Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Lectionary: 245
Lectionary: 245
The angel brought me, Ezekiel,
back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple was toward the east;
the water flowed down from the right side of the temple,
south of the altar.
He led me outside by the north gate,
and around to the outer gate facing the east,
where I saw water trickling from the right side.
Then when he had walked off to the east
with a measuring cord in his hand,
he measured off a thousand cubits
and had me wade through the water,
which was ankle-deep.
He measured off another thousand
and once more had me wade through the water,
which was now knee-deep.
Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade;
the water was up to my waist.
Once more he measured off a thousand,
but there was now a river through which I could not wade;
for the water had risen so high it had become a river
that could not be crossed except by swimming.
He asked me, "Have you seen this, son of man?"
Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit.
Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides.
He said to me,
"This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."
back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,
and I saw water flowing out
from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,
for the façade of the temple was toward the east;
the water flowed down from the right side of the temple,
south of the altar.
He led me outside by the north gate,
and around to the outer gate facing the east,
where I saw water trickling from the right side.
Then when he had walked off to the east
with a measuring cord in his hand,
he measured off a thousand cubits
and had me wade through the water,
which was ankle-deep.
He measured off another thousand
and once more had me wade through the water,
which was now knee-deep.
Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade;
the water was up to my waist.
Once more he measured off a thousand,
but there was now a river through which I could not wade;
for the water had risen so high it had become a river
that could not be crossed except by swimming.
He asked me, "Have you seen this, son of man?"
Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit.
Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides.
He said to me,
"This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,
and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.
Wherever the river flows,
every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,
and there shall be abundant fish,
for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.
Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow;
their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.
Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,
for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.
Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."
Responsorial
PsalmPS 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9
R. (8) The
Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,
the astounding things he has wrought on earth.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
God is our refuge and our strength,
an ever-present help in distress.
Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken
and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,
the astounding things he has wrought on earth.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Verse Before
The GospelPS 51:12A, 14A
A clean heart create for me, O God;
give me back the joy of your salvation.
give me back the joy of your salvation.
GospelJN 5:1-16
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.
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.
Meditation: "Walk and sin no more"
Is there anything holding you back from the Lord's
healing power and transforming grace that can set you free to live in
wholeness, joy, and peace with God? God put into the heart of the prophet
Ezekiel a vision of the rivers of living water flowing from God's heavenly
throne to bring healing and restoration to his people. We begin to see the
fulfillment of this restoration taking place when the Lord Jesus announces the
coming of God's kingdom and performs signs and miracles in demonstration of the
power of that kingdom.
One of the key signs which John points out in his
Gospel account takes place in Jerusalem when Jesus went up to the temple during
one of the great Jewish feasts (John 5:1-9). As Jesus approached the temple
area he stopped at the pool of Bethzatha which was close by. Many Jews brought
their sick relatives and friends to this pool. John tells us that a
"multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed" were laid there on
the pavement surrounding the pool (John 5:3). This pool was likely one of the
ritual baths used for purification for people before they went into the temple
to offer prayers and sacrifice. On certain occasions, especially when the
waters were stirred, the lame and others with diseases were dipped in the pool
in the hope that they might be cured of their ailments.
Do you want the Lord Jesus to make you whole?
The lame man that Jesus stopped to speak with had been paralyzed for more than 38 years. He felt helpless because he had no friends to help him bathe in the purifying waters of the pool. Despite his many years of unanswered prayer, he still waited by the pool in the hope that help might come his way. Jesus offered this incurable man not only the prospect of help but total healing as well. Jesus first awakened faith in the paralyzed man when he put a probing question to him, "Do you really want to be healed?" This question awakened a new spark of faith in him. Jesus then ordered him to "get up and walk!" Now the lame man had to put his new found faith into action. He decided to take the Lord Jesus at his word and immediately stood up and began to walk freely.
The lame man that Jesus stopped to speak with had been paralyzed for more than 38 years. He felt helpless because he had no friends to help him bathe in the purifying waters of the pool. Despite his many years of unanswered prayer, he still waited by the pool in the hope that help might come his way. Jesus offered this incurable man not only the prospect of help but total healing as well. Jesus first awakened faith in the paralyzed man when he put a probing question to him, "Do you really want to be healed?" This question awakened a new spark of faith in him. Jesus then ordered him to "get up and walk!" Now the lame man had to put his new found faith into action. He decided to take the Lord Jesus at his word and immediately stood up and began to walk freely.
