What makes the healing of the paralytic so special is that four of his friends went through extraordinary troubles in bringing him in front of Jesus so that Jesus could heal him. Small house of Peter was crowded to capacity. People were waiting outside to get a glimpse of Jesus. So, they could not carry the paralytic through the front door of the house.

They were not discouraged. They went to the roof; dug a hole through the roof and lowered the paralytic in front of Jesus from the top!

We said before that Lent is not just fasting or restricting some food items like meat from our regular meal. Lent is like a three legged stool. The legs are prayer, alms-giving (charity) and fasting. If any of these items are missing our lent will be unbalanced and would topple. We covered prayer in last week's Journal. What we said there is that everything we do is an act of prayer. When we think of charity or alms-giving, most of us think of donating money. But Jesus talked about the Good Samaritan as an act of charity - helping someone in need. The four people in today's miracle were doing charity for their brother. Keep an eye for things you can do to help someone during and after the lent. It could be as simple as visiting someone who is sick or helping an elderly at home and, perhaps buying their groceries, praying with them, etc.

Alms-giving is a sign of our care for those in need and an expression of our gratitude for all that God has given to us. Works of charity and the promotion of justice are integral elements of the Christian way of life we began when we were baptized. It is an integral part of our Christian Baptism.

Here are some examples of alms-giving:

• donate personal possessions, such as clothes, books, shoes, to people in need
• dedicate time for service during Lent, e.g., working at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, helping people in your neighborhood such as the elderly
• donate food or money saved by fasting to the parish or community food pantry, food bank, or homeless shelter
• cook a meal for the soup kitchen or homeless shelter, gather some friends to help volunteer at a local soup kitchen, homeless shelter or nursing home several hours per week during Lent.
• learn more about feeding the hungry by contacting Bread for the World, Silver Spring, MD (301-608-2400)
• learn more about addressing human rights violations around the world by contacting Amnesty International, 212-807-8400 (amnesty.org)
• Assist the persecuted Christians all over the world by contacting the Voice of the Martyrs, Bartlesville, OK 877) 337‒0302
• volunteer to read books and magazines to the elderly who are no longer able to read
• help others learn to read by becoming a literacy trainer or volunteer to tutor children
• support the work of the hospice movement to provide compassionate low-cost, in-patient and at-home care for the terminally ill, contact the National Hospice Movement at 1-800-658-8898
• give the gift of sight by donating old eyeglasses or unused frames to the local Lion's Club who recycles them to the poor.
• support the work of Project Clean Your Desk, which delivers pencils, paper and other supplies to resource-starved rural schools where children drop out because their families cannot afford these provisions.

There are myriads of organizations that our church sponsors, like orphanages, schools, elderly care homes, organizations that provide help to children of AIDS patients, organizations that provide help to mentally challenged, etc. Think about getting involved with them. For example, how about sponsoring their meal on the day of your birthday or anniversary?

As I was writing this article, I saw the news about the effect of El Nino all over the world. El Nino originate from the warming of Pacific that results in unusual weather patterns all over the world. For example, Africa is undergoing a severe drought. No crops, no food, no water. Children are surviving with one meal given at schools. Adults do not have anything to eat. A mother is heard saying that so long as they have food and love, everything will be all right.

Millions of people are dying of starvation when we, in the west, are wasting our food. During this lent time, let us focus our attention to the alms-giving (charity), the second leg of the three legs on which the lent balances.

We hope that you are enjoying our new Lenten Series for 2016, 'In His Steps'.

In case you missed our prior announcements and the daily Lenten Reading segments, here is a short description of this series:

To understand what Jesus did at Calvary, we need to start at Bethlehem - actually at Nazareth when May answered to Angel Gabriel, "Yes".

This new Lenten devotional will examine important events in the life of Jesus all the way to Easter Sunday. We will cover many of the places Jesus visited while he was on the earth. We will come to know Christ better and to love him more.

No one who met our Lord ever stayed the same. The same is true today. May these Lenten devotionals help us all to say, "Lord Jesus, I am ready to follow you!"

You can read the daily meditations in the daily meditations and Bible Reading section. If you missed the early parts of this great series, you can begin from day 1 here:

In His Steps - Introduction and daily reading