“I am realistic – I expect miracles.”

"In all the miracles of healing performed by Our Divine Savior, we must admire the remarkable goodness which caused Him to heal first the sickness of the soul, then that of the body. He teaches us the great lesson that we must first purify our consciences before turning to God for help in our earthly needs." – St John Bosco

Gospel Text: (MK 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.”

«Stand up, take up your mat and go home. The man rose and, in the sight of all those people, he took up his mat and went out» (Mk 2:11-12).

We can “re-live” this miracle quite often through the Sacrament of Confession. With the words of forgiveness said by the priest («I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit») Jesus, through the ministry of a Catholic Priest —discreetly— accords us once more the external guarantee of remission of our sins, a guarantee that is equally as spectacular as the cure of the paralytic of Capernaum in today’s gospel.

Jesus continuously urges us neither to slacken in our pace nor to neglect the necessary forgiveness He offers all of us in his dwelling, the Church.