March 20

Read It:
There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,
"Do you want to be well?"
The sick man answered him,
"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."
Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk."
Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,
"It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."
He answered them, "The man who made me well told me,
'Take up your mat and walk.'"
They asked him,
"Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk?'"
The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,
"Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you."
The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.

Reflect on It: Today, we see that the sick man is made well. Jesus asks the man, "Do you want to be well?". The man, bravely responds that he does want to be made well, although not in so many words. The Lord of the universe asks us if we want to be made well. Do we really want to be made well? I think sometimes we carry the crutch of being broken, of wanting to wallow in the fact that we are broken or have a heavy cross. Day in and day out, this man tried to be made well and kept getting push out of the way. Jesus simply asked if he wanted to be made well and because of that faith, he was. Today, let us be people who believe that we can in fact be made well if we just believe.

Pray about It: Lord, I want to be made well. Help me to believe you can do that. Amen.


Live It! Challenge: Identify one area of brokenness that needs to be made well within you ask for Our Lady to take it to her son and to make you well.