.

TODAY’S WORD…

.

Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool,

which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

Here a great number of disabled people used to lie – the blind, the lame, the paralysed.

One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him lying there

and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, He asked him,

“Do you want to get well?”

.

– John 5:2-6 (NIV)

.

.

.

REFLECTION…

.

Thirty-eight years an invalid,

and always hoping for a miraculous cure from the waters of the pool at Bethsaida!

.

When Jesus saw him lying there

and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, He asked him,

“Do you want to get well?”

That is how Jesus is with us:

He passes by and asks us if we want to get well,

and He never gives up on us,

even if we have been spiritually blind, lame or even paralysed for a very long time.

.

The Lord’s goodness is always in excess of our expectations,

but it requires an appropriate response on our part,

with a sincere desire to get out of the situation we are in.

.

There can be no pact with defects or errors,

and we must make the effort to overcome them.

We should never ‘get used to’ the shortcomings and weaknesses

which separate us from God and from others,

with the excuse that they are part of our character,

or that we have already tried several times over to tackle them without success.

.

It is the heart which moves us to improve in our interior dispositions

through that conversion of the heart to God

and towards works of penance.

It is thus that our souls receive the graces God so wishes to grant us.

It is thus that our souls are healed.

.

Jesus asks us to persevere in the struggle,

and to begin again as often as necessary,

because it is also in struggle that love grows,

even if we carry on battling against ourselves for thirty-eight years and more.

.

The award for such perseverance in our spiritual endeavour

is, above all, our meeting with Jesus.

.

.

.

REPETITIVE PRAYER FOR TODAY…

.

Jesus, You are my Healer.

Help me, O Lord, my Saviour, in my constant struggle with what draws me away from You. Please help me get well.

.

… … … … … … … … … … … …… …

.

Note: The main source of today’s REFLECTION is the seven-volume work

“In Conversation with God” by Padre Francisco Fernández Carvajal.