From: Matthew 9:1-8
The Curing of a Paralytic
________________________________________
[1] And getting into a boat He (Jesus) crossed over and came to His own city.
[2] And behold, they brought to Him a paralytic, lying on his bed; and when
Jesus saw their faith He said to the paralytic, “Take heart, My son; your sins
are forgiven.” [3] And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man
is blaspheming.” [4] But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think
evil in your hearts? [5] For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’, or to
say, ‘Rise and walk’? [6] But that you may know that the Son of Man has autho-
rity on earth to forgive sins” — He then said to the paralytic — “Rise, take up your
bed and go home.” [7] And He rose and went home. [8] When the crowds saw
it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
1. “His own city”: Capernaum (cf. Matthew 4:13 and Mark 2:1).
2-6. The sick man and those who bring him to Jesus ask Him to cure the man’s
physical illness; they believe in His supernatural powers. As in other instances
of miracles, our Lord concerns Himself more with the underlying cause of illness,
that is, sin. With divine largesse He gives more than He is asked for, even though
people do not appreciate this. St. Thomas Aquinas says that Jesus Christ acts
like a good doctor: He cures the cause of the illness (cf. “Commentary on St.
Matthew”, 9, 1-6).
2. The parallel passage of St. Mark adds a detail which helps us understand this
scene better and explains why the text refers to “their faith”: in Mark 2:2-5 we
are told that there was such a crowd around Jesus that the people carrying the
bed could not get near Him. So they had the idea of going up onto the roof and
making a hole and lowering the bed down in front of Jesus. This explains His
“seeing their faith”.
Our Lord was pleased by their boldness, a boldness which resulted from their
lively faith which brooked no obstacles. This nice example of daring indicates
how we should go about putting charity into practice—as also how Jesus feels
towards people who show real concern for others: He cures the paralytic who
was so ingeniously helped by his friends and relatives; even the sick man him-
self showed daring by not being afraid of the risk involved.
St. Thomas comments on this verse as follows: “This paralytic symbolizes the
sinner lying in sin”; just as the paralytic cannot move, so the sinner cannot help
himself. The people who bring the paralytic along represent those who, by gi-
ving him good advice, lead the sinner to God” (”Commentary on St. Matthew”,
9, 2). In order to get close to Jesus the same kind of holy daring is needed, as
the Saints show us. Anyone who does not act like this will never take important
decisions in his life as a Christian.
3-7. Here “to say” obviously means “to say and mean it”, “to say producing the
result which your words imply”. Our Lord is arguing as follows: which is easier
— to cure the paralytic’s body or to forgive the sins of his soul? Undoubtedly, to
cure his body; for the soul is superior to the body and therefore diseases of the
soul are the more difficult to cure. However, a physical cure can be seen, where-
as a cure of the soul cannot. Jesus proves the hidden cure by performing a visi-
ble one.
The Jews thought that any illness was due to personal sin (cf. John 9:1-3); so
when they heard Jesus saying, “Your sins are forgiven”, they reasoned in their
minds as follows: only God can forgive sins (cf. Luke 5:21); this man says that
He has power to forgive sins; therefore, He is claiming a power which belongs
to God alone—which is blasphemy. Our Lord, however, forestalls them, using
their own arguments: by curing the paralytic by saying the word, He shows them
that since He has the power to cure the effects of sin (which is what they believe
disease to be), then He also has power to cure the cause of illness (sin); there-
fore, He has divine power.
Jesus Christ passed on to the Apostles and their successors in the priestly mini-
stry the power to forgive sins: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive sins of any,
they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:22-23).
“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Priests
exercise this power in the Sacrament of Penance: in doing so they act not in
their own name but in Christ’s—”in persona Christi”, as instruments of the Lord.
Hence the respect, the veneration and gratitude with which we should approach
Confession: in the priest we should see Christ Himself, God Himself, and we
should receive the words of absolution firmly believing that it is Christ who is ut-
tering them through the priest. This is why the minister does not say: “Christ ab-
solves you...”, but rather “I absolve you from your sins...” He speaks in the first
person, so fully is he identified with Jesus Christ Himself (cf. “St. Pius V Cate-
chism”, II, 5, 10).
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

Genesis 22:1-19 ©

God put Abraham to the test. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he called. ‘Here I am’ he replied. ‘Take your son,’ God said ‘your only child Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him as a burnt offering, on a mountain I will point out to you.’

Rising early next morning Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He chopped wood for the burnt offering and started on his journey to the place God had pointed out to him. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. Then Abraham said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there; we will worship and come back to you.’

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, loaded it on Isaac, and carried in his own hands the fire and the knife. Then the two of them set out together. Isaac spoke to his father Abraham, ‘Father’ he said. ‘Yes, my son’ he replied. ‘Look,’ he said ‘here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.’ Then the two of them went on together.

When they arrived at the place God had pointed out to him, Abraham built an altar there, and arranged the wood. Then he bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and seized the knife to kill his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. ‘Abraham, Abraham’ he said. ‘I am here’ he replied. ‘Do not raise your hand against the boy’ the angel said. ‘Do not harm him, for now I know you fear God. You have not refused me your son, your only son.’ Then looking up, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns in a bush. Abraham took the ram and offered it as a burnt-offering in place of his son. Abraham called this place ‘The Lord Provides’, and hence the saying today: On the mountain the Lord provides.

The angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven. ‘I swear by my own self – it is the Lord who speaks – because you have done this, because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants shall gain possession of the gates of their enemies. All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, as a reward for your obedience.’

Abraham went back to his servants, and together they set out for Beersheba, and he settled in Beersheba.

EITHER:

The first psalm shown here is used in the whole world except the USA, and the second one is used in the USA because of a clerical error.

Psalm

Psalm 114:1-6,8-9 ©