This week's readings Week of Feb. 23 - March 1 Sunday, Feb. 23, 2003 Reading I: Is 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25 Reading II: 2 Cor 1:18-22 Gospel: Mk 2:1-12 Monday, Feb. 24, 2003 Reading I: Sir 1:1-10 Gospel: Mk 9:14-29 Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003 Reading I: Sir 2:1-11 Gospel: Mk 9:30-37 Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003 Reading I: Sir 4:11-19 Gospel: Mk 9:38-40 Thursday, Feb. 27, 2003 Reading I: Sir 5:1-8 Gospel: Mk 9:41-50 Friday, Feb. 28, 2003 Reading I: Sir 6:5-17 Gospel: Mk 10:1-12 Saturday, March 1, 2003 Reading I: Sir 17:1-15 Gospel: Mk 10:13-16 Pope's Prayer Intentions February General Intention Bread and water for all the world: That all Christians, sensitive to the people who are still suffering from hunger and thirst, be moved to greater solidarity with their brothers. February Mission Intention The Church in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei: That these churches may dialog with other religions while keeping faithful to their exacting evangelizing missions.

The Lord says:
I am doing something new

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

The theme we've seen in the Scriptures of recent weeks linking sickness, healing, and the forgiveness of sin continues with Jesus healing the paralytic not so much by saying "be healed" but by saying "your sins are forgiven."

Normally we don't associate physical illness with sin (God doesn't strike us with the flu or with cancer because we have sinned, otherwise - frankly -we'd all be sick most of the time). While we recognize that the original sin has made us subject to weakness, sin, illness, and death, we understand that sin doesn't make us physically ill.

"We have never seen anything like this, exclaim the people who witnesses Jesus healing the paralytic and forgiving sins. Of course not! Jesus is doing something new."

However, the "something new" that Jesus is doing is showing that his power over the physical universe (being able to turn water into wine, healing the sick, driving out demons) is his divine power, and it is just as easy for him, as the Son of God, to say "your sins are forgiven" as it would be to say "pick up your mat and go home."

This close relationship of God to man is something new. Jesus, the God-man, restores the gift of God's friendship to the sons and daughters of Israel in a new way. Just as the Lord desires us to be free of physical ills, so does he desire us to be free of the power of sin and death.

Readings for Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Feb. 23, 2003) Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24b-25 Psalm 41:2-3, 4-5, 13-14 2 Corinthians 1:18-22 Mark 2:1-12

That "something new" which Isaiah talks about is God forgetting the past, wiping out the sins of his people. This is just what Jesus does when he says "your sins are forgiven," and to show that he has power over sin he cures the paralytic so that he can pick up his mat and go home.

Thus we who can pray the psalms and say "Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against you" need not fear to ask anything of God, providing we ask it in the name of Jesus.

Saint Paul gives us a few words to help us deal with discerning God's way of answering our prayers. Paul reminds us that Jesus is not "yes" and "no" but "yes." How then to understand when God seems to say "no" to our prayers when we ask for healing from illness, when we ask for help in our lives, when we ask his grace for others we love?

The "yes" which Jesus is as God's word is a "yes" of faithfulness, not merely a "yes" to our requests and demands. Even when God seems to say "no" to what we ask, he is doing something new by remaining faithful to the people he has called to be his own.

This is no copout, but a realization that God gives us security in Christ, as Paul says, and sets his seal upon us. For some, God's faithfulness will be seen in a visible and tangible way. For others, it will be invisible and intangible. For still others, it will await the coming of God's kingdom, when we will see and understand the wisdom of God in all things.

"We have never seen anything like this," exclaim the people who witnesses Jesus healing the paralytic and forgiving sins. Of course not! Jesus is doing something new, and we are all the recipients of his seal of love, compassion, security, forgiveness, and healing.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.