First Reading
“... 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 rivers 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.” (Ez 47: 9-10-,12)
Gospel
“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.” (John 5: 1-9)
REFLECTION
In both the first reading and the Gospel, water is mentioned. The water from the sanctuary brings life and the water from the Gospel brings healing. Jesus knew that the crippled man had waited for a long time, in fact, for thirty-eight years to be healed in the water. But without a drop of water touching him Jesus tells him to “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” Jesus’ commanding words and the man’s belief in Jesus’ words healed him.
When I read the Word of God how much faith do I put into them? How much faith do you put into His words?
Let us pray for our priests to believe in God’s Word and to preach His message of love, life, and healing to all.
