Dcn Brigid Waszczak

…they went up on the roof and let him down on the stretcher… into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus… “I say to you, stand up and take your stretcher and go to your home.” Immediately he stood up… took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. Luke 5: 19, 24-25

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The story of the paralytic brought to Jesus by friends, lowered into the house through the roof, and healed by Jesus is one of the more dramatic and memorable episodes in Luke’s Gospel.

When I read it, I imagine the tension between the faith-filled man and his friends and the skeptical Pharisees and lawyers – and Jesus, intuiting criticism by the latter without their having said a word.

Jesus defuses their cynicism with a rhetorical question:  Is it easier to forgive the man’s sins or to tell him to stand and walk? “If you want to see the miracles you came for, I both forgive sins and heal,” says Jesus while instructing the man to rise, gather up his stretcher, and home. Their amazement was “through the roof” (pun intended).

When I’m paralyzed and unable to act it’s often because I fear failure. Or ridicule. Or am too proud to ask for help. But this story reminds me that I am fortunate to have friends who are loyal and supportive. And it inspires me to remain faithful.

Faith requires courage because it asks me not to let fear or shame be stronger than my trust in God. The paralytic’s friends did not let fear of rebuke or ridicule stop their efforts.

May I be as confident in God’s love and presence in my life as the paralytic and his friends. May I, too, “go home glorifying God.”

Yours in the Spirit,

—Dcn Brigid