They overcome fear with faith

Ish 35:1-10, Lk. 5:17-26. Today's first reading presents us with a vision of the Lord’s redeemed people streaming back from exile. In today's Gospel, Jesus is surrounded by a large group of people including the Pharisees and teachers of the law. So, the friends of the paralysed man wanted to get their friend to Jesus but they found that other people were blocking their way. There seemed to be no way to get their friend into the presence of Jesus, but they found a way through, by bringing their friend up onto the flat roof and letting him down through the tiles. When we come across serious problems in life we may be tempted to lose heart and give up.

Jesus was moved by their persistent faith and praised their faith as they model for us the community of faith, the paralytic and his friends, keeping their focus on the Lord and getting close to Him, in spite of obstacles in their way. Their faith and compassion can be an inspiration for us this Advent season as we are called to keep journeying towards the Lord, to keep our focus on Him, in spite of whatever may be at work in our lives to keep us from the Lord. Jesus surprised them by saying to the man: “Your sins are forgiven.” The paralytic needed spiritual as well as physical healing and his spiritual healing took priority. As we keep our focus on the Lord this Advent, we look to Him for our personal healing. Today, we are inspired by St Ambrose of Milan, a great saint and one of the original Doctors of the Church. Ambrose was truly a very influential leader of the Church as the Archbishop of Milan, head of one of the largest Christian communities of his time. Ambrose worked hard to root out the corruption of heresy, particularly the Arian heresy. In this, he faced a lot of opposition especially from the Arian clergy and also from powerful nobles who were favourable to the Arian cause and were Arian believers.

May the Lord heal the broken bonds of our life and reconcile us in the sharing of our hope in Christ! Amen!! Good morning and have a productive week!!!