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Fr George's Letter

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Written by: Fr George

 

 

HEALING OF THE PARALYTIC.

 

 

“The virtues build a new person radiating love to the world.”

(Metropolitan Paul (Yazigi) of Aleppo who consecrated our temple.”)

 

  “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

                                                                                          (Hebrews 4:15-16)

 

SUNDAY 8^th MARCH. St. Gregory Palamas. St. Theophylact, Bishop of Nicomedia (842). Apostle Hermas, of the Seventy (1^st). Hieromartyr Theodoret of Antioch (4^th). St. Senan of Scattery Island (c 544). St. Felix of Burgundy, Bishop of Dunwwich and Enlightener of East Anglia (c 648).

 

“God in His goodness has arranged things perfectly, so that with our gifts, we can help each other, and with our faults, we can be humbled by each other. For every person has some gifts, but everyone also has some faults, which one must struggle to overcome.” (St. Paisios of Mt. Athos)

 

TODAY’S GOSPEL. Mark 2:1-12. “And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”  And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this Man speak blasphemes like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house.” Immediately he arose, took up his bed and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

 

When we meditate on today’s Gospel two things stand out for us. To get near to Jesus requires effort and sometimes actions that seem to be outlandish. Christ is near to all of us, but like in the Gospel account, because of the way of the world, we are often frustrated to be close to Him. The paralysed man is brought by his friends who made the effort to carry him to the Lord that he may be healed. His friends in combining their efforts made the man’s healing possible.

To be strong in the Faith we need to share it among ourselves to support and love each other and reach out to the wider world. By sharing we become one. Christ offers Himself in the Eucharist to each one of us individually and to all of us as His Church. So firstly, we are called to make an effort to be near to Him, He never told us that it would be easy. Remember He asks us to take up our crosses if we are to be His followers. Secondly, we need to co-operate with each other and to help those in need of our support. We may be ridiculed for breaking through someone’s roof or breaking the ​“rules” that we may bring someone to God, but let us not forget the saintly “Fools-for-Christ” so loved by we Orthodox.  

                                                                                                    Much Love,

                                                                                                   

                                                                                                    Fr. George.

 Let us continue to pray for all the suffering innocents at this time of so much conflict and discord in the world.