{"id":610,"date":"2024-12-19T06:21:28","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T06:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lccy.org\/?post_type=homilies&#038;p=610"},"modified":"2026-01-21T08:21:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:21:12","slug":"homely-vii-tob","status":"publish","type":"homilies","link":"https:\/\/lccy.org\/el\/sermons\/homely-vii-tob\/","title":{"rendered":"Homily: 7th Sunday of the Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brothers and sisters&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lord peace you!\u00a07<sup>th<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On January 9th I was reached by the goodness of the Lord, and by the trust of Pope Francis, who appointed me bishop. The Bishop&#8217;s mission is not an easy one.&nbsp;The responsibility is great.&nbsp;I said yes to Pope Francis&#8217; appointment, not because I feel capable, or because I am good or better than other priests.&nbsp;But because I couldn&#8217;t say no to God&#8217;s plan. If it were my plan I could have said: no.&nbsp;But the project is not mine.&nbsp;And after living 9 years in Nazareth, I learned with the Virgin Mary and with Saint Joseph to say yes to God&#8217;s plan. But&#8230; I really ask each of you: pray for me.&nbsp;You are my people, my people, my family and I will be bishop for you.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bishop has the task of teaching, of guiding the Church, of guiding the people of God to live the Gospel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This Sunday we heard the passage from the Gospel of Mark: the healing of the paralytic in the city of Capernaum.&nbsp;In the house of San Pietro.&nbsp;Here is the first message:&nbsp;1. Where Jesus is present, there is always movement.&nbsp;And be careful: Jesus&#8217; first look is not for the paralytic.&nbsp;His first glance is at those who were carrying the paralytic.&nbsp;On those they helped the paralytic. For their solidarity, generosity and above all for their faith.&nbsp;Here, here the healing does not happen through the faith of the paralytic, but rather through the faith of the person carrying the paralytic&#8217;s stretcher.&nbsp;Let&#8217;s say the paralytic&#8217;s friends.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This gives value to a spiritual element of extreme importance in the Christian religion: intercessory prayer!&nbsp;And charity from brothers and sisters.&nbsp;That is, we can ask God for the healing of our brothers and sisters.&nbsp;And even more: It doesn&#8217;t matter whether they believe or not.&nbsp;A mother told me: Father, my son no longer comes to Church\u2026.Abuses alcohol.&nbsp;I say: keep praying.&nbsp;We must do like those who carry the paralytic: Who were four.&nbsp;Many brothers and sisters are paratic&#8230; alcohol, drugs, pornography addiction are diseases of the spirit.&nbsp;And the person can&#8217;t get out on his own.&nbsp;He needs someone who brings him\u2026.&nbsp;Like those who brought the paralytic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brothers and sisters, God sees our faith, and the miracle will happen.&nbsp;Do you know why miracles don&#8217;t happen?&nbsp;Saint Padre Pio would answer: because we don&#8217;t believe in miracles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And I insist: we must not wait for the miracle without doing anything, but we must be one of those who carry the paralytic.&nbsp;The second message: Jesus&#8217; attention is not on the paralytic, it is not on the paralytic who cannot walk.&nbsp;Before healing him, Jesus says: your sins are forgiven.&nbsp;And here in Sacred Scripture there are two verbs reserved only for God&#8217;s action: Create and forgive.&nbsp;Jesus wants to forgive our sins.&nbsp;The sins that do not allow us to walk.&nbsp;The sins that paralyze us\u2026 and there are many sins that paralyze us\u2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brothers and sisters, \u00abThe Gospel shows us Jesus who overcomes the paralysis of humanity.&nbsp;He describes the power of divine Mercy that forgives and erases every sin when he finds authentic faith.&nbsp;And his word today is for each one of us: \u201cGet up and walk!\u201d \u00bbHe walks towards a brother or sister that you have left to speak to, to greet.&nbsp;Get up and walk and take care of your children, your wife, your husband, your friends\u2026.&nbsp;Yes, his word is for each one of us, and this Word can heal us&#8230; amen&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":704,"template":"","class_list":["post-610","homilies","type-homilies","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lccy.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/homilies\/610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lccy.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/homilies"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lccy.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/homilies"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lccy.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lccy.org\/el\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}