Jul 25 Sat
Does Christian life imply doing weird things and obeying orders beyond your understanding?
And getting into a boat, Jesus crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, they brought to him a paralytic, lying on his bed.
This paralytic sets us a good example of docility. Lying there on his stretcher, with an expression of quiet supplication, he is used to being moved around and doing what other people tell him. On being brought before our Lord, he abandons himself completely into his power. He has been eagerly awaiting this meeting, and now that he is face-to-face with him, he doesn't ask him for anything. He simply looks at him, trusting in his mercy.
Our Lord knows us inside out. He takes everything in at a glance: the malice of the scribes, whose only interest in the scene is to see if they can undermine his authority, and the faith of the paralytic and his companions. All of it lies open to Christ's gaze.
Have courage, my son; your sins are forgiven. This is Jesus Christ's merciful response to us. Our Lord treats us as little children.
During the Last Supper, his heart was moved at the thought of having to leave the Apostles, and He called them "little children": very small children of a divine Father.
We need to become children and touch God's heart by the trusting abandonment with which we seek him. Our Lord is there in Holy Communion, as He was at the Last Supper, waiting for us as a father awaits his child. We need to become very little so we can be docile and allow ourselves to be guided towards Jesus in spiritual direction. We need to let ourselves be led; to ask to be brought to Jesus, and not put up any resistance. We need to be the ones who facilitate the task of those who guide us, taking good note of what we are told.
We should be docile and confident in spiritual guidance, like a sick man who seeks out the people who can cure him and then places himself in their hands. We should trust the person who is leading us along our path to sanctity. By being docile to the advice we are given, we will become children again of our Father God.
But do not think that spiritual life consists of blindly obeying and doing complicated things indicated in spiritual direction.
“Some people could perhaps imagine that ordinary life contains very little that can be offered to God: it's made up of trifles or worthless things. Yet small children who want to please their parents give them whatever they've got: a lead soldier with its head missing, an empty cotton reel, a few colorful pebbles, a couple of buttons: everything they value, their "treasures". And a father doesn't consider how babyish the present is: he thanks his child for it with the tenderest of hugs. Let's act in the same way towards God, because these silly little things become great deeds when our love is great. That is what we are here for, to make something heroic out of the little details of every day and every moment, by our Love."