To the Band of Brothers: December 8, 2021

Good morning,

Monday's gospel was one of my favorites. It is taken from St. Luke 5:17-26 and tells the story of a time when Jesus was in Capernaum preaching to a large crowd in the house of Peter’s mother-in-law. Four men were carrying a paralytic on a stretcher. Because there was no room in the house, they climbed onto the roof, opened a hole, and lowered their paralyzed friend in front of Jesus. Jesus not only forgives the paralytic his sins, but cures him as well.

There is a lot about this story that greatly impresses me. There’s Jesus’s affirmation that because he is God, he has the power to forgive sins. There’s the confrontation with the Pharisees and teachers of the law who got upset with Jesus. And, very uplifting, are the four friends who go to all extremes to get their friend some much-needed help. It’s this last point that I like most. 

Several years ago I took a group of students to a Catholic youth conference at Springhill College in Mobile, Alabama. On the last night, the students were brought to the outdoor grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes and handed a lit candle. After praying a decade of the rosary, they walked in procession towards the college chapel praying as they went along. Once inside, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed and the lights turned off. The glow of the candles surrounded the altar as the kids meditated and adored in silence.

When the whole thing was over, I gathered the Belen kids together in a room and sat them on the floor to reflect on the whole experience. One young man spoke up and expressed a concern. He told the group he was feeling great and was experiencing a spiritual high. But, he was afraid of what was going to happen when he returned home to Miami. Going back to school, sports, friends, and the like, he was afraid of losing the feeling of closeness to God. Then he turned to me and asked, “Father, how do I keep it going?”

I thought about the answer for a few seconds and responded that there were a couple of things he could do. First, I said, you need to pray every day. Make prayer a daily routine in your life. In the same way you can only deepen a relationship with a friend or girlfriend is by spending time with them and speaking to them, you have to speak to Jesus in prayer every day in order to keep him close. Second, I added, go to Mass. Receiving the Eucharist and being in communion with Jesus is another way to keep the feeling of closeness to God.

I confess I was very proud of myself for the answer I had provided.

Then, another young man asked to speak. He stood up and said that he had been reflecting on the candle procession earlier that evening. He observed that when he started walking the wind was blowing all around him and he had to make a huge effort to keep the flame of his candle from blowing out. He would cup his hand around the flame as best he could to keep it lit. But, he continued, he also realized that if at any point during that procession his flame would blow out, all he had to do was turn to the person next to him and light his candle from him. So, he added, maybe another thing we need to do is surround ourselves with people of faith who help us when our flame blows out.

Wow, what a powerful reflection. “Out of the mouth of babes hast thou ordained strength” (Psalm 8:2). 

We can only imagine that the paralytic in yesterday’s gospel must have often experienced frustration, sadness, anger, hopelessness, and lack of faith. But, it was the faith of his four friends that got him in front of Jesus so that he could be healed, have his flame relit, and get up glorifying God. If not for being surrounded by other people of faith, he would have laid there forever, helpless in his infirmity.

We are not always going to feel the presence of God. Warm and fuzzy feelings come and go as often as the winds blow and our flames often go out. It is precisely in those difficult moments that we have to pray harder, go to Mass more often, and surround ourselves with others from whom we can light our candles. We can’t simply pick our friends because of likes and dislikes, but pick them also because they make us better men and help us sustain and even deepen our relationship with Jesus.

Auspice Maria