The man who was paralyzed could not get into the presence of Christ. For people were busy listening to Jesus and all that he had to teach. Someone had to cut the roof open to get the man who needed God. Someone had to drop him into the midst of people crazy for more understanding. It took courage to venture into the midst of those who were not satisfied of all that Jesus had to say.

Open the roof of your mind. Let people who need care be dropped down. Push a few people from the middle of the floor of your heart to give room to the one who needs a touch and a place to look upon, rather than learn from you. Allow someone into your mind whom you hadn’t given a chance before. Let him or her, paralyzed as he or she may be, seek help. Allow someone to challenge your thoughts and open the comfort of your intellectual security.

Act up on it: Engage in conversations that make you uncomfortable and may be unconventional. Remember it is not the change you inspire in others what matters, but what changes within you. Allowing a three minutes of this day to listen to a conversation that would challenge your thought, your tradition, your conviction and your peace will only make a little stretch of your heart, rather than your mind. It is worth stretching every bit of your heart, because it is in that God gets more and more room within you.

Fr. Jos+
copyright: Fr. Jos Tharakan