Holy Prophet Joel; the Holy Martyr Varus (307); Venerable Father John of Rila (946)
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1 Corinthians 15:58-16:3; Luke 5:17-26
If faith can move mountains, it can certainly tear through the roof of a home!
Knowing of the Lord’s teaching, and the power of healing that He had been exercising, these men, with great faith, brought their paralyzed friend to the Lord for healing. They would not let anything get in their way even tearing through the roof. It was an unexpected move and St. Luke indicates this with the word, “Behold.” The Lord recognized the faith of these friends, and even more, recognized that the paralyzed man needed more than just physical healing—the underlying cause needed to be addressed. His sin was forgiven, and his paralysis was healed. We do not know if his personal sin was the cause of his paralysis or not. What we do learn is that there is a connection between illness and sin in general and that the consequences of sin are greater than that of illness.
St. James in his epistle exhorts us with the following:
Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
James 5:13-15
This passage describes the Holy Mystery of Anointing in the early Church. We still do the same thing today. Let us exercise that little mustard seed of faith given to us. Let us bring our friends and family who are sick before the Lord, no matter what the obstacle, and ask for His healing through Holy Anointing. Whatever is healed, we are sure that there is also the forgiveness of sins. As one member of the Body is healed, so the whole Body benefits.