This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
Imagine being ill for thirty-eight years, like the man in today’s gospel.
He was at the pool called Bethesda, trying to get in when the water was stirred up, in a vague hope of receiving healing. But this was ordinary water, without healing powers.
Little did he know that Jesus had come by for him–Jesus, the source of living water (cf. Jn. 4:10).
The water that Jesus brings, which in a single moment fully cured the man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, is that which is represented by the pure, fresh river in today’s first reading. This living water, which purifies and cleanses the brackish water with which it comes into contact, is the grace of God.
And what is that grace? It is the Holy Spirit Himself, but seen specifically through the prism of the impact that He has on our bodies and especially our spirits.
He stands back and respects us when we resist Him. But when we open our hearts to Him fully and welcome Him, bid Him come in, He works miracles of joyful cleansing within our hearts.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: In this Lent, as you struggle to work on your conversion like the man struggling to enter the Bethesda pool, ask Jesus to send His cleansing Spirit into your heart to perform in a moment what all your struggles cannot bring to completion: The purification of your heart, and therefrom, its return to full life in Him.
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