The Holy Spirit purifies, heals, and transforms us in
Christ's image
The Lord Jesus approaches each one of us with the same probing question, "Do you really want to be healed - to be forgiven, set free from guilt and sin, from uncontrollable anger and other disordered passions, and from hurtful desires and addictions. The first essential step towards freedom and healing is the desire for change. If we are content to stay as we are, then no amount of coaxing will change us. The Lord will not refuse anyone who sincerely asks for his pardon, mercy, and healing.
The Lord Jesus approaches each one of us with the same probing question, "Do you really want to be healed - to be forgiven, set free from guilt and sin, from uncontrollable anger and other disordered passions, and from hurtful desires and addictions. The first essential step towards freedom and healing is the desire for change. If we are content to stay as we are, then no amount of coaxing will change us. The Lord will not refuse anyone who sincerely asks for his pardon, mercy, and healing.
"Lord Jesus, put within my heart a burning desire
to be changed and transformed in your way of holiness. Let your Holy Spirit
purify my heart and renew in me a fervent love and desire to do whatever is
pleasing to you and to refuse whatever is contrary to your will."
A Daily Quote for Lent: Christ our physician, by Augustine of
Hippo, 430-543 A.D.
"Our wound is serious, but the Physician is
all-powerful. Does it seem to you so small a mercy that, while you were living in
evil and sinning, He did not take away your life, but brought you to belief and
forgave your sins? What I suffer is serious, but I trust the Almighty. I would
despair of my mortal wound if I had not found so great a Physician." (excerpt from Sermon 352,3)
TUESDAY,
MARCH 28, JOHN 5:1-16
Lenten Weekday
(Ezekiel 47:1-9. 12; Psalm 46)
Lenten Weekday
(Ezekiel 47:1-9. 12; Psalm 46)
KEY VERSE: "Rise, take up your mat, and walk" (v.8).
TO KNOW: The third "sign, of God's mighty work in John’s gospel was the healing of the paralytic who had been crippled for 38 years. Modern excavations have uncovered the Bethesda pool with its five porticos where Jesus healed the man. A popular belief of the time was that when the water became turbulent (caused by a sudden inflow through the drain) the first person to get into the pool would be cured (v.4, the account of an angel stirring up the waters is missing from early Greek manuscripts and is probably a later addition). When Jesus asked the crippled man if he wanted to be healed, the man explained that no one had ever helped him into the water (a baptismal symbol). Jesus' powerful word restored the man to full health, but the healing was surrounded by disbelief and accusations that Jesus violated the law by curing on the Sabbath. Jesus warned them that it was sin, more than physical infirmity, which prevented a person from responding to God's grace.
TO LOVE: In what ways do I need to "rise and walk" this Lent?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, heal me of everything that makes me weak and unable to walk in your grace.
Tuesday 28 March 2017
Tue 28th. St Tutilo. Ezk
47:1-9,12; Jn 5:1-3,5-16.
‘When
Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long
time, he said, “Do you want to be well again?”‘ John 5:5-6
This man has been sick for 38
years. Yes Lord, I want to be well again. I want you to heal the pain in my
back, I want to be able to walk again, and I want to be reunited with my
beloved, who has not long to live. I want you to do the impossible … and then
the voice of reason tells me to stop my wishful thinking. This closes off my
heart and my spirit. St John of the Cross says somewhere that if we try to go
to God just relying on our natural reasoning, then we will not be very
spiritual. Yes Lord, I want to be well again, I want my beloved to be well
again, I want this poor suffering planet and every person on it to be well
again. Break the rules, make us whole, make me holy.
ST. SIXTUS III, POPE
Not much is known about the history and youth of St. Sixtus, but
we do know that he was born in Rome, Italy and ascended to the papacy in
432.
As
the 44th Pope, he approved the results of the Council of Ephesus and actively
protested against the heresies of Nestorianism and Pelagianism. He restored
many Roman basilicas and corresponded frequently with St. Augustine of Hippo.
He
died on August 18 in the year 440 of natural causes.
LECTIO DIVINA: JOHN 5,1-16
Lectio Divina:
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Lent Time ✝
1) OPENING PRAYER
Lord our God,
you have quenched our thirst for life
with the water of baptism.
Keep turning the desert of our arid lives
into a paradise of joy and peace,
that we may bear fruits
of holiness, justice and love.
Lord, hear our prayer
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
you have quenched our thirst for life
with the water of baptism.
Keep turning the desert of our arid lives
into a paradise of joy and peace,
that we may bear fruits
of holiness, justice and love.
Lord, hear our prayer
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
2) GOSPEL READING - JOHN 5,
1-16
There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem next to the Sheep Pool there is a pool
called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porticos; and under these were crowds
of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed.
