Thursday in the Thirteenth Week of Ordinary Time

Jesus said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts?” The Desert Fathers teach that the work of a monk is renunciation of evil thoughts.  We want to fulfill the prayer of the Psalmist, “May my thoughts be pleasing to Him, for I find my joy in the Lord” (103:34).  But aren’t we all called to guard our thoughts and live prayerfully?

There are eight clusters of evil thoughts that attack us over and over again in the silence of our hearts: thoughts about food, sex, and things, that is gluttony, lust and covetousness, along with anger, dejection, acedia, vainglory and pride. Evil thoughts move us to evil words and deeds. 

What sins could the paralytic in today’s gospel have committed that Jesus said to him, “Your sins are forgiven”?  Were they sins of thought, quite likely; sins of the tongue, probably; sins of deed, not as easily for he was a paralytic after all.  The healing of his soul was greater than the healing of his paralyzed body. 

How can we guard our thoughts and live prayerfully? Not by attacking evil thoughts head-on to empty our minds and hearts of them, but by filling our minds and hearts with the words and thoughts of Sacred Scripture by memorization and frequent repetition of the Word of God in our hearts.  We overcome evil thoughts by crowding them out.