January 15, 2022

Jan. 14

January 14, 2022:  Friday, 1st week, Ordinary Time

See 15 connections with today?
Legend below
Listen
Read
    • 1 Sm 8:4-7, 10-22a  Elders to Samuel:  “Appoint a king over us.”  Samuel, displeased, prayed and heard:  “Grant their request; they're rejecting me as their king.”  Samuel told them, “The king will take your children, fields, crops, flocks, and servants and make you slaves.”  They said, “No!  We must have a king over us.”  Samuel told the Lord, who replied, “Grant their request; appoint them a king.”
    • Ps 89:16-19  "For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord."  You're our strength; our King belongs to you.
    • Mk 2:1-12  While Jesus was preaching to the crowds, four men brought him a paralytic through the roof.  Jesus / scribes:  “Your sins are forgiven.” / “He's blaspheming; only God can forgive sins!” / “What's easier to say:  ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Rise and walk’?  But so you know the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins:  [to paralytic] “Rise, and go home.”  He did; all were astounded.
    Reflect
    Fr. Mike Perucho homily video:  By what authority?
    • Creighton:  When the people asked Samuel, who had spent his life serving them, for a new king, he gave way to their will and chose Saul.  1000+ years later, Jesus came, whose kingdom was not of this earth; Romans called him “King of the Jews” and rebel, and Jewish leaders called him charismatic, problematic, and blasphemous; their perceptions led to his crucifixion.  Now the true, everlasting king guides us. 
    Gospel:  When Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic brought in through the roof, the crowd was shocked; then Jesus healed the man and astonished them, asking which was easier.  It's easier to believe what's seen, but which helps the eternal soul more?
    • One Bread, One Body:  The man on the stretcher wasn’t the only paralytic in the room.  The scribes' spiritually paralysis kept them from believing in Jesus, rejoicing in the paralytic’s healing, and recognizing their own paralysis.  But those who carried and lowered the paralytic acted in faith, not paralyzed by fear of failure, rejection, ridicule, or embarrassment.
      Are you paralyzed?  Worried about what others think?  Unable to forgive?  Can you share your faith?  Praise God?  Let Jesus heal your spiritual paralysis.
      • Passionist:  Hope in miracles:  Today’s readings talk about the authority of kings and of Jesus.  In the early Church, acts we call miracles were called signs.  Jesus tells us that to believe, you have to see.  He understood a sign needed to be performed for others to understand.  He spoke and acted on God’s behalf.   We can see the signs of Jesus' authority as more important than the corresponding miracles.  God is always with us, but like the scribes in today's gospel we want proof, despite the evidence of Jesus' authority in Scripture.  Let's examine the signs in our own lives:  creation, vocation, those around us, spiritual gifts.  God and grace are ever-present.  If we recognize his presence, we can hope.
      • DailyScripture.net:  "We never saw anything like this!"  Jesus' treatment of sinners upset the religious teachers.  When a cripple was brought to Jesus because of his friends' faith, Jesus first forgave his sins. The scribes regarded this as blasphemy because only God could forgive sins.  Jesus both proved his authority came from God and showed the power of God's love and mercy by healing the man's physical paralysis; he also freed him from his from his burden of guilt. The Lord is ready to heal us of body, mind, and spirit.  What cripples you?  "The Lord, wanting to save sinners, shows himself to be God both by his knowledge of secrets and by the wonder of his actions. 'What's easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven" or, "Rise and walk"?'  He shows the likeness of the resurrection.  Besides healing body and mind, he also forgives sins of the spirit, removes the weakness of the flesh, and thus heals the whole person. It's great to forgive people's sins, and God alone can, but God also forgives through those to whom he has given power of forgiveness. But it's more divine to give resurrection to bodies, since the Lord is the Resurrection" (Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke).
      Dress legend
      • 'Chariot' and 'horse' tie pins:  "A king will assign your children to his chariots and horses" (1st reading)
      • 'Chalice with grapes' tie pin:  "A king will take the best of your vineyards and tithe them" (1st reading)
      • 'Gun' pin:  A king will set his subjects to make his war implements... (1st reading)
      • 'Sheep' tie bar:  ...and tithe your flocks (1st reading)
      • 'Silverware' tie bar:  "He'll use your daughters as cooks and bakers" (1st reading)
      • 'Crown' tie bar:  "Appoint a king over us [anyway]" (1st reading); the Lord is our King (psalm)
      • 'Musical notes with "joy"' pin:  Blessed those who know the joyful shout;... (psalm)
      • 'Street light' tie bar:  ...in Your light they walk (psalm)
      • 'Horn' tie pin:  By your favor our horn is exalted (psalm)
          • 'Heart' pin:  "Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?" (gospel)
          • '?' and 'walker' tie pins:  Why are you thinking that?  What's easier to say:  "Your sins are forgiven," or "Rise and walk" (gospel)
          • 'Doctor's office' tie:  Jesus heals a paralytic (gospel)
          • 'Eyeball' pin:  Healed paralytic  went away in the sight of everyone; "we've never seen anything like this" (gospel)
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