Tuesday’s first reading is the story of Ezekiel's vision of water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple and becoming a river so large it could only be crossed by swimming.
Reading the story presents us with a wonderful image not only of the Church as the Fount and Repository of Sacramental Grace, but also the imagery for the potency of grace in we who receive it.
From Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation and Penance, Marriage, Holy Orders and the Anointing of the Sick, sacramental grace gives us a share in the very life of Christ, so that what in us was just a little trickle, can become a mighty river.
But we might ask: What’s the purpose?
To make the briny, sweet - the parched, supple - the withering, flower.
In the Gospel we hear about a man who had been sick for 38 years who came to Bethesda to the Sheep Pool in hope of being healed.
Aren't there many things in our lives that we have hoped could be healed? Some may be very dramatic like healing from a life-threatening illness, while others seem almost too silly to even mention. In all cases we recognize there is something we hope could be changed. The Gospel tells us that the man went to the pool even though he had little hope of being immersed in its healing waters.
The man made some effort to be in the right place - the place for healing and that he refused, even though logic might have dictated it, to give up altogether and abandon even a far-fetched hope for healing.
Jesus used this situation to teach us that God's grace and healing often defies logic and that being required to do something like "be in the right place" or asking someone 'who knows what' in order to be healed, might be required.
The last thought expressed in this Gospel story, is perhaps the most important. After everything has been said and done and the man is healed, Jesus says to him, "Remember how you have been healed." With these words we are reminded of the sad condition of so many people: they forget!
From Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation and Penance, Marriage, Holy Orders and the Anointing of the Sick, sacramental grace gives us a share in the very life of Christ, so that what in us was just a little trickle, can become a mighty river.
But we might ask: What’s the purpose?
To make the briny, sweet - the parched, supple - the withering, flower.
In the Gospel we hear about a man who had been sick for 38 years who came to Bethesda to the Sheep Pool in hope of being healed.
Aren't there many things in our lives that we have hoped could be healed? Some may be very dramatic like healing from a life-threatening illness, while others seem almost too silly to even mention. In all cases we recognize there is something we hope could be changed. The Gospel tells us that the man went to the pool even though he had little hope of being immersed in its healing waters.
The man made some effort to be in the right place - the place for healing and that he refused, even though logic might have dictated it, to give up altogether and abandon even a far-fetched hope for healing.
Jesus used this situation to teach us that God's grace and healing often defies logic and that being required to do something like "be in the right place" or asking someone 'who knows what' in order to be healed, might be required.
The last thought expressed in this Gospel story, is perhaps the most important. After everything has been said and done and the man is healed, Jesus says to him, "Remember how you have been healed." With these words we are reminded of the sad condition of so many people: they forget!
In this season of grace may we pray not to be forgetful of what God has done for us, of all the many things of which we have been "cured" and especially, the price of our redemption. Holy scripture reminds us that we have been ransomed (healed, saved) not by some measurable sum of gold, but by the precious blood of Christ, inestimable beyond our comprehension of its worth.
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