Being a Friend

There are many resources to help guide our Advent reflections.  Among them is the popular "Magnificat" magazine.  In the special Advent issue, Heather King offers the following reflection on today's Gospel about the curing of the paralyzed man.

"The forgiveness of sins, the parable of the paralytic at Capernaum tells us. is deeply connected to physical healing.  What most needs healing, the parable tell us, is the sense of guilt that drives our actions, choices, and relationships.  But maybe what the parable really tells us is how to be a friend.  Christ always seems especially partial to those who are willing to risk ridicule in a crowd.  Here, the inventive friends are so intent on the healing of their paralytic pal that they clamber up to the roof, perhaps against his protestations -- "Come on, fellas, people are gonna think we're crazy!" -- and lower him down.  It's thus the friends, with their bold, confident trust in Christ, who are the real stars of the story.  It's the friends to whom Christ says, "As for you, your sins are forgiven."  He goes on to heal the paralytic physically, but the deeper miracle has already occurred.  How often we assure a troubled friend, "I'll pray for you," then go about our business.  How often we are stopped from true prayer by the "derisive crowd" in our own mind.  To love one another as Christ loved us is to grab hold of our friend's stretcher, climb on the roof, and say, "Jesus, here, over here!  My friend has been stuck in pain for so long!  Please help."