As
we begin our reflection for this 7th Sunday in ordinary time, it
seems to me that a common theme could be observed all throughout the past
Sundays in which we have reflected on the weekly Word that is celebrated in the
liturgy. This theme we see once again in the Sunday readings. At the very heart
of the preaching of Jesus was the coming of the kingdom of God. It was to be a
kingdom unlike any other that the Jews, to whom his preaching was first
directed, had ever known, but one that they have long been anticipating. It was
to be a new era of peace, wherein everything that the people of Israel had lost
would be restored, where all of the prophecies concerning the recovery of
Israel’s former glory would be realized and even surpassed; it was one that would
be accomplished by the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. The Jews were thinking
that this restoration would come through external structures and through an
epic revolution. This was one reason why they were greatly confused and
scandalized when they understood that it was not to come from there. The basis
of their hopes we could hear in the First Reading, where the Lord declares to
Israel the renovation that he was to make of the present state of things: See, I am doing something new! In the desert
I make a way; in the wasteland, rivers. This renewal is the sure step
towards the salvation that God gives as a gift to man, for when before there
had been a seemingly endless expanse of deserted land, now there is a way that
limits it; where before everything was lifeless, now life is promised because
of the waters that flow through it. It is important for one to be made new in
order to share in this salvation promised by God.
This
renewal, as people would learn, and as the Lord Jesus himself would announce in
his preaching, was not to come from without: it was a renewal that would start
from within, one that would only begin when the greatest obstacle to the coming
of the kingdom has been removed, one that is none other than sin. From the onset, one realization that could
be had from the Word of God today is that sin is a firm obstacle to this
renewal. Basically, taking away
this obstacle from our lives, in order to be renewed is nothing more than
undergoing conversion. This is at the root of the Christian life. Conversion is
nothing less than responding to this call of renewal that starts from within.
It is taking heed to the imperative call that tells us to change the direction
which until now we had been taking: before, we had been going our own way, much
like sheep without a shepherd; now, heeding the call of Christ, we change
course in order to follow Him more closely. Conversion, renewal is the prime
law of the Christian vocation, for it means nothing else other than following
Christ, and following Christ means rejecting everything that is not of Christ: sin. With this in mind, one
could understand the urgency of the message of the psalm, which says: Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned
against you!
As
we may have pondered last Sunday, sin holds this destructive power over us;
much like in the case of the paralytic of today’s gospel, it deprives us of the
strength to do good and to live in freedom as we should. Only the merciful love
of God can restore the vitality that we have lost by sin; it is a love that we
see in the person of Jesus Christ, whom we come to touch most especially in the sacraments. The sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation,
give us the strength to live according to the love of God, because they bring
us the gift of grace. Much like what the waters of a river do to an arid
wasteland, grace revives and nourishes the person, proportioning him with the
more strength to live according to the freedom of the sons and daughters of God
Furthermore,
grace sustains us in the struggle to follow Christ always. Conversion is not a matter of the moment: it is the work of a lifetime.
Every moment gives us the opportunity to face Christ, to start all over again
if we fall down, and to renew our commitment to take up our own cross (whenever
it slides off our shoulders due to our own lack of faith) and follow Him. The
everyday struggle of following Jesus in our daily life should not make us lose
heart at the sight of the difficulty that it poses to us. The Second Reading,
taken from the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, shows us that God is
faithful, and that His fidelity is our guarantee that the means to victory over
sin and death will always be at our disposal. After all, He has put his seal on us and given the Spirit
in our hearts as a just installment.
These
are considerations that could as well help us as we prepare ourselves for Lent,
which is a specially indicated time for personal conversion, a daily struggle
of a lifetime, in which the aid of God’s grace and the strength of the Spirit would
never be lacking.
May the
Lord Jesus be our constant companion and model as we continue to heed his call
to be holy like the heavenly Father, a vocation that is translated into the
effort of renewal and conversation in every moment of our lives. Amen.
FIRST
READING: Is 43:18-19; 21-22; 24b-25
SECOND
READING: 2 Cor 18-22
GOSPEL:
Mk 2:1-12
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