Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wants to share with You the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day
Consideration
Ever since the Church Fathers, people have sought a symbolic explanation for those 38 years, including a reference to the chosen people’s journey from the desert to their salvation (Deut. 2:14). In fact, one sees here
(as in many other stories, e.g. Nicodemus, the Samaritan, the bread speech) the typical Johannine double bottom or initial misunderstanding after which the deeper meaning then follows.
Indeed, the paralytic understands the question as if Jesus wants to help him get into the bath. The deeper sense is (of course) that Jesus is the only one who can save him.
FIRST READING Ez. 47, 1-9.12
I saw water flowing from the temple, and all who touched the water were saved.
From the Prophet Ezekiel
The angel of the Lord brought me back
to the entrance of the temple.
There I saw how from under the threshold of the temple
water was flowing in an easterly direction :
For the front of the temple was facing east.
The water flowed under the right wing of the temple,
on the side of the altar.
Thereupon he led me out through the north gate.
He led me outside to the east side :
The water flowed from under the right wing.
Then, with a thumb stick in his hand, he went
onwards in an easterly direction.
He measured a distance of a thousand cubits
and then made me step through the water :
It reached down to my ankles.
Again he measured a thousand cubits
And made me wade through the water :
It came down to my knees;
and he measured another thousand cubits
and made me wade through the water again :
Now it came up to my waist.
When he had measured another thousand cubits
The water had become a river
through which I could no longer wade ;
the water was so deep that one could not walk through it,
but only by swimming.
Then he asked me :
“Do you see that, human child?”
Then he led me back
along the river bank.
As he led me back, I saw
how on both banks of the river
were many trees.
The angel of the Lord told me :
“The river flows to the plain in the east ,
and further it flows to the Araba,
before flowing into the Salt Sea
whose water becomes drinkable.
“Wherever the river flows
aquatic animals will be able to stay alive.
There will be lots of fish,
because wherever the river goes
the water will become drinkable,
and everything will stay alive.
“On both banks of the river
will sprout all kinds of fruit trees
Whose leaves will not wither ,
and the fruits will not run out ;
for the trees will bear fruit every month.
“For they will be fed with water from the temple.
“The fruits will serve as food
and the leaves as medicine.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 46(45), 2-3, 5-6, 8-9
The Lord of heaven’s armies is with us,
a safe fortress is our Jacob’s God.
The Lord is to us a fortress and refuge,
a mighty help in trouble.
So we are not afraid, though the earth tips over,
though the mountains fall into the sea.
A babbling brook refreshes God’s city,
the holy abode of the Most High.
That city stands immovable, for God is within it,
God stands by her when the day begins.
The Lord of the heavenly armies is with us,
a safe fortress is our God of Jacob.
Draw near and see what the Lord has done,
His wondrous works on earth.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL Ez. 33, 11
I have no pleasure in the death of a wicked man,
saith the Lord,
but rather in that he repents and lives.
GOSPEL Jn 5, 1-3a.5-16
At once the man became healthy.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
Because there was a feast of the Jews ,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is a bathing establishment in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate,
called Bezeta in Hebrew,
with five colonnades.
In those corridors there was always a large number of defective people.
Now there was a man there who had been deficient for thirty-eight years.
Jesus saw him lying there
and because He knew that he had been lying like that for a long time, He said to him :
“Do you want to get well?”
The sick man answered Him in reply :
“Lord, I have no one to
into the bath
when the water is stirred ,
and as I go
another before me descends into it.”
At that, Jesus told him :
“Get up, take up your bed and walk.”
Instantly, the man became healthy.
He took up his bed and walked.
That day, however, it was Sabbath
and so the Jews said to the healed man :
“It is Sabbath,
you must not wear your bed.”
To this he answered them :
“Who made me healthy Who told me :
Pick up your bed and walk!”
So they asked him :
“Who is this man who told you :
Pick up your bed and walk?”
The healed one did not know who it was,
for Jesus had withdrawn unnoticed
because there were many people on the spot.
Later, Jesus encountered him in the temple and spoke to him :
“See, you are now healed!
“Sin no more
lest anything worse happen to you.”
The man went away and told the Jews
that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Because Jesus did such things on Sabbath
the Jews began to persecute Him.
______________________________________________________
Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
224. Austerity and humility have not received positive appreciation in the last century. However, when the practice of some virtues weakens in personal and social life in general, it ends up causing many imbalances, including environmental ones. Therefore, it is no longer enough just to talk about the integrity of ecosystems. One must have the courage to speak about the integrity of human life, the need to promote and connect all great values. The disappearance of humility in a human being excessively enraptured by the possibility of unlimited domination of everything can only end up damaging society and the environment. It is not easy to mature this healthy humility and a happy sobriety, if we become autonomous, if we exclude God from our lives and our self takes its place, if we believe that our subjectivity determines what is good and what is bad.
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
__________________________________________________________________________