We flow out to heal

Friar Jude Winkler notes in his reflection on the texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today that Archaeology has enabled a pool at Bethesda in Jerusalem to be identified as the scene of one of Jesus’ miracles. This was the healing of the paralysed man who had waited for 38 years for someone to help him into the pool “when the water is stirred” — an event believed to have curative powers. It is from the Gospel of John and like the healing of the man born blind from the liturgy on Sunday (John 9:1-41) is a situation where Jesus heals a person on the Sabbath when he could have been observant of the Law of the Pharisees and waited until the next day to act. Mark Latta of Creighton University reminds us to hear the psalmist today encourage us that God is our refuge and strength and an ever present help in distress. The Word, which in Jewish tradition is the power of God to transform, is imagined by the Prophet and priest Ezekiel, in exile in Babylon, as bringing to pass a time of great healing and fruitfulness for the broken people of Israel. The life of the people reunited with the Will of God will flow from the Temple to bring the gracious Presence of God to the whole world. We are still challenged to be the Living Water which soaks our environment with the witness of people who rely on the Word and Presence to be our continuous and immediate source of healing for ourselves and those with whom we are brought in contact.