WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - "How far would I go for a friend?" This was the question I asked myself as I was reading today's gospel, Mark 2:1-12.

Earlier in the week, we read the account in Mark's gospel where Jesus was staying in Capernaum, which had become his center of ministry. It was there that he healed Simon Peter's mother-in-law. This event set off a cavalcade of other miracles as the whole town brought the sick as well as those tormented by demons. The people were in awe of his ministry and returned the next day for more.

Jesus, however, had risen early and gone out to a deserted place to pray. When His disciples found him, they remarked that the people were again waiting for him to lay hands on others. Instead, he told Peter and the others that they were to go to some of the other towns and preach.

Today's reading picks up at the point of His return and the town was ready. Again, the home where he was staying was surrounded by the needy. So many were there that you couldn't even get through the door.

There was a paralytic in the town who obviously needed the healing ministry of the Lord. While he could do nothing about it himself, four friends wanted to be sure the man received the touch he needed and carried him, stretcher and all, to the house.

Arriving at the home, they couldn't get the man close to Jesus. This is where the story gets interesting! Undaunted by the crowd, the men somehow got the man on to the roof of the house, created an opening in the tiles and lowered the stretcher in front of the Lord.

The Gospel goes on to say, "When Jesus saw their faith."

He went on to use this man's situation as an opportunity to underscore His divinity, forgiving the man's sins as well as healing his sickness.

I am always captivated by the faith and perseverance of the men who carried their friend. Take a moment and imagine what they must have done to provide their friend with the gift of healing.

Not only did they have to carry him through the streets of Capernaum to the home where our Lord was staying. They then had to lift him up on to the roof of the house.

The modest dwellings of Capernaum would look nothing like our modern homes. Most were square and normally only story - or sometimes two. They usually had a stairway leading to the flat roof, which was often used as a patio.

So, finding their way through the crowd to the stairs and then bringing their friend along, they would have had to find ropes, dig out an opening in the tiles and then let him down. What an ordeal that must have been!

I can picture the scene from inside the home. As Jesus is teaching, he and the crowd look up to see sunlight streaming through a new opening the men have made. As they continued to watch, a stretcher appears in the opening and is carefully lowered by four ropes, making sure the man isn't kept level at all times.

The rest, as they say, is history.

So, how far would I go for a friend? Would I have taken up one of the poles of the stretcher and carried my colleague to the Lord? Seeing a large crowd, would I have suggested we turn back or look for a way? Had I heard that the savior was returning to the city, would my first thought be that my paralyzed pal needed to meet him?

1. We have something that others need

In Matthew 9:36, the evangelist writes, "At the sight of the crowd, [Jesus] was moved with compassion for them because they harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." The phrase "moved with compassion" really describes an actual physical response to what He saw. In today's language we might say that "He was gripped in His gut."

What troubled Jesus was the condition of people who were being harassed by the circumstances of life that were coming against them, while having no inner strength to withstand the pressure.

I can still remember a science class when I was in elementary school, where we took a vacuum pump and removed all of the air from a gasoline can. This was not one of our modern plastic cans but a steel container. As the air was evacuated from the container, it was as though an invisible hand had taken hold of the object and was squeezing it. In the end all that was left was a crumpled lump of metal. That was an image to true helplessness!

While cultures and technologies have changed since the times of our Lord, humanity is not any better off. We are still harassed and helpless, especially in the area of our spiritual life. As Isaiah wrote, "All we like sheep have gone astray. Each one has turned to his own way." (Is. 53:6)

Each one of us is surrounded by harassed and helpless people. We see them at work, in our neighborhood, at the mall - and often in our own families. As Catholic Christians we possess a grace that each of them needs to truly live.

It is only when we look at other's lives through the lens of the ...