Rodrigo Marin, LC
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Christ, our King.
Thy Kingdom come!
Preparatory prayer (to put me in the presence of God)
Lord, increase my hope! Help me to trust that everything that happens to me is always for my good and to always accept your will.
Gospel of the day (to guide your meditation)
From the holy Gospel according to John 5:1-16
At that time, a feast of the Jews was being celebrated when Jesus went up to Jerusalem. There is in Jerusalem, by the sheep gate, a pool called Bethesda, in Hebrew, with five porches, under which lay a multitude of sick, blind, lame and paralyzed, waiting for the stirring of the water. For the angel of the Lord went down from time to time into the pool, stirred up the water, and whoever first entered the pool, after the water was stirred up, was cured of whatever disease he had. Among them was a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. Seeing him lying there, and knowing that he had been in such a state for a long time, Jesus said to him, “Do you want to be cured?” The sick man answered him, “Lord, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. By the time I get there, someone else has already gone down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat and walk.” And immediately the man was cured, and he took up his mat and began to walk. That day was the Sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is not lawful for you to carry your mat. But he answered, ”He who healed me said to me, “Take your mat and walk. And they asked him, “Who is he who said to you, ”Take up your mat and walk? But the one who had been healed did not know, because Jesus had disappeared in the crowd. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Look, you are healed. Do not sin any more, lest something worse befall you. The man went and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. That is why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath.
Word of the Lord.
Meditate on what God tells you in the Gospel
Christ is a doctor who does things backward. Normally, when someone is sick, they go in search of a doctor or a cure. If our head hurts, we go for an aspirin; if we fall, we go to get our hand or foot cast. But the medicine or the doctor never comes to us.
Christ said to the man in the Gospel: Do you want to be healed? This Holy Week, Christ, once again, comes to meet us. He knows better than we do what we are sick with, but we must accept our illnesses.
Personal gifts, surprising miracles, all of creation, we can see them as the security upon which we found our Catholic life.
Allowing ourselves to dive into the ocean of God's mercy is the cure for our ills.
Let's ask Mary to continue accompanying us in these days leading up to Holy Week.
«Jesus had authority because he was close to people. He “understood” people's problems, understood people's pains, understood people's sins. For example, Jesus understood well that the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda was a sinner, and after healing him, what did he say? “Sin no more.” He said the same thing to the adulterous woman. The Lord could say these words because he was close, he understood, he welcomed, he healed, and he taught with closeness.
(Homily of Pope Francis, January 9, 2018, at Santa Marta).
Dialogue with Christ
This is the most important part of your prayer, prepare yourself to talk with much love with the One who loves you.
Purpose
Propose a personal one. The one that involves the most love in response to the Beloved... or, if you believe that this is what God is asking of you, live what is suggested below.
During a visit to Jesus, I will ask Him to be the only one to feed my soul and to help me heal from that which distances me from His love.
Farewell
We thank you, Lord, for all your benefits, you who live and reign forever and ever.
Amen.
Christ, our King!
Thy Kingdom come!
Most prudent Virgin, Mary, Mother of the Church.
Pray for us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
