7th Sunday of the Year Paralysis Trying to write on this Sunday’s Gospel, has led to paralysis in me. How can one understand the way Jesus links the man’s sin and his paralysis. Elsewhere in the Gospel, Jesus refuses to make such easy link between sin and disability. Yet here he obviously does link the man’s paralysis with sin. Does this not go against the mercy of God? And who is to blame? Aside from the obvious arsonists, all sort of people and groups have been ‘ blamed’ as contributing to the ferocity of the blazes and the loss of life – ‘greenies’, government agencies, councils and their regulations, the people themselves, western consumerism. The list can go on. To some extent, each bears some blame but not even the arsonists could have realised the ferocity of the blaze and the depth of the tragedy that they would unleash. Did anyone really deserve this? And where is the mercy of God in all that? These are questions to which I have no answer. Or rather the only answer is the cross of Christ. There we see that God came amongst us and shared our pain, even though he was without sin, without blame. When overcome with paralysis, it is in front of the cross that we must pray.
Sr Kym Harris OSB |