Reflection/Homily: Seventh (7th) Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B (February 19 2012)

     A certain young lady got married and could not take in after twelve years. The husband and his relatives were worried and threatened her with a divorce. Touched by the woman’s predicaments, her friends decided to take her to a gynecologist who was also an expert in psychology. She examined her thoroughly and found nothing physically wrong with her system. She delved into the interior aspect of her life and after some psychological tests discovered that the young lady have had twelve abortions before marriage. After the counseling and recommendations she received, in less than a year, she took in and was delivered of a baby safely.

          The similarity between this story and that of the paralytic in the gospel reading is that the two patients were taken to be healed not by themselves because of their incapability to help themselves but by their friends. For us, this means that our journey

towards physical and spiritual healing often begins with support from the faith of others and the courage to let go and be carried by them. This therefore challenges us to look around us and see those helpless individuals waiting for us to support them either morally, spiritually, financially and otherwise. Can you really assist them or use your position to make the world a better place for others? There are some however, who are very unwilling to allow others help them. They die in their ignorance and sickness either because of pride or lack of self-love. Such people are challenged by today’s gospel to be open to their neighbours. Feel free to share your problems with others because a problem shared is half solved. You never can tell through whom God is coming to deliver you. 

It is very interesting to note that sometimes, our problems may not be physical but spiritual or even both. In the gospel pericope, the paralytic was suffering from both. He suffered in the soul and body. To be healthy, we must not only take care of our bodies but also of our souls. Today, Jesus was more interested in the soul and of course the catechism teaches us to take more care of our souls. This challenges us to look at our helpless situations and find out where our problems lie. Our problems could be in the body (physical), mind (psychological) or soul (spiritual). The young lady in our story had hers in the mind and soul. Sometimes we may be treating the body when the problem is in the soul. We must also do a spiritual diagnosis to discover what type of sickness we have in our souls whether it is pride, envy, jealousy, anger, lust, etc.  The greatest sickness the soul can suffer is sin and when the soul is sick, the body is affected. Therefore, we must learn to ask Jesus to heal us of our sins for in today’s gospel, he expressed his power to forgive sins.

We must also learn from the courage and determination of the friends of this paralytic. Even with the crowd and difficulty of reaching Jesus, they made extra efforts to reach him. How much efforts have you made to reach unto Christ? If we are really interested in reaching Christ, we must keep on going even when the going is tough. Jesus is interested in our efforts. Is your profession, business, vocation, family, function, examination, etc making it difficult for you to encounter Christ? Then you must find a way of overcoming these challenges just as these men did. That is why the second reading urges us to remain firm in our decision to find Jesus. Let your yes remain yes and when you say “I can”, the Lord will see you through. Our Lady is always there to help you.

As we enter a new week today, be sure that with your determination and effort to encounter Christ, your situation must change for the better according to the will of God. You will hear those consoling words of Jesus in the gospel reading being addressed to you “get up, pick up your mat and go for your sins are forgiven”. Then, there will be greater joy on your lips for in the first reading, God promises to do a new thing in your life. He will create possibilities where there are impossibilities and blot out your sins. When this happens, do not forget to sing His praises. God loves you.

***** You can always come back here (www.uwakwereflections.com) for your weekly Sunday reflections and more. By God's grace, I publish the reflections latest on the last Friday of the week ahead of Sunday.  You can also subscribe to my posts via e-mail under this post or follow Uwakwe Reflections on facebook and twitter. To appreciate the good work God is doing through this reflections, share this blog with your friends and always come back. Have a wonderful weekend. I love you.******