A pure heart create for me, O God,
and give me again the joy of your help.PS 50:12, 14
My Soul's Beloved,
The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of the Church, the Sacraments, and the streams of Living Water that flow from You to all who are washed in the waters of baptism You are the living Temple, and from Your pierced side streams Blood and Water which have the power to heal, to restore, to rejuvenate, and to renew. The angel made the prophet wade through the water that flowed from the right-hand side of the temple. (The Shroud of Turin displays a wound on the right side of the Man who was wrapped in it. John's Gospel (19:33-34) tells how in Jesus's case instead of breaking his legs, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance and immediately out came blood and water.) The further he waded the greater the depth of the water until the stream became a river impossible to cross.
We alone can make the choice on the extent to which we wish to commit our lives to You. The more we give our lives over to the Holy Spirit readily submitting to Him, the easier it is for Him to empower us and lead us where He wills.
When we allow God to fill every area of our lives with His Holy Presence we receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit of God who alone can satisfy all our needs. It is only in the Church You established that we are fed, we are nourished, and we are healed. No matter how often and how gravely we have sinned and strayed from the path that leads to eternal life the Sacraments of healing that she administers to her children have the power to make us a new creation each time we repent of our sins and beg for forgiveness.
Grant O Lord that living in Your sanctuary we may receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and bear good fruit that never withers and never fails.
JOHN 5:1-3,5-16 ©
My Soul's Beloved,
The passage from the Gospel of John chosen for our reflection in today's liturgy today's describes the miracle of the sick man who was lying at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem waiting for the waters to be stirred. The evangelist tells us that You saw the man, You knew that he had been there for thirty-eight years waiting hopelessly for a miracle he was sure would never happen. Yet he lay there. One can only imagine his state of mind, and the level of his depression, loneliness, helplessness, and frustration and then we are told that You saw him and on seeing him You knew all about him. Addressing the man You say, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ The sick man's response is, ‘Sir,’ I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ You then say to him,‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.
All it took was a command from the Eternal Word of God and the man was healed in an instant. He did just as You asked him to, he picked up his mat regardless of the fact that it was the sabbath and he walked. Of course, the Jews who saw him censured him for breaking the sabbath rule, but the man explained that the one who cured him told him to pick up his mat and walk. 'Who is the man?' they asked, and he said he had no idea who it was. The man met You again in the temple and You told him not to sin again or something worse could happen to him. From this, we know that sometimes our sins can have a detrimental effect on our physical health. Keep us safe in Your love O Lord and grant us the grace never to sin so gravely that we cut ourselves from You and eventually wither and die.
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