Tuesday, April 1, 2003

In today's first reading from the book of Ezekiel, the prophet speaks of water flowing from the temple. This is an image of the Church. The water represents the graces of the sacraments, graces that are abundant and available to all. In the prophet Ezekiel's vision, as he moves away from the temple, the water becomes deeper and deeper, and higher and higher. Then, he sees how the water becomes a river. The river reaches the ocean and is so powerful that it turns the salt water into fresh water. This is just the opposite of what we would expect. We would expect the fresh water to become briny and salty when it mixes with the ocean. The river of water retains its fresh water properties because it is extraordinary water. It reminds us of the Church and the sacraments.

We see the Source of all graces, Jesus Christ, by the pool of Bethesda, again a source of water. The pool of Bethesda was a place tradition says people went to attain miraculous cures. The water took on healing properties when stirred, according to tradition by an angel. The first person entering the pool at the moment it was stirred could be cured. People, particularly the man in the Gospel, would lie in the porticoes near the pool, waiting for their chance to descend into the water and be cured.

Think about the man in today's Gospel. He has been paralyzed for 38 years. We cannot imagine how his life was, especially in those days before modern medicine. IT is hard to imagine how this man could have lived as a paralytic for 38 years. It is hard to imagine how he even survived. Our Lord knows what this man has been through, and they have a curious interchange. Jesus sees him lying there and knows he had been ill for a long time. He asks the man: "Do you want to be well?" I think our first reaction would be, naturally, to think Jesus' question dumb. After all, the man is lying by the pool precisely because he wants to be cured. Why would Our Lord ask such an obvious question? Perhaps to test the man, to test his faith. The paralytic answers: "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. When I'm on my way down, someone else gets in before me." This is a very revealing answer that illustrates the immense patience and gentleness of this man.

In response to Jesus' question, the sick man does not say what you and I would probably say: "Why do think I'm here?" He is a very good man. After all his years of suffering, instead of turning bitter, he is very good. Somehow, his experience has made him into a man who loves God above all things. He very gently explains his situation to Jesus, that he has not been able to benefit from the curative powers of the water. Then, Our Lord in his great power and simplicity says: "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." And, the man does. Instantly, he is cured, without even having to go into the water.

This man spent years as a paralytic, 38 years. Who knows how many years he had been patiently lying by the pool, waiting for his opportunity to go into the water? He is cured in a way he could not have possibly imagined. God Himself come to him, asks him a very simple question, and upon his response generously cures him of his malady. The man has tremendous patience. This can be a lesson for us, as we go about asking Our Lord for things, knowing that His grace is abundant and knowing that the waters flowing from the sacraments and the Church are overwhelming, yet at the same time becoming impatient. God wants us to be patient. Things happen at their own pace. God wants us to persevere, like this man in the Gospel. We must persevere patiently in prayer.

The paralytic prayed unceasingly and his prayers were answered, not as he expected, but in a better way. Perhaps you and I grow impatient sometimes in our prayers. We don't persevere. We don't have full faith in the power of the waters or in the Power behing the grace of the sacraments -- God Himself, who has given us the Church and the sacraments so we can be cured. He has given us Baptism to cure us from original sin. He has given us Reconciliation so we can continue to live in His grace. He has given us Himself in the Eucharist so that we can be nourished from His strength. With all this abundant grace, we still lack faith. And, if Our Lord asks something os us, we may become testy because we feel that He has not answered our prayers quickly enough. 

The paralytic is just the opposite. He is a great example to us of patience in prayer, of perseverance, and of recognition of the truth that Our Lord will come into our lives at the precise moment we need Him most. God answers prayers according to His plan, not ours. The paralyzed man spent 38 years in suffering and Our Lord came into his life in an unexpected way, and yet expected, and the man's life was transformed. Obviously, after 38 years of being paralyzed, to be suddenly freed of that burden must have brought him indescribable joy. Yet, it also meant his life was about to become a lot more complicated. He could no longer lie by the pool of Bethesda all day. He would have to go out and get a job, make a living. His life would change dramatically, but of course it was a change for the better. The miracle happened in Our Lord's time. We must trust God to know when He will answer our prayers and to lead us where we need to go, without ever relaxing our own efforts to enter that pool of saving water, until our time of healing comes.

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