The man who picks up his mat has been liberated. Freedom from sin opens one to the future and indicates the path to authentic fulfillment.Suffering the paralysis of sin, indifference, irreverence or lack of respect for the sacred?
Make a space: one who breaks down the barrier between self and God by bowing humbly beneath God's mighty hand will be raised high in the grace of living Faith. In the holy Mass, through bowing, genuflecting, singing, praying and sacred silence all find a space for meeting Christ.
Come into contact with the living God: In the sacred liturgy, all can come with the help of the community, bearing the paralyzed upon the litter of disbelief, indifference, and irreverence through the barriers, broken down with the help of others, that have prevented vital contact with the living and saving God in Jesus Christ.
"By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin. The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins -- that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church." (CCC 1395)
Meeting Christ in the Liturgy offers a reflection for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.
((((..)))) mcitl
(Art: Netherlandish 16th Century, The Healing of the Paralytic, c. 1560/1590. Chester Dale Collection 1943.7., National Gallery of Art)
beautiful!
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