Thursday of week 13, year 1

True offering

Matthew 9:1-8



We are following the book of Genesis.  The story is about offering.  Even if it takes his son to be offered, Abraham succumbed to God's will.  He said, "My son, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering."  These words marked the quality of a true offering: it is not the gift that is the core of the offering, but our total resignation to God's will, knowing full well that God provides for all our needs.

In our gospel, Jesus cured the paralytic.  Seeing him in a pitiable state, he said, "Courage, my child, your sins are forgiven."  Total resignation to God also means he cures us in our totality; he cures us inside and out, and not just according to our expectations.  This is also the quality of Jesus' offering coupled with our own - we are cured entirely, from relationships to actual situation.

Thus, when we give, give just as Jesus did and what God has in mind - everything.

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