February 22, 2009: 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings this weekend focus in on the topic of forgiveness. Isaiah sees the release of the hostages taken to Babylon to be God’s “forgiveness” of Israel’s failure to live up to its potential earlier in its history. In the Gospel, when Christ’s forgiveness comes, a paralyzed man is able to walk. What is the connection between “not living up to one’s potential” and “spiritual paralysis?” Perhaps we are ALL that paralytic in the Gospel; each of us “frozen” in some way—sort of carried by our friends, as we are unable to “carry ourselves.” Sometimes what we need to “thaw” and “move” is to begin the inner examination of what “unforgiven business” we are carrying around with us. Let’s think of that this weekend as we prepare ourselves for Ash Wednesday and the coming penitential season of Lent.