One man there had an illness which had
lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had
been in that condition for a long time, he said, 'Do you want to be well
again?' 'Sir,' replied the sick man, 'I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets
down there before me.' Jesus said, 'Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk
around.' The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk
around.
Now that day happened to be the Sabbath,
so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, 'It is the Sabbath; you are not
allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.' He replied, 'But the man who cured me told
me, "Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around." ' They asked, 'Who
is the man who said to you, "Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk
around"? ' The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared, as
the place was crowded.
After a while Jesus met him in the
Temple and said, 'Now you are well again, do not sin any more, or something
worse may happen to you.'
The man went back and told the Jews that
it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath
that the Jews began to harass Jesus.
3) REFLECTION
• Today’s Gospel describes Jesus who
cures the paralytic who had waited 38 years for someone to help him get to the
water of the pool so as to be healed! Thirty-eight years! Before this total
absence of solidarity, what does Jesus do? He transgresses the law of Saturday
and cures the paralytic. Today, in poor countries, assistance to sick persons
is lacking, people experience the same lack of solidarity. They live in total
abandonment, without help or solidarity from anyone.
• John 5, 1-2: Jesus goes to Jerusalem.
On the occasion of the Jewish festival, Jesus goes to Jerusalem. There, close
to the Temple was a pool with five porticos or corridors. At that time, worship
in the Temple demanded much water because of the numerous animals which were
sacrificed, especially during the great festivals. This is why, near the Temple
there were several cisterns where rain water was gathered. Some could contain
over one thousand litres. Close by, because of the abundance of water, there
was a public bathing resort, where crowds of sick people gathered waiting for
help or to be healed. Archeology has shown that in the same precincts of the
Temple, there was a place where the Scribes taught the Law to students. On one
side, the teaching of the Law of God. On the other, the abandonment of the
poor. The water purified the Temple, but it did not purify the people.
• John 5, 3-4: The situation of the
sick. These sick people were attracted by the water of the bathing resort. They
said that an angel would disturb the water and the first one who would enter
after the angel disturbed the water, would be cured. In other words, the sick
people were attracted by a false hope. Healing was only for one person. Just as
the lottery today. Only one person gets the prize! The majority pays and wins
nothing. Precisely, in this situation of total abandonment, in the public
baths, Jesus meets the sick people.
• John 5, 5-9: Jesus cures a sick man on
Saturday. Very close to the place where the observance of the Law of God was
taught, a paralytic had been there for 38 years, waiting for someone who would
help him to go down to the water to be cured. This facts reveals the total lack
of solidarity and of acceptance of the excluded! Number 38 indicated the
duration of a whole generation (Dt 2, 14). It is a whole generation which does
not succeed to experience solidarity, or mercy. Religion at that time, was not
capable to reveal the welcoming and merciful face of God. In the face of this
dramatic situation Jesus transgresses the law of Saturday and takes care of the
paralytic saying: “Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around!” The man
picked up his mat and started to walk around among the people.
• John 5, 10-13: Discussion of the cured
man with the Jews. Immediately after, some Jews arrived and criticized the man
who was carrying his sleeping mat on a Saturday. The man did not know who the
one who had cured him was. He did not know Jesus. This means that Jesus passing
by that place where the poor and the sick were saw that person; he perceived
the dramatic situation in which he was and cured him. He does not cure him to
convert him, neither so that he would believe in God. He cures him because he
wants to help him. He wanted him to experience some love and solidarity through
his help and loving acceptance.
• John 5, 14-16: The man meets Jesus
again. Going to the Temple, in the midst of the crowds, Jesus meets the same
man and tells him: “Now, you are well again, do not sin any more, or something
worse may happen to you”. At that moment, people thought and said: “Sickness is
a punishment from God. God is with you!” Once the man is cured, he has to keep
from sinning again, so that nothing worse will happen to him! But in his
naiveté, the man went to tell the Jews that Jesus had cured him. The Jews began
to ask Jesus why he did those things on Saturday. In tomorrow’s Gospel we have
what follows.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• Have I ever had an experience similar
to that of the paralytic: to remain for some time without any help? How is the
situation regarding assistance to the sick in the place where you live? Do you
perceive any signs of solidarity?
• What does this teach us today?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
God is both refuge and strength for us,
a help always ready in trouble;
so we shall not be afraid though the earth be in turmoil,
though mountains tumble into the depths of the sea,
and its waters roar and seethe,
and the mountains totter as it heaves. (Ps 46,1-3)
a help always ready in trouble;
so we shall not be afraid though the earth be in turmoil,
though mountains tumble into the depths of the sea,
and its waters roar and seethe,
and the mountains totter as it heaves. (Ps 46,1-3)
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