Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9 John 5:1-16

24th Day in Lent

 Sometimes the weight of the world will bear down on you. It will seem that all is dark, the road is long, rough, difficult and narrow.  Keep in mind that I am beside you.  You are never alone. My right hand holds you up. My Spirit lives in you. My love strengthens you My life saves you. My Father has reserved a place for you with Me in heaven so where I am you too may be.

Habbakuk 3:17-19

17 For though the fig trees blossom not,

nor grapes be on the vines,

though the olive crop fail

and the fields produce no food,

though the flock be lost from the fold,

and the herd be gone from the stalls,

18 yet in Yahweh will I rejoice,

in God my savior will I exult.

19 My Lord Yahweh is my stronghold;

he makes my feet as fleeting as the hinds;

he steadies my steps upon the heights.

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 DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

 

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12, Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9 John 5:1-16 

http://www.bibleclaret.org/bibles/english.htm

 

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12

 From the Church that You have founded on the Apostles, from the Church of which You are the Cornerstone, from the Church which is Your Body, from the Church which is Your Bride, from this Church whose children are fed by You and who call Your Father, Abouna, our Father, from this Church flows streams of living water as a torrent. Wherever she flows she brings with her life, fruitfulness, healing and abundance.

 Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9 

My Beloved, as long as You are with us who can be against us? Though nations rise up against us, though evil threatens to engulf us, we shall not be discouraged for we stand on a firm foundation which can never be moved.  No arm shall come to us, not a hair of our head will fall without the Father's knowledge. He draws us to the Spring of Living Water and He causes these springs to flow from His Spirit into us and from us to the world.  We are His people, the work of His hand.  He loves us and will never abandon His chosen people with whom He has made an everlasting Covenant of Love.

John 5:1-16 

In every faith we have people who are sick, blind, lame and paralyzed waiting in hope to be healed.  Many wait a lifetime and nothing happens. They accept their fate; each trying to make sense of their difficulty in order to make their condition bearable.  There they lie hoping for a miracle that often does not occur and watching with envy or sorrow as others are able to move forward and be healed.

Thirty eight years is a long time and one can become so used to one's condition that one simply does not make an effort anymore blaming everything else for their paralysis of faith but themselves.  Then You come to us and You ask whether we desire to be healed.  If we do, You will come and You will heal and save us no matter how hopeless our situation may seem.