NEVER GIVE UP! KEEP STRUGGLING (Hebrews 4:1-5,11/Psalm 78:3,4,6-8/Mark 2:1-12)

NEVER GIVE UP! KEEP STRUGGLING

(Homily for Friday 18 January, 2019)

The journey of our Christian life is a journey of faith that demands the collaboration of all Christians in rendering assistance to one another. In this journey to reach our final destination which involves daily struggles and facing of life's vicissitudes, no one can claim to have it all.

We are expected to be source of encouragement to one another, those who are stronger in faith should also consider their brothers and sisters who are struggling. Those who physically and spiritually healthy should not look down on those who lack these. Christian charity demands that we render help to those who are physically and spiritually challenged as a way of fanning into flame our Christian faith, putting it into action.

The gospel of today presents a wonderful picture that calls for sober reflection on what Christian charity and faith in action mean. The case of the paralytic and the charitable attitude of those who brought him to Christ is a clear and authentic display of rendering physical and spiritual help to one another.

The condition of this man made it impossible for him to approach Christ for healing. From time immemorial, paralysis has been seen as one of the dangerous sicknesses that renders anybody who suffers it incapable of doing anything because of non-functionality of the parts of the body.

There are different kinds of paralysis people are suffering today ranging from physical to mental paralysis and from economic to political paralysis. The worst kind of paralysis among them all is the spiritual paralysis and in most cases, it is caused by sin. When one is spiritually paralyzed, nothing spiritually works. Anyone who is spiritually paralyzed experiences a high level of lukewarmness in spiritual exercises, loss of interest to prayer, and negative attitude in reading the word of God and the practice of virtues.

Whichever way we look at it, any form of paralysis is dangerous because it stops the functionality of the entire system, be it physical or spiritual. No wonder then in most cases those who suffer this kind of sickness are not always happy because of their condition. We can now understand the terrible situation of this paralytic in the gospel of today and a big relief he got from those who assisted him to reach Christ and the immediate healing he got from Christ.

A little act of charity we render to one another will go a long way to speak volumes on the person who receives such act from us. Everything is not about money. There are so many ways to assist people in their condition especially bringing them closer to God which money cannot solve like the case we have today in the gospel.

In our daily struggles to live out our Christian vocation let us not allow anything be a stumbling block to our close relationship with God. Let the attitude of men in the gospel be a lesson for us. The crowd could have prevented these men from bringing the paralytic to where Jesus was but immediately they resorted to an alternative and it was this second option that helps them to accomplish their mission and upon seeing their faith in action, Christ granted their request.

Christ indeed is the solution to any form of spiritual paralysis we may be experiencing in our Christian lives. What we need is to make ourselves available to Him even when one option fails, let us not be discouraged but quickly resort to another alternative, not to a negative alternative as many have done today. That is, looking for solution elsewhere rather than looking unto Christ.

Let our focus always be where Christ is. Let us always learn from the action of these men in the gospel. They were not discouraged or relented in their struggle to see Christ. Never give up even when the going gets tough, keep struggling and keep focusing on Christ.

Let Us Pray: Lord Jesus Christ, help me to put my faith into action by helping others to come to you. May nothing hold me back from seeking your face at all times. Amen.