. In the sacrament of Penance, if
Jesus Christ, "sees us cold, unwilling, rigid perhaps with the
stiffness of a dying interior life, His tears will be our life: `I say
to you, My friend, arise and walk,' (cf. John 11:43; Luke 5:24), leave
that narrow life which is no life at all" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is
Passing By," 193).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

ROMAN MISSAL -- DOUAY TEXTS

God himself will come and save you.

-----------------†JMJ†-----------------
Monday, 2nd Week in the Season of Advent
---------------†AMDG†---------------

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON – See Jer 31:10; and Is 35:4
Audíte verbum Dómini, gentes, et annuntiáte illud in fínibus terræ:
Ecce Salvátor noster advéniet, et iam nolíte timére.
Jer 10: Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations,
and declare it in the islands that are afar off, and say:
He that scattered Israel will gather him:
and he will keep him as the shepherd doth his flock.
Is 35: Say to the fainthearted:
Take courage, and fear not:
behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense:
God himself will come and will save you.

OPENING PRAYER
Lord,
free us from our sins and make us whole.
Hear our prayer,
and prepare us ot celebrate the incarnation of your son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

I confess to almighty God,
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have sinned through my own fault
--strike the breast--
in my thoughts and in my words
in what I have done,
and in what I have failed to do;
and I ask blessed Mary, ever virgin,
all the angels and saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

FIRST READING – Is 35:1-10
God himself will come and save you.

The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad,
and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.
It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise:
the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and Saron,
they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.

Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees.
Say to the fainthearted:
Take courage, and fear not:
behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense:
God himself will come and will save you.

Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as a hart,
and the tongue of the dumb shall be free:
for waters are broken out in the desert,
and streams in the wilderness.

And that which was dry land, shall become a pool,
and the thirsty land springs of water.
In the dens where dragons dwell before,
shall rise up the verdure of the reed and the bulrush.

And a path and a way shall be there,
and it shall be called the holy way:
the unclean shall not pass over it,
and this shall be unto you a straight way,
so that fools shall not err therein.

No lion shall be there, nor shall any mischievous beast go up by it,
nor be found there: but they shall walk there that shall be delivered.
And the redeemed of the Lord shall return,
and shall come into Sion with praise,
and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads:
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM – Ps 84:9ab, 10, 11-12, 13-14
Ecce Deus noster véniet et salvábit nos.
(Is 35:4f) God himself will come and will save you.

1 Unto the end, for the sons of Core, a psalm. 2 Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. 3 Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people: thou hast covered all their sins. 4 Thou hast mitigated all thy anger: thou best turned away from the wrath of thy indignation. 5 Convert us, O God our saviour: and turn off thy anger from us.
6 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever: or wilt thou extend thy wrath from generation to generation? 7 Thou wilt turn, O God, and bring us to life: and thy people shall rejoice in thee. 8 Shew us, O Lord, thy mercy; and grant us thy salvation.
I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me:
for he will speak peace unto his people:
And unto his saints: and unto them that are converted to the heart.
Surely his salvation is near to them that fear him:
that glory may dwell in our land.
God himself will come and will save you.

Mercy and truth have met each other:
justice and peace have kissed.
Truth is sprung out of the earth:
and justice hath looked down from heaven.
God himself will come and will save you.

For the Lord will give goodness:
and our earth shall yield her fruit.
Justice shall walk before him:
and shall set his steps in the way.
God himself will come and will save you.

ALLELUIA
Ecce véniet Rex, Dóminus terræ, et ipse áuferet iugum captivitátis nostræ.
Alleluia, alleluia
Behold the king will come,
the Lord of the earth,
and he himself will lift the yoke of our captivity.
Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL – Lk 5:17-26
We have seen incredible things today.

16 And he retired into the desert, and prayed.

And it came to pass on a certain day, as he sat teaching,
that there were also Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by,
that were come out of every town of Galilee,
and Judea and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was to heal them.

And behold, men brought in a bed a man, who had the palsy:
and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.
And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in,
because of the multitude, they went up upon the roof,
and let him down through the tiles
with his bed into the midst before Jesus.

Whose faith when he saw, he said: Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

And the scribes and Pharisees began to think, saying:
Who is this who speaketh blasphemies?
Who can forgive sins, but God alone?

And when Jesus knew their thoughts, answering, he said to them:
What is it you think in your hearts?
Which is easier to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee;
or to say, Arise and walk?

But that you may know
that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins,
(he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
I say to thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house.

And immediately rising up before them,
he took up the bed on which he lay;
and he went away to his own house, glorifying God.

And all were astonished; and they glorified God.
And they were filled with fear, saying:
We have seen wonderful things today.

PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS
Father,
from all you give us
we present this bread and wine.
As we serve you now,
accept our offering
and sustain us with your promise of eternal life.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.

COMMUNION ANTIPHON – See Ps 104:4-5; and Is 38:3
Ven, Dómine, visitáre nos in pace,
ut lætémur coram te corde perfécto.
Remember us, O Lord, in the favour of thy people: visit us with thy salvation.
That we may see the good of thy chosen,
that we may rejoice in the joy of thy nation:
that thou mayst be praised with thy inheritance.
And Ezechias turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,
3 And said: I beseech thee, O Lord,
remember how I have walked before thee in truth,
and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.
And Ezechias wept with great weeping.

(NAB: Come to us, Lord, and bring us peace.
We will rejoice in your presence and serve you with all our heart.)

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
God of mercy,
may this Eucharist bring us your divine help,
free us from our sings,
and prepare us for the birthday of our Savior,
who is Lord for ever and ever.