THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Her Doctrine and Morals Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost 16 October 2011

The Sunday Sermon

Dear Friends,

Once again Our Lord is showing us that the cure of the soul is much greater than the cure of the body. In today’s Gospel we see the paralytic receive the forgiveness of God. “Take courage, son; thy sins are forgiven thee.” Who but God can forgive sins? Rather than understand that Jesus therefore is God many chose rather to condemn Jesus as a blasphemer. So in order to give physical proof of His divinity Jesus offers them a lesser miracle to open their eyes when He heals the paralytic’s body.

We very often do not properly understand and appreciate the spiritual blessings that we have been given, because we too, have become more concerned with the physical. A living healthy body is not nearly as important as a living healthy soul. If we are spiritually sick or dead a healthy body is of no real importance to us. Our bodies have been created for our souls, so without the soul the body has no real purpose for being.

Those who spend this life in the state of mortal sin have a soul that is dead and though they may seem to be alive and to do good things they are of no merit to themselves. They probably only continue to exist in this realm because God wishes to give them more time to repent or because they are of benefit to others. For themselves, they have become their own worst enemy. The longer they live in this state the more difficult it will be for them to get out of it. 

There is no reason for us to remain in sin, now that Jesus has made it so easy for us to free ourselves from it. Jesus has empowered His priests to forgive sins in His Name. A simple humble confession of our sins with true sorrow and purpose of amendment opens up for us the gates of God’s grace and mercy. When circumstances make it impossible for us to confess to a true priest, then we are taught to make an act of contrition striving for perfect contrition and resolve to confess as soon as we have the opportunity. There is no reason for us ever to wait in sin when we can immediately repent once we have discovered our mistake in giving into sin. If we are truly repentant we will be truly forgiven. 

Very often we will discover after having confessed our sins and received absolution that our physical life improves also. What we see in the paralytic is true for us too. Once the burden of our souls is lifted from us, our bodies then can be healed. We all too often in the face of physical ailments seek first a doctor for our bodies rather than one for our souls. The doctor of the body can ameliorate our physical difficulties and pain but he cannot stop the inevitable physical death that is gradually overtaking us day by day. Even more importantly the doctor who treats the body does nothing for the soul. A guilty conscience will weigh down the body and make it sick no matter how good the physical treatments may be. 

On the other hand, the doctor of the soul often heals both body and soul. Very often when the burden of sin is lifted from us our physical bodies likewise improve. 

Yet, strangely enough we call the medical doctor before we call upon God’s priest. Our thoughts are to ignore our souls and the sins that weaken and destroy it, while we focus all our attention upon the body looking for all those things that make it sick and break it down. We forget that it is the soul that keeps the body going, and it should be to the health of our souls that we should look before everything else. 

God can cure both body and soul, but He wants us to prioritize and see that our soul should be first and that we should even be willing to sacrifice our bodies for the sake of our soul. Sadly though, we more often than not sacrifice our souls in an effort to save our bodies and we always fail in this endeavor because our bodies must eventually die no matter what. If we would only seek the health of our immortal souls we would often find that the cure of our bodies will follow just as it did in the case of this paralytic in today’s gospel.