THE RIGHT TO FULNESS OF LIFE.

SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. YEAR B.
February 22, 2009.
(First reading: Isaiah 43:18-25) (Psalm 41:2-5, 13-14)
(Second reading: 2 Corinthians 1:18-22) (Gospel: Mark 2:1-12)


THE RIGHT TO
FULNESS OF LIFE.

One of the greatest offenses a person can commit against his fellow human beings consists in depriving them of their right to live life to the fullest.

In today's gospel Jesus confirms (and proves) that all human beings are endowed with the inalienable right to live life to the fullest. He reveals that fulness of life involves both its physical and its spiritual aspects by healing the paralytic of all his ailments, beginning with his spiritual(1) ailments (sin) and concluding with his physical ailment (paralysis).

Furthermore, through the miracle of the healing of the paralytic Jesus reveals himself as someone who suffers the misunderstanding and persecution from those who denied the right to fulness of life.

This miracle is an anticipated revelation of the miracle of the Cross, miracle by which Jesus heals the ills of humanity, both spiritual and physical, namely the ills of injustice, of mutual destruction, of human exploitation, of division.

After Jesus forgave the paralytic's sins, the scribes objected to his authority to heal the most catastrophic ailment a human being can suffer, the ailment that destroys a person from inside, the ailment no one else can see, the ailment that can be covered up by false appearances: Sin(2).

The scribes (of old and today) were ill with their own sins, the sins of being responsible for promoting lies, hipocrisy, division, inequality; sins which they were so judiciously able to hide from the sight of the people, and cover up under the appearance of their "legal order".

It was, then, imperative for the scribes to try to silence Jesus, to denied his authority, to deny the goodness of his actions, to accuse him of "blaspheming".

But the sight of the paralytic carrying his mat and going home (Mark 2:11) left no doubt in anybody's mind that Jesus does have the authority to restore a human being's inalienable right to fullness of life, both spiritually and physically.

May the spiritual and physical healing of the paralytic be a convincing proof that Jesus can also heal us spiritually and physically so that we may restore the right to fulness of life for all.
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Footnotes.
(1) Jesus restores first spiritual health because without it, physical health serves no purpose. Let us explain: A person who lives in selfishness or indifference or greed, will not be able to use his physical (or mental) abilities for the well-being of others. Similarly, a nation which promotes war or injustice, will not be capable of striving for peace and justice.
Therefore, the absence of spiritual health is much worse than the lack of physical health.
(2) God is able to see sin while man is able to cover it up.