This reflection will be coming soon. In the meantime, this is a brief reflection from Andy Alexander, S.J.

It is powerful that Abraham trusts the Lord with his only son - the son of God's promise to him. It's especially helpful for us because I suspect all of us have something we treasure - our Isaac - which we would find very difficult to surrender to God. The point of the story is not that God wanted Abraham to sacrice his son. It was to show us the power of Abraham's trust in God. He is the father of our faith, indeed. The other wonderful part of the story is that young Isaac realizes something is missing. There's the altar, and he's been carrying the wood of the sacrifice on his back the whole way up the hill - all of us Christian believers can get chills up our spine at the prefigurement of that gesture. But, Isaac will ask, "Where's the lamb to be sacrifices?" Abraham tells him that God will provide the Lamb. It isn't until the first story in John's gospel that we see John the Baptist pointing to Jesus and saying, "This is the Lamb of God" - the Lamb God has provided.

The gospel story is wonderful, as well. This man who is paralyzed has some special friends who bring him to Jesus. Many of us have had the experience of being "paralyzed" in some way, and the experience of others who have literally brought us to Jesus. And, some of us have brought others to Jesus, trusting he would know what to do. In this case, it's not easy to get to Jesus, except by opening the roof and lowering the man down right in front of Jesus. The marvel of the story is is that Jesus looks at the man with deep compassion and forgives his sins! Jesus knows what the man is suffering, and went right to the core of it all. He showed the man mercy. Isn't that one of the most important lessons we can learn today. In the face of people who we face, often right in front of us - people who are paralyzed or incapacitated in some way - to offer them mercy? Too often it is too easy to only see their limitations and to not be filled with compassion. Of course, the stingy, un-merciful religious leaders balk at Jesus forgiving sins. Jesus goes further, challenging their notion that "only God can forgive sins" - a bit of a justification of their righteous and judgmental hearts - and Jesus heals the man's paralysis. It is a wonderful invitation to us to let Jesus forgive us and heal us. But it is an invitation to learn from him. We are called to be with him and like him, so that we can be merciful and a source of healing of others - even in the midst of some "religious" people who seem upset with "too much mercy these days." What a blessed reading!