March 13, 2018

Gospel: Jn 5:1-16
After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool (called Bethzatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people: blind, lame and paralyzed. (All were waiting for the water to move, for at times an angel of the Lord would descend into the pool and stir up the water; and the first person to enter the pool, after this movement of the water, would be healed of whatever disease that he had.) There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him, and because he knew how long this man had been lying there, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”

Reflections
I HAVE NO MAN TO PUT ME
INTO THE POOL
One can almost see the frustration and maybe even despair of this paralytic who always comes late to the healing waters of the pool because there was no one to help him. And yet he kept on coming back day after day for 38 years hoping against hope that he could be healed. And then came his KAIROS. He still did not have anyone to help him into the pool, but this time he needed no one because the healer himself
came to him and healed him. Sometimes God makes healing depend on the help of other people, maybe to encourage kindness, generosity, helpfulness and compassion. It is a grace not only for the people we help but for us also if we get the opportunity to be the instrument of God in healing people. Remember what Pope Francis said: “The task of the church is not to make dogmatic and moral pronouncements but
to heal wounds and warm the hearts of people.” I think this is the most beautiful way of expressing what Gospel (Good News) means. “Loving God, thank you for once in a while making me an instrument of your compassion in healing people and warming their hearts.”

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