Daily Reflection for Tuesday, March 29 2022
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Tuesday’s readings at this link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032922.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12
Responsorial: Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9
Gospel: John 5:1-16
Our reflection on Tuesday’s readings:
Do you want to be well? (John 5:6)
That’s the question Jesus poses to a paralytic in today’s gospel.
The story’s setting is the healing pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem which was crowded with sick, lame, and disabled people all hoping for a cure. There Jesus approaches a man who has lain beside the pool for 38 years, probably his entire adult life, without ever being healed. Jesus approaches him and asks, “Do you want to be well?” Instead of responding, “Yes,” the man explains the unsuccessful strategy that has kept him paralyzed for 38 years—no one will help him into the pool, so nothing changes for him.
Jesus appears to pay little heed to the man’s words. Instead, he instructs the man, Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk! He is cured immediately.
I can easily identify with this paralytic. I recognize all sorts of reasons/excuses why I remain stuck in unsuccessful strategies that hold me back from growth, richer relationships, and new life:
- It’s too much work
- This is just the way I am
- I’m too old to change now
- Things would be better if only others would change
- It doesn’t really matter that much
As I reflect on today’s gospel, I hear Jesus cutting through all my excuses. Just as He commanded the man to rise and walk, He commands me to make some changes if I want to be well. It was the combination of Jesus’ healing power and the paralytic’s own effort that resulted in his instant healing.
There’s the lesson for me. God’s healing power is always available but God invites me to be a cooperative partner. We will achieve the healing together. During this Lenten season, that may mean I must change some things in my life. It may mean a repentant reception of the sacrament of reconciliation. However it happens, God invites you and me to a new place of wholeness, the place that God has envisioned for us all along as His beloved sons and daughters. He invites us to be His new creations when Easter arrives
Do you want to be well? What changes might make you more receptive to God’s healing power?
Wishing you God’s Lenten blessings,
Jean Galanti