The title of this homily is, "What can keep us away; what can bring us closer?" Or, to be a little more explicit, "What are the realities of life which can keep us away from Jesus; what are the realities of life which can bring us closer to the Lord?"

In today’s Gospel story from Mark 2, a paralyzed man comes to our Lord and receives forgiveness and healing. But he need not have come! I hope we all realize that. He could easily have stayed away. Now there are many reasons why this man might have made the choice to stay away from Jesus, but three (I would say) are primary: his suffering, his sins, and other people.

First of all, his suffering. We know that the man was unable to walk. Obviously, his inability to move on his own (which was the source of his suffering) could have kept him from encountering Jesus that day. Common sense tells us that without some kind of assistance, he wouldn’t have been able to travel to the house where Jesus was.

But there’s also another possibility: he might have become so bitter and angry in the midst of his paralysis that when his friends did offer to take him to the Lord he categorically refused. As most of us know, suffering can sometimes make people so bitter that they close themselves off from God—and even from others. I remember the first year we went to the Steubenville High School Youth Conference. We flew out to Ohio that summer with about twenty young people. On the flight home the teens found out that one of their fellow students at Westerly High School had passed away after a long illness. It was not the kind of news anyone wanted to hear. A young man who had come with us—who had really opened up to God on the weekend—totally shut down spiritually after he found out his friend had died. In his anger and bitterness he closed himself off from the only one who could have given him some peace and inner strength, namely Jesus. That’s how suffering can keep a person away from the Lord.

The paralytic’s sins could also have kept him away. When his friends offered to take him to see this powerful rabbi who was coming to their town, the paralytic could have been "paralyzed" by his own guilt, such that he said to his friends, "No, I’m not going. Leave me here. I’ve done so many things wrong in my life; I don’t deserve a healing."

And finally, people. Other people did threaten to keep this man from receiving forgiveness and healing from the Lord. We know that from what St. Mark tells us here. The evangelist says that when the man’s friends tried to get him into the house, they were unable to do so "because of the crowd." And so, they opened up the roof and slowly lowered him into the presence of Jesus.

Other people (the men and women in that crowd) almost kept this man from the Lord, and the sad reality is that other people can sometimes keep us from Jesus. Peer pressure to do what’s wrong—or simply to be lukewarm in our faith!—is something that all of us experience, although it’s especially prevalent in the lives of our youth. . . .

"What will my friends think of me if I say I’m Catholic?" "What will my classmates say about me if I stand up in class and tell everyone I’m pro-life?" "What will it do to my reputation if I go to Fr. Ray’s prayer group?"

Satan loves to use other people to keep us from doing what God wants. Remember, he even tried to use Peter to keep Jesus from doing the Father’s will and going to the Cross on Good Friday.

Happily, of course, the paralytic did get to Jesus, who blessed him with two precious gifts: forgiveness and healing. The first was actually much more important; Jesus makes that clear in his response to the scribes—but the physical healing was also special.

Remember the title of this homily: "What can keep us away; what can bring us closer?" I just mentioned what can keep a person away; now it’s time to talk about what can bring us closer to Christ—as this man came closer to Christ on the day he was forgiven for his sins and healed of his paralysis.

Based on the experience of this paralytic, we first of all have to say that our sufferings have the power to bring us closer to the Lord. Think about it for a moment: if this man had not been paralyzed, he might never have met Jesus! And if he never had met Jesus, he might never have repented; and if he never had repented, he never would have been forgiven; and if he had never been forgiven, he would have ended up in hell!

Because he suffered, he recognized his need for the Lord—and that was a great blessing in disguise because it led him straight to Christ. The same can also happen to us. How often has your suffering brought you to your knees?

Secondly, this man’s sins brought him closer to the Lord—at least after he repented of them! The man’s repentance can be inferred from what Jesus says to him. He says, "Child, your sins are forgiven." Clearly, Jesus read the paralyzed man’s heart, saw that he was sorry for what he had done, and declared him to be forgiven. Our Lord would not have told the man he was forgiven unless he was totally convinced of the man’s sincere repentance.

Our sincere repentance can also lead us closer to Christ. In fact, that’s what the sacrament of Confession is all about: it’s about drawing closer to the Lord by turning away from our sins and being absolved of them.

And finally, other people brought the paralytic closer to Jesus. These four nameless men, who carried him to Christ, are some of the most faith-filled people in all the Scriptures. They believed so strongly that Jesus could help their friend, that they were willing to tear the roof off the house to get him to the Lord. And notice that it’s their faith which brings the initial response from Jesus. The text reads, "When Jesus saw THEIR faith."—not the faith of the paralytic, but rather the faith of his four friends.

Good Catholic, Christian friends are one of the world’s greatest blessings, because they "bring us to Christ" in their prayers, and they lead us to Christ by their example and encouragement. There is no such thing as a "Lone Ranger Christian." We all need a support system consisting of other members of the Body of Christ. When I think of the many young people in this community who have grown strong in their faith over the years, it’s the one thing they all have in common: they didn’t do it alone. They became friends with other young people who were sincere about following Christ, and they supported one another in their common commitment to the Lord.

Now if you’ve been paying close attention during this homily, you’ve noticed something. You’ve noticed that the three realities which can keep us away from Christ happen to be the very same three realities which can bring us closer to Christ: suffering, sin, and other people! Interesting, is it not?

This should help us to understand how you can have two people with similar life experiences who turn out very differently! One becomes a great sinner; the other a great saint!

I suppose you can sum it all up in this way: It’s not so much what happens to us in this life that’s important—it’s how we respond to what happens to us in life!