In this Gospel story let us listen carefully to the link which Jesus makes between faith and forgiveness. Jesus saw the men's faith manifested in their great effort to bring their paralyzed friend into his presence. Their faith may not have been the faith that moved mountains (Mk 11:23; Mt 17:20), or the faith to lay down one's life for Jesus (Jn13:13, 15) but at least they went to the trouble of removing the roof tile in an extreme effort to bring their friend to Jesus. Did they look foolish in the eyes of the many onlookers? Perhaps they did but that did not deter them. Whatever faith motivated them and gave them the courage to help their friend was obviously enough for Jesus. Here is a message for us. No matter how weak or even fearful our faith may be, it will be enough to open our hearts to allow God's forgiveness to heal us. We must believe that somehow the paralytic agreed with the intention of his friends and so they formed together an informal small faith community. So it was not a matter of the paralytic's faith alone but of a faith that united them. We believe and are healed within the Church.