The Catholic Calendar for Sunday, February 19, 2006
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Isaiah 43:18-19, 21-22, 24-25
Psalm 41:2-5, 13-14
2 Corinthians 1:18-22
Mark 2:1-12

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

“See, I am doing something new!
In the desert I make a way,
in the wasteland, rivers.” (see Isaiah 43:19)

As we move ever-closer to the season of Lent, our scriptures seem to show God’s desire for us to become holy people. For instance, today’s passage from Isaiah, God speaks through the prophet, asking the Israelites why they’ve become so complacent in living their lives as God’s chosen people. In disregard of God’s bounteous care for them, they have forgotten to praise and adore Him. You can imagine how their faith degraded over the next 700 years after Isaiah, as they suddenly came into the presence of Jesus, the Christ!

Indeed, today’s graphic gospel clip of Jesus teaching the people, shows us a curious people desiring to learn, to be healed, and maybe even get in on the ground floor of that rumored messianic kingdom! To be sure, some received God’s grace into their hearts because of their humble faith. And then there were the scribes muttering among themselves: “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?”

How do we place ourselves in this little scene? How do we measure up in the sight of God? Are we truly people of faith, committed to changing our lives? Or, are we sitting down among those scribes, envious, jealous, seething with contempt. Let us instead choose to be truly faithful; for God, in His mercy and kindness, desires to heal us of our infirmities, to forgive and forget our sins. With faith, let us avail ourselves of God’s cleansing grace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation today.

- Journeymann

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