He Was At Home

January 16, 2009

Friday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Therefore, let us be on our guard while the promise of entering into his rest remains, that none of you seem to have failed. For in fact we have received the good news just as they did. But the word that they heard did not profit them, for they were not united in faith with those who listened. Hebrews 4:1-2

Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth”-- he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” Mark 2:8-11

Piety

Jesus, you know what we are thinking every minute of every day. Send us the grace to soften our hearts to the plight of those around us. Help us to grant your special rest to those who have extraordinary physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Amen.

Study

Jesus was most “at home” when he was tending to both the corporal and spiritual needs of his flock. Jesus sought to put those around him who were troubled at ease. If you were a leper, a paralytic, or troubled by some other demon, Jesus was united with those people who turned to him in faith.

If you were a scribe, Pharisee, or government/church official, Jesus’ actions made you and your power feel most threatened. Had Jesus just operated some kind of “Dr. Love’s Traveling Salvation Show,” the scribes and Pharisees might not have been in such a rush to bring this conflict to a boiling point. It was one thing to heal the sick. It was quite another to forgive sins. Jesus pushed that envelop right out into the open with his healing and reconciliation services.

When engaged in this fashion, Jesus always brought out the faith of those people who turned to him. The sick and the troubled did not get a free ride on the “Healing Express.” Their ticket to ride was faith. If Jesus was going to ease the baggage of their physical condition, he was going to replace it with the responsibility of their spiritual condition. Yesterday, he healed the leper then sent him to the temple to see the rabbi there for the rest of the cleansing ceremony. Faith is always the “quid pro quo” of his miracles and signs. “Go. Your faith has saved you.”

While the promise of his rest remains, there is much work to do in the spiritual and in the temporal world before we can truly rest in his sight.

Action

What would Jesus do if he looked around Capernaum and saw 9 million children without any way to get health care coverage? How could we lower 9 million children through the roof for his healing touch?

An Action Alert this week from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops reminds us that Catholic teaching tells us that everyone has “the right to live” as well as “the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services” (Pope John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, #11).

Catholic teaching also affirms the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and the inherent dignity of every human being. We insist that access to adequate health care is a basic human right, necessary for the development and maintenance of life and for the ability of human beings to realize the fullness of their dignity. A just society protects and promotes fundamental human rights and dignity, with special attention to the basic needs of children and the vulnerable, including the need for safe and affordable health care for all.

Through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), states receive federal funds to provide health insurance for millions of low-income children throughout the United States. Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on an expansion of SCHIP. The Senate vote will take place in the next few days. This is an important opportunity to promote several key improvements to the program—coverage of currently uninsured children, coverage of children before birth, and coverage of legal immigrant children and legal immigrant pregnant women.

On January 14, 2009 Bishop William F. Murphy sent a letter about this issue to House and Senate members on behalf of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. Join Bishop Murphy in efforts to support and improve SCHIP by contacting your Senators today.