Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
July 2, 2020
After getting into a boat Jesus crossed the sea and came to his own town. And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”
But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.” And he stood up and went to his home.
When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.
This gospel reminds me that I, as an individual, need to be healed and need to be forgiven. It also reminds me that our society, as a whole, needs to experience healing and forgiveness. The person in the story who stands in for all of us and demonstrates those needs is the paralyzed man. His first and best lesson to us is the fact that he relies on his friends to bring him to Jesus. He shows us that we are not in this alone.
This gospel comes to us at a time when our need for healing is obvious. People around the world are united in the tribulation of the coronavirus pandemic. Our need for healing and protection from this virus is present to us in a very real, urgent, and tangible way. In the United States, the unrest caused by issues of racial injustice has created a need for spiritual, interpersonal, and social healing.
These two enormous issues are not related in their causes, but the fact that they coincide in the present moment means that we experience them as overlapping realities. One thing that they do have in common is that they show us that we face challenges in life well beyond the scope of our own individual spheres of influence. We are part of natural realities and social systems that reach far beyond ourselves. If we are to face them, we must face them together. If we are to overcome these challenges, we must rely on a strength that comes from beyond our individual strength or even our collective strength and comes from God alone. Just like the friends of the paralytic carried him to Jesus, we bear each other up unto the mercies of God. We ask for healing, we ask for forgiveness, and we hope for a future that brings us all good health, reconciliation, and justice.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you know that at times we can feel paralyzed by our own evil thoughts or from the fear, anxiety, or shame that comes from our own sinfulness. Help us, Jesus, to rise and walk away from the sins that paralyze us. Give us the strength and courage to walk away from any evil thought or habit that we harbor this day. Help us know that you have given authority to forgive sins because you desire our healing even more than we desire it ourselves. May we always reverence you with awe and admiration for all you have done for us. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Monegundis was a woman who lived in Chartres, France, in the sixth century. She married and had two children, both daughters, whom she adored.
Both of her daughters died in childhood, and Monegundis was thrown into a deep depression. She decided to fill the hole in her life with devotion to God, and she began to spend her time in prayer.
With her husband’s permission, Monegundis became an anchoress—a person who lived in a small, walled-up cell attached to a church. Such people spent their days in prayer, and acted as a spiritual director for many who would come to visit them and speak to them through the one, small window in their cell.
Monegundis lived on nothing but bread and water, and her cell was furnished with only a small mat on which she would sleep for a few hours. After living this way for several years, she moved to Tours and built a hermitage near the tomb of St. Martin of Tours.
Over time, Monegundis became known as a holy woman, and other women began to join her there in a life of solitude and prayer; eventually, they built a convent there. She died of natural causes around the year 570, and miracles were reported at her tomb.
St. Monegundis, you were the mother who grieved the death of both of your daughters by giving yourself to God—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Monegundis is in the public domain. Modified from the original. Last accessed March 19, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
