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One Bread, One Body
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All Issues > Volume 35, Issue 1
<< Friday, January 18, 2019 >>
Hebrews 4:1-5, 11
View Readings Psalm 78:3-4, 6-8 Mark 2:1-12
Similar Reflections
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME?
“I command you: Stand up! Pick up your mat and go home.” —Mark 2:11
Will you receive “the promise of entrance” into God’s rest (Heb 4:1), that is, will you be with the Lord forever in the perfect happiness of heaven? “Therefore, while the promise of entrance into His rest still holds, we ought to be fearful of disobeying lest any one of you be judged to have lost his chance of entering” (Heb 4:1).
By ourselves, we are unable to obey the Lord and enter eternal rest. We are spiritually paralyzed. Our only hope is to come to Jesus just as we are. We need to be carried to Jesus through the intercession, evangelization, redemptive suffering, and service of the members of His Church (see Mk 2:3ff). Jesus in His mercy will say to us in our spiritual paralysis: “Your sins are forgiven” (Mk 2:5). At this point, we can receive the grace to repent and accept Jesus as our Savior, Lord, and God on His terms. If we are freed from our paralysis and become children of God (Jn 1:12), we will enter heaven where we belong, that is, with our heavenly Father forever.
Jesus is the only Way to our Father in heaven (Jn 14:6). Accept Jesus. “Rise” and “go home” to heaven (see Mk 2:11).
Prayer: Father, may I repent and bring joy to heaven (Lk 15:7, 10).
Promise: “The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” —Mk 2:10
Praise: Being in community has helped Dorothy grow spiritually and remain faithful to the Lord and His Church.
I am reminded of the true story of a woman who went to confession to Padre Pio. Before giving her absolution, said, ‘Try to remember the other sin.’ The woman said, ‘Padre, I think I gave you all the sins I know and I think this is it.’ Padre Pio said, ‘Then, for your penance, go to the cross to say fifteen Ave Marias and fifteen Our Fathers.’ Now the cross was at the top of the mountain. The penance was not the Aves or the Our Fathers, it was the journey to get there, as it was a very bad road... So she did that and said the prayers and went back to Padre Pio for a second confession and Padre Pio asked, ‘Do you remember all your sins?’ She said, ‘Padre Pio, I’ve confessed everything.’ Padre Pio said. ‘No, you still don’t remember all. You’ve got to go to the cross at the top of the mountain again.’
She went for the second time and when she still did not remember he sent her for the third time to the cross on the mountaintop. When she returned for the third time for confession, Padre Pio asked, ‘So, do you remember everything now?’ She replied, ‘No, Padre, I don’t have anything more to confess.’ Then Padre Pio said in a loud voice, ‘What do you mean, you don’t remember anything? Don’t you know he could have been a good priest, a bishop, even a cardinal?’ She started to think and then began to cry, ‘Father,’ she said, ‘I never knew abortion was a sin.’ ‘What do you mean,’ he said, ‘you didn’t know that this was a sin? That’s killing.’ Then she said, Nobody knows about this, only me and my mother. How could you say it would have been a priest or a cardinal?’ Padre Pio simply responded by saying, ‘But it’s a sin, a great sin.’ “