In today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is speaking with the Pharisees when several men attempt to bring a paralyzed man to Jesus. Unable to reach Jesus because of the crowds, they climb onto the roof and lower, on a stretcher, the man in front of Jesus. Seeing the men’s great faith, Jesus forgives them of their sins.

The men had come to Jesus to have their paralyzed friend healed. At the time, they might have thought his physical afflictions were tied to his spiritual afflictions. But Jesus does not heal the man like they had hoped. He first gives them an even greater gift—one they did not think to ask for—and forgives them of their sins.

Many times, I ask God to grant a certain petition, and, in the absence of an answer, I conclude that God does not desire to help me. The reading today is a reminder that God sees the inner workings of our hearts and desires to bless us with much more than we are capable of seeing.

Let us thank God for the gifts God has given us because, so often, they are greater than what we could have hoped for ourselves. And let us finish our prayer: “We have seen incredible things today.”