Lenten Reflection - Day 24 - The healing power of faith in Christ

Sisters and brothers in Christ, for 38 years, the man who is ill lies by the waters of Bethesda waiting to be healed. He puts his faith in the water that flows from the porticoes yet he has forgotten its source - God Himself. When Jesus heals the man, notice that Jesus does not move the man into the pool. Rather Christ speaks the words, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk" and the man is able to walk again. It is Jesus who heals the man but, most of all, he restores the man's hope and faith that he has lost after 38 years of waiting to be healed.

When we are sick, we rightfully seek medical help to get well. However, we should also not forget to seek out God to help us. Jesus asks us this question - "Do you want to be well?" - and waits for our answer. Our Lord and Savior can heal us in so many ways beyond physical healing. He desires this healing for us. We only need to turn to him with a humble and contrite heart and know that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the source of Living Water that give us eternal life. His Body and Blood, given to us in the Eucharist, are nourishment for our bodies - physically and spiritually. May we never forget to turn to him in times of need and respond, "Yes, Lord, I want to be well."

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Gospel of the Day

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate

a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.

In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.

One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him lying there

and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,

"Do you want to be well?"

The sick man answered him,

"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool

when the water is stirred up;

while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."

Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."

Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath.

So the Jews said to the man who was cured,

"It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."

He answered them, "The man who made me well told me,

'Take up your mat and walk.'"

They asked him,

"Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?"

The man who was healed did not know who it was,

for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.

After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,

"Look, you are well; do not sin any more,

so that nothing worse may happen to you."

The man went and told the Jews

that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus

because he did this on a sabbath.