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Sunday of the Paralytic Ocala April 29, 2007 How many many people in this world resemble the agony of the Paralytic, as told in today's Gospel Lesson. He suffered for 38 years, waiting for his opportunity to get healed beside the pool of Bethesda . Periodically, an Angel of the Lord stirred the water in the pool. Whoever was the first to jump into the pool, was healed of his or her malady. Among the sick was a paralytic, who for 38 years waited most patiently for his chance to be healed. One day, the Great Healer came by, and asked him: "Do you want to be healed?" Whereupon the paralytic said: "Sir, I do not have anyone to help me. Each time I make an attempt to enter the pool, others go before me." Then Jesus said: "Pick up your cot and go your way." To the amazement of all, the paralytic picked up his cot and walked away. Later, by chance Jesus met him in the Temple and said to him: "Go and sin no more" The Godman knew that his paralysis was a consequence of his loose living. Thus, if many identify with the agony of the Paralytic because of their suffering, they should also identify with him, in regards to his patience, his perseverance and his undeniable hope! Did not the Lord epigrammatically state that "through our patience, we shall win our soul?" Today, I would like to concentrate on that great virtue called hope. St. Paul in the 12E Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, verses 11 and 12 states: "Never lack in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, rejoicing in hope, with patience in suffering, and persevering in prayer." The great Apostle St. Paul, in all his 14 Epistles repeatedly stresses the need for hope. He classified hope among the three cardinal virtues when he says that, "now remain, faith, hope and love, these three." (1 Cor.. 13:13) While hope is a simple word, yet it may be somewhat difficult to give a specific interpretation. We can state though, that hope is the twin sister of faith. These two virtues have such a relationship that it is somewhat difficult at times to differentiate between them. While they both have a great resemblance, each one distinctly stands on its own. Faith is on the left hand of hope, and hope is on the right hand of faith. One supports the other. Faith that is connected to hope, results in a greater assurance. Faith is the foundation of a person's life, but hope grants him or her purposes in life. Unfortunately in our age of technological and scientific progress, we witness that hope may be lacking. This is the result of life as it has evolved because of external influences. Two gigantic world wars, many smaller wars, pseudo-ideologies, dictators and tyrants with so many other evils, have brought a kind of disillusionment and despair to so many millions. Reading the daily papers, magazines and viewing TV we see endless stories of murders, atrocities, and virtual tragedies in families. Did we ever stop to think, that these are the result of hopelessness and despair? Who can deny that the human soul does not thirst for some type of hope? A person cannot live normally without hope. We were imbued by God with this great virtue. While we may not always be conscious of hope, most assuredly, when we are faced with a crisis, automatically we sense the feeling of hope at our side. Hope, I would venture to say, is as necessary as food and breathing to us. The story of the mythological box of Pandora is quite well known. The ancient gods gifted Pandora with a box with express orders not to open it, but her intuition and curiosity got the best of her and she opened the box to see the contents. Immediately out jumped many of the ills of the world, and shaken, Pandora quickly closed the box. Only one thing remained and that was "hope." Thus, the ancient Greeks described the value of hope. Hope truly fortifies people. There is a popular saying: "give me a positive guarantee of a good day tomorrow, and I can suffer all that I have to today." Hope raises a person from the mundane. The mountain climber senses a magnetism to reach the summit of a mountain. But, until he or she gets to the top, there is pain, agony, and often frustration, but faith and hope is at work, so that when the summit is reached, there is a great sense of victory for the mountain climber. Hope has the power to grant us a feeling of success. Within the framework of hope, we breath an air, which is very pure. Hope gives us a wide horizon with the blessings of spiritual peace. Hope is responsible for so many beneficial things of our society and of course history. What should be the elements of our hope? I think that a person should have basic hopes, constructive hopes and yes, even small hopes. We should have basic hopes as did the Ancient Greeks, that is, the espousing of truth, the marveling of beauty, the practicing of kindness and the like, but to find the completion of same through Christian perfection; which is, the hope of salvation, the hope of saintliness, the hope of Glory, the hope of the Heavenly Kingdom, and the hope of Eternal Life! These are the hopes, upon which we should concentrate, and which can bring us peace and true happiness. Constructive hope, is the hope to help build a better world, by cooperating with our fellow humans to help as much as we can to realize a common good. Lastly we mention the small hopes, which have the essence to grow and to help us insure happiness. They are small hopes, but they very important. They are the hopes of our little ones, who are overjoyed to receive some toy; later in school to hopefully pass some test. Still later, the hope of becoming successful in their endeavor, and create their own family, while having become good citizens and helping elevate society. Without a doubt, with hope a person matures, and becomes a defender, as well as an example of the loftiest ideals of God and Country. Without a doubt with hope we seek salvation. With hope we are glorified. With hope we overcome so many obstacles. With hope in the immortality of our soul, our faith is increased and we head forward toward our eternal destination. Thus, in short, we can comprehend the meaning of St. Paul's words: "rejoicing in hope, with patience in suffering and persevering in prayer."
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