The gospel reading gives
us a beautiful scene of the all encompassing “yes” of the Lord. Jesus realized
that physical healing wasn’t all the paralytic needed. He needed spiritual
healing. He needed to have his sins forgiven. In fact, he needed that more than
anything else. So the first words the Lord had for him is, Your sins are forgiven. The scribes objected: Only God, or the
Messiah of God, the Christ, could possibly forgive sins, and to demonstrate
that He was the Messiah, Jesus then cures the man. Isaiah said that there would
be signs of the Messianic Presence: the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the
crippled will walk and the poor will have the good news preached to them. This was the all encompassing “yes” of Jesus
Christ. The man was healed spiritually
and physically[1].
And it is the
same with us. When we commit ourselves to the Lord and continue to choose Him
in our lives, this choice turns every aspect of our lives into a resounding
“yes”. That is Christian optimism.
This is important
for us to remember in these days when jobs are difficult to hold on to, houses
are lost, and lifestyles are forced to change.
There is more to
life than the present difficulties. There is the spiritual “Yes” of Jesus
Christ. Recently I heard a commentator
mention the obvious, as they usually do. She said that the present economic
condition in our country should lead people to re-consider their perception of
their self-worth. Self-worth has got to flow from whom they are and not from
what they own. It is sad, but this would be a radical change for many
Americans. Many Americans equate the success of their lives with the size of
their bank accounts, their houses, cars or other material possessions. The
present economic situation has led many to question their lives, their
self-worth, their very understanding of whom they are. Without monetary
success, with less and less material possessions, many simply no longer know
who they are.
That should not be the case with the committed
Christian, with we who are here now. We know who we are. Our value, our
dignity, our meaning in life comes from Jesus Christ. It is all “Yes” for us.
Jesus Christ is all yes. Our union with Jesus Christ is all that matters
regardless of what is happening around us.
Jesus Christ is
the reason for our optimism. Even when tragedy strikes, even when a loved one
falls gravely ill and then passes on, we remain optimistic. The yes of Christ is so much greater than
the pain of death. Even though we grieve we still know that with Jesus Christ,
and through Jesus Christ, our loved ones live. We believe in the existence of
the spiritual. We believe that those who die will live forever in the love of
the Lord. Yes, we miss them terribly. Yes, we grieve deeply. But we also know
that they are in peace. We believe that the souls of the faithful departed, our
loved ones, continue to love us and themselves guide us through their own
prayers to the Divine Lover. We believe that a time will come when we will be
with them again.
It is all
positive with the Lord. We follow our consciences. We choose that which is
proper and moral, not that which is popular but immoral. Does that mean that
there are a lot of “no’s” in our lives, like “No getting drunk, No sex outside
of marriage, No hating others.” Yes, we limit our actions to avoid the
negatives of life, but we do that so we can live in the positives of life. And
by doing this, by living morally we simplify our lives. Did you ever notice the
chaos that comes into our lives when we sin? When we sin, life gets
complicated. As an example, consider lying. Who did we tell that lie to? What
other lies do I now have to tell to cover the first lie up? Who knows what
about it, about me? It is the same with all sin. When we sin, be it a lie or
any sin, we complicate out lives.
There is no doubt that many people
misuse freedom. Perhaps when they go off
to college or the service, or perhaps earlier, in high school or even in middle
school, many get involved in the pagan lifestyle. The pagan lifestyle is the
deification of the physical, the turning of money, stuff, and selfishness into
gods. The pagan lifestyle assumes that happiness can be bought. The pagan
lifestyle results in people being in turmoil. But Jesus Christ is far more
powerful than the forces of the world.
When through the Grace of God, we just put our trust in the Lord, we
receive healing, and forgiveness, and peace.
When we change our lifestyle to that of a Christian, we don’t feel that
we have given up anything other than turmoil.
There is no no with the
Lord. It is all yes, all peace, His peace.
When we pray the
Mass, we give our struggles over to the Lord.
We let God transform our difficulties into occasions of prayer. We need
to trust God. He is not alternatively
yes and no. He is always yes ■
[1] Sunday 19th February, 2012, 7th
Sunday in Ordinary Time. Readings: Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24-25. Lord, heal my
soul, for I have sinned against you—Ps 40(41):2-5, 13-14. 2 Corinthians
1:18-22. Mark 2:1-12.