The Mystery of Repentance in this gospel story

The gospel reading today reminds us of the importance of the Mystery of Repentance, the primary way that the Lord Jesus has chosen to give His power to forgive sins to the Church. The gospel tells us that they brought a sick man, a paralytic, to the Lord. Although Matthew does not give us any further details, we know from St. Mark and St. Luke that the Lord cures this man in a house, and that the house was full of people. On account of the crowd, the friends of the paralyzed man had great difficulty bringing the man to Jesus.

This detail of the story is a great reminder to us of the need to prepare carefully for our confession. The Church tells us that, in order to properly prepare for this sacrament, we must do four things: ask for God’s help, examine our conscience, make an act of contrition, and make clear resolutions concerning the amendment of our life. This last thing is especially important, since these resolutions cannot be vague and general. We have to propose a specific course of action to avoid sin in the future.

The gospel reading tells us that the man was a paralytic. Paralysis is a very good image of mortal sin. Sin, of course, tries to make itself look attractive to us, but when we have surrendered to it, it makes us dull and heavy in mind, just as paralysis does in our bodies. For example, if we were to surrender to the vices of avarice or impurity, we would find our actions generally ineffective, outside of that passion that rules us.

 Our Lord Jesus Christ says to the man, “be of good heart, your sins are forgiven.” We find that this is true for us as well, when we have confessed our sins in the Mystery of Repentance. We have a light-heartedness and exaltation that is more than natural. It is grace from the Lord, a consolation that He sends us to bring us close to Him, so that we can avoid sin in the future.

 Further, the Lord Jesus asks the Pharisees, “why do you think evil in your hearts?” He asks each one of us the same question. We must remember that the sins of our thoughts must be confessed and repented of just as much as our sinful deeds. Yet, we should remember that when thoughts first come to our mind, they are only temptations. Even if they return very persistently, they are only temptations. It is only when we willfully hold on to them, making them our own, that they become sins.

There is no obligation to confess temptations, but, under certain circumstances, it may be helpful. If we have temptations to anger, suspicion, or jealousy, for example, it is often helpful to expose them, to verbalize them. Often this alone causes them to vanish. A simple rule is this: confessing temptations is good, if it gives us peace.

Lastly, the command of the Lord to the formerly paralyzed man, “Arise, take up your bed and walk,” corresponds with three stages in our conversion from sin. First, our rise is a good confession. Second, “we take up our bed” when we use the grace that the Lord gives to us to avoid sin. Finally, we “walk” when we persevere in the grace of the Lord and grow in virtue. St. Luke’s account of this event tells us that the man left glorifying God. This is a good reminder to us to make a short thanksgiving after our confession. First, we need to do the penance, but then we should give thanks to God for giving the power to forgive sins to His Church.