💖 HOMILY - JANUARY 13 💖

First Reading - Hebrews 4:1-5,11

Gospel - Mark 2:1-12

Every creation is heading towards the end of itself. The end could be tragic or pleasant. Our destiny is heavenly bliss but it's not spoonfed but needs striving and efforts to attain this. The readings of the day draw our focus on the destiny that we have and the requirements that are expected to attain that.

The first reading zooms in on the theme of rest. The passage jumps from the seventh day rest of God after creation to the rest of the pilgrims to human destiny. However, the passage also emphasises on the personal effort to achieve that destiny in God.

The gospel passage recounts the faith of those who brought the paralytic to Jesus by opening the roof of the house. The striking feature of this account is the interweaving of the physical healing and forgiveness of sin. Jesus first forgives the sins of the paralytic and heals him from his physical sickness of paralysis. By forgiving sin, Jesus asserts his authority over sin and by healing the paralytic he shows his authority over physical sickness. The spiritual and physical healing grants the paralytic a new life in Jesus.

My dear friends, we know our destiny is in God but the way to this destiny is not bed of roses. We face spiritual hurdles and at times physical and emotional drawbacks. We can't continue with hurdles to our destiny but by overcoming them we can certainly eschew our purpose of life. A person who is entrapped by spiritual hurdles can not be freed to meet the purpose of life nor a person who is physically and emotionally weakened can in a right manner direct one's gaze into the direction of hope unless he or she is in touch with God. We do face hurdles and problems but we can overcome them by raising our eyes to God in hope and we will experience a new life in Jesus and certainly will be able to walk into the direction of our destiny. May God help us to achieve the destiny of our life.