Opening Prayer

God our Father,
we are your people
at times paralyzed by our fears
and our fascination with sin.
Let your Son speak among us
his mighty words of forgiveness and courage,
to raise us above ourselves,
above our cowardice and compromises,
that we may go resolutely
the way to you and to one another
by the power of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction:

The reading from Samuel is a good example of the strife that results when new times demand new institutions. The tribal structure of Israel had a hard time to defend the people, the territory, and the charismatic religious leadership against better organized neighboring peoples. They too would need more centralized structures and institutions. But some would hardly accept the needed reform. A king would be disappointing - as later experience proved - as a political and religious leader. This does not contradict the fact that profound changes were needed, but changes are always hard to take.

First Reading: 1 Sm 8:4–7, 10–22a

All the elders of Israel came in a body to Samuel at Ramah
and said to him, “Now that you are old, and your sons do not
follow your example, appoint a king over us, as other nations
have, to judge us.”

Samuel was displeased when they asked for a king to judge
them. He prayed to the LORD, however, who said in answer:
“Grant the people’s every request. It is not you they reject,
they are rejecting me as their king.”

Samuel delivered the message of the LORD in full to those
who were asking him for a king. He told them: “The rights of
the king who will rule you will be as follows: He will take
your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses, and they
will run before his chariot. He will also appoint from among
them his commanders of groups of a thousand and of a hundred
soldiers. He will set them to do his plowing and his harvesting,
and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his
chariots. He will use your daughters as ointment makers, as
cooks, and as bakers. He will take the best of your fields,
vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials. He
will tithe your crops and your vineyards, and give the revenue
to his eunuchs and his slaves. He will take your male and female
servants, as well as your best oxen and your asses, and use
them to do his work. He will tithe your flocks and you
yourselves will become his slaves. When this takes place, you
will complain against the king whom you have chosen, but on
that day the LORD will not answer you.”

The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel’s warning
and said, “Not so! There must be a king over us. We too must
be like other nations, with a king to rule us and to lead us in
warfare and fight our battles.” When Samuel had listened to
all the people had to say, he repeated it to the LORD, who then
said to him, “Grant their request and appoint a king to rule
them.”

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 89:16 –17, 18 –19

R/  For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.
R/  For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

For you are the splendor of their strength,
and by your favor our horn is exalted.
For to the LORD belongs our shield,
and to the Holy One of Israel, our King.
R/  For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Gospel Introduction:

Miracles are called “signs” in the Bible. They are, like the cure of the paralytic, visible manifestations that something has happened inside the person. The paralytic can walk. He can stand up and move as a human being, as a person who is forgiven and can get up from the paralysis of sin. Could not we too give “signs” to the people around us by raising them above their miseries, that God is alive in us?

Gospel Reading: Mk 2:1-12

Jesus returned to Capernaum. As the news spread that he was at home, so many people gathered that there was no longer room even outside the door. While Jesus was preaching the Word to them, some people brought a paralyzed man to him.

The four men who carried him couldn't get near Jesus because of the crowd, so they opened the roof above the room where Jesus was and, through the hole, lowered the man on his mat. When Jesus saw the faith of these people, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
Now, some teachers of the Law who were sitting there wondered within themselves, "How can he speak like this insulting God? Who can forgive sins except God?"

At once Jesus knew through his spirit what they were thinking and asked, "Why do you wonder? Is it easier to say to this paralyzed man: 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say: 'Rise, take up your mat and walk?' But now you shall know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins."
And he said to the paralytic, "Stand up, take up your mat and go home." The man rose and, in the sight of all those people, he took up his mat and went out. All of them were astonished and praised God saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"