July 02, 2020

Sts. Bernardine Realino, SJ, John Frances Regis, SJ, Francis de Geronimo, SJ, and Bls. Julian Maunoir, SJ and Anthony Baldinucci, SJ

Mt 9: 1-8

And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town. And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” 

Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” —he then said to the paralytic—’stand up, take your bed and go to your home.” And he stood up and went to his home. When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Have courage, take heart

“Courage, child, your sins are forgiven,” reads the translation we hear at Mass today.

Today, I feel helpless. I’ve actually been feeling helpless for the past three months. As much as I want to be with our students on campus and walking alongside my black neighbors and friends, the world feels like it is caving in, and I am paralyzed. I believe the most important statement Jesus tells that paralytic is to have courage. Without courage, we cannot speak up; without it we cannot walk up, pick up the mat and go home. But, before courage, there is darkness and desolation. We are paralyzed deep within our souls until we hear that word or we feel it… courage. It is the feeling that breaks the cycle of being a bystander to accompanying my students, my family, my black brothers and sisters, and los imigrantes in cages. It is our turn to tell them the same thing as Jesus, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven… pick up your stretcher and go home.”

—Rocio Juarez is the Service Coordinator at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago, and a proud alum of both that school and Xavier University.

Prayer

Jesus our brother,

You revealed God through your wise words and loving deeds, and we encounter you still today in the faces of those whom society has pushed to the margins. Guide us, through the love you revealed, to establish the justice you proclaimed, that all peoples might dwell in harmony and peace, united by that one love that binds us to each other, and to you. 

Amen.

—Prayer for Racial Healing- Catholic Charities USA