So the people in the gospel bring this paralytic man before Jesus, and the first thing he says
is, Courage, child, your sins are forgiven, which is kind of funny because obviously they're
bringing the paralytic to be cured so that he can walk again.
And our Lord says, Courage, your sins are forgiven.
Perhaps there was some kind of pause after that, and they're wondering what this is about.
And our Lord's sort of setting the stage to show that he has the power to forgive sins
in his humanity, but not just him, really.
You know, once we accept the divinity of Jesus, then we know he can forgive sins because God
can forgive.
He can forgive sins.
But our Lord is really stressing how men can forgive sins because of his delegation of
his power, and that's what it says in the last line of this gospel, when the crowd saw
that they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to men.
So if this man, God, can forgive sins, it's not a great stretch.
It's a great stretch to believe that he would give that power to those who were going to
represent him after he goes back to his father.
So we have this authority that is given to men, this power to forgive sins given to men,
given to his followers, his disciples, his priests, his bishops, to forgive men.
And we can see how valuable this power is.
It's not, you know, as the...
Critics and cynics will say that the church has taken on this power so that they can have
more control over people.
Our Lord isn't giving control so much...
Well, he is giving control to his priests to a certain extent.
Control for the sake of the...
For the benefit of the penitent.
He's giving more this power to give peace to souls.
Because when we...
When we hear that our sins are forgiven, when we humble ourselves before another man
and confess our sins, we can sort of sense that we, in God's mercy, that we can merit
this forgiveness, this mercy, because we have humbled ourselves, because we have obeyed
our Lord who has given the sacrament to the church and wants us to...
make use of it, so that we can reform our life.
Because there is this temptation, this tendency that we have as men to go to confession, if
we've done something wrong, just to feel better.
Just to feel better.
And some people perhaps do that all the time, just to feel better.
And I suppose we all do that, to feel better, but we have to go way beyond that.
But we're going there to...
To reform our life, to change our life, to live a life more pleasing to God.
And so God institutes this sacrament to give us peace, to make us feel better, but to feel
better so that we can reform our life better, easier, so that we can have a new lease on
life, so to speak, so that we can go on, so we don't live in the mire of our sins.
So we have this encouragement and this...
That's the psychological aspect.
But also that we know that by faith that we are given, that our sins are really gone,
they're really erased, but also that we receive this grace and power to boost us on to not
to be sinners anymore, but to be saints, to live a life of virtue.
So this is power given to men for our benefit.
And it's such a great gift to the church.
Give to the world from God this sacrament of confession, the fact that men were given
this power to forgive sins.
And so we should always be full of gratitude to God for this sacrament, for him forgiving
our sins.
And we look at the example of St. Mary Magdalene, really, who is really the model of the perfect
penitent, who is so full of gratitude, so full of joy and happiness.
And it's in peace that God has freed her from her sins.
She's released from that baggage and bondage.
And then she reforms her life in a radical way.
She totally reforms her life, becomes a saint, a great saint, and goes and walks with Jesus
in peace and freedom and joy.
So this is the benefit of giving such authority to men that we need to take advantage of.
In the right way, not to take advantage in the sense of abusing God's mercy and the sacrament
of confession, but to use it, use it for our advantage, for sanctity, holiness, for
betterment of life and reform, and to be full of gratitude to God for giving such authority
to men.
That justifies the transgressions that we need to be full of God.
So there's nothing just to talk about.
That justifies the transgressions.
But it's a little bit funny because it's so tren wärter than it is.
You got away with it.
I don't normally go much.
I don't terribly talk.
I barely talk.
I barely walk.
All of us just talk.
That's it.
All of us just talk.
All of us just talk.
All of us just talk.