Breaking the Word

1^st Week in Ord. Time, Friday – 13^th January 2023 — Gospel: Mark 2,1-12

Jesus Look’s

One day, four men carried a friend to Jesus. It made all the difference in the world to the friend, for he was paralyzed and was unable to approach Jesus on his own. Consider how Jesus saw this scene. When Jesus looked up, He saw four men on the roof with their sick friend. He admired their concern about their friend who had desired to see him healed completely. He saw their faith in action that never permitted the difficult circumstances to discourage them. They worked together and dared to do something different, and Jesus rewarded their efforts. When Jesus looked down, He saw the paralytic condition. Before He could heal the man’s body, he spoke peace to the man’s heart and announced forgiveness of sins. When Jesus looked around, He saw the critics who had come to spy on him in the front row. When Jesus looked within, He realized his God given power. He proved it by reading their hearts and telling them what they were thinking. Hence, Jesus was claiming to be God not only by forgiving the man’s sins and healing his body, but also by applying to Himself the title “Son of man.”

1^st Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 12^th January 2023 — Gospel: Mark 1,40-45

Trustful Prayer

A leper approaches and falls before Jesus saying, “if you choose, you can make me clean.” This is the prayer of the leper and he teaches a lesson for each one of us on the meaning of prayer. In his prayer, the leper both acknowledges his dependence on Jesus through the words, “if you will” and also has faith in the ability of Jesus to heal through the words, “you can make me clean.”  He realizes that he could not free himself from his disease any more and needed a power from outside. Therefore, he approaches Jesus with humility and trust beyond measure. He teaches that prayer means to acknowledge our dependence on God and also to have faith that God can do what to us may seem impossible.