What we can do

Television news right now is filled with horrific images of the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

The news has also shown instances of heroism, especially as ordinary people dig with their bare hands, risk their own lives, and use their own ingenuity to rescue neighbors and strangers out of the rubble of their houses.

In today’s Gospel (Mark 2:1-12), a similar group of individuals use ingenuity and their own hands to rescue a paralyzed man: except in this case, they bring the man inside a house, because that is where Christ is.

Sometimes, like the people in the first reading (1 Samuel 8:4-7, 10-22a), we want someone else (such as the government) to do what needs to be done. Sometimes we are disappointed.

The example of the men in today’s Gospel and of the heroes on the broken ground of Haiti should inspire us to consider afresh what we ourselves, as individuals and as small groups of individuals, can do to help others: with our own ingenuity, with our own efforts, with our own risk, and – most importantly – with the grace and the guidance of God.