Friday of the First week in Ordinary Time
Commentary of the day
Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Discourse on the Psalms, Ps. 36[37], no. 3, § 3
“Some people came bringing to him a paralytic”
Can we not take up like the paralytic in the Gospel a man whose inner forces are weakened to the point of being unable to do any good, and open the roof of the Scripture to him so as to let him down at the Lord’s feet?
You understand, I’m sure, that such a man is a spiritually paralyzed man. And I see this roof (of the Scriptures) and know that Christ is concealed beneath this roof. So I’m going to do, so far as I can, what the Lord approved in those who uncovered the roof of that house and let down the paralytic at his feet. Effectively, the Lord said to him: “My son, take courage! Your sins are forgiven”. And Jesus healed that man's inner paralysis, forgiving his sins and strengthening his faith.
But there were certain people there whose eyes were incapable of seeing the healing of the inner paralysis. They took to be a blasphemer the doctor who had effected it. “Who is this man, they said, who forgives sins?” “He commits blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God alone?” But since this doctor was God, he understood the thoughts of their hearts. They believed God really had this power but were unable to see God present in front of them. Therefore this doctor also acts on the body of the paralytic, to heal the inner paralysis of those who talked in this way. He does something they can see so that they may also believe.
Therefore take courage, you whose hearts are weak, you who are sick to the point of being incapable of any good faced with all what happens in the world. Courage you who are interiorly paralyzed! Let us open up the roof of the Scriptures together and let ourselves down at the Lord’s feet.
-- Saint Charles Borromeo