Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Matthew (9: 1-8) in which Jesus forgives and heals a paralysed man, saying to him, ‘Courage, my child; your sins are forgiven’.

Fr Paul says Matthew’s accent is on Jesus’ power as Son of Man to forgive sins, and the reaction of the onlookers is not merely open-mouthed astonishment but a feeling of awe. It is, perhaps, also deliberate that they praise God for giving the power to forgive sins to ‘humans’ not just to Jesus: one could question, is Matthew already envisaging the power to forgive sins being entrusted to Peter and the Church?

Fr Paul says the Gospel today is a reminder of the power of forgiveness in the sacraments and in our daily lives with those around us.