Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.”

He prove His authority to forgive sins and magnify the glory of God in the physical healing.

The First Martyrs of the Holy Roman Church

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊  

Amos 7:10-17

Amaziah, the priest of Bet­hel,

Then sent word to King Jero­boam of Israel, “Amos is conspiring against you in the very center of Israel; what he says goes too far.   These are his very words: Jero­boam shall die by the sword and Israel shall be exiled from its land.”

Amaziah then said to Amos, “Off with you, seer, go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there by proph­e­sying.  But never again prophesy at Bethel for it is a king’s sanctuary and a national shrine.”

 Amos replied to Ama­ziah, “I am not a prophet or one of the fellow-prophets. I am a breeder of sheep and a dresser of sycamore trees.  But Yahweh took me from shepherding the flock and said to me: Go, prophesy to my peo­ple Israel.

 Now hear the word of Yahweh, you who say: No more prophecy against Israel, no more insults against the family of Isaac!   This is what Yahweh says:

Your wife shall be made a harlot in the city, your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword, your land shall be divided up and given to others, and you yourself shall die in a foreign land, for Israel shall be driven far from its land.”

 

Ps 19:8, 9, 11

The judgments of the Lord are true, and all of them are just.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Matthew 9:1-8

Jesus got back into the boat, crossed the lake again, and came to his hometown.   Here they brought a paralyzed man to him, lying on a bed. Jesus saw their faith and said to the paralytic, “Courage, my son! Your sins are forgiven.”

Then some teachers of the Law said to themselves, “This man insults God.”  Jesus was aware of what they were thinking, and said, “Why have you such evil thoughts?  Which is easier to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?   You must know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” He then said to the paralyzed man, “Stand up! Take your stretcher and go home.”   The man got up, and went home.

When the crowds saw this, they were filled with awe and praised God for giving such power to human beings.

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Test of Discipleship

Humanly speaking, it is far easier to say, ”get lost” than say “forgive you” to our enemies. If forgiving came that easily, how different our world would have been, and how free of wars and weapons! But it is also evident that for Jesus, forgiveness came so easy that often the words of forgiveness were what flowed from him even at the hardest of times, as on the cross.

Thankfully, it is this gift of the “ease of forgiving” that Jesus has offered to every follower as grace and command. The mission entrusted to us is to “preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations”(cf. LK 24:47). We honor the first martyr of the Church of Rome: what stands out for Christian martyrs, starting from St. Stephen, is the ease with which they forgive the offenders.

Perhaps this is the true test of our Christian discipleship: the ease with which we can forgive those who offend us.