For the text of the Sunday readings, go here.
The gospel reading is taken from Mark 2:1-12, popularly labelled as "The Healing of a Paralytic". Please read this article, too, before proceeding.
1. Compare the account of this healing to the one found in Mark 1:29-31 (The Healing of Peter's Mother-In-Law). What similarities do you find? What differences are there?
2. What was so special about the faith of the men who carried the paralytic? If you had to bring someone to Jesus today, how would you do it? How would you react to the obstacles you find on the way?
3. In Jesus' diagnosis of the man's paralysis, he saw a connection between the sickness and the man's sins. In what way (or ways) does sin paralyze?
4. "Only God forgives sins!" objected the scribes, and they were right (Read Isaiah 43:25). But Jesus did prove that he has the authority to forgive sins. What does this element in the story tell us about Jesus? His work?
5. He who was carried at the beginning of the story, walked away "carrying" his mat. What transformations have you seen in a person's life after his sins were forgiven?
For deepening your knowledge of the Catechism: What aspect of the life of the Church do you find illuminated by this Sunday gospel? Please enumerate.
