The Gospel for Tuesday of the fourth week of Lent is from St. John, fifth chapter, first through the 16th verse. 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 porticos. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for 38 years.

When Jesus saw him lying there, he 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 this man who told you, take up it 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 anymore, 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 the Sabbath. What I love about this story is the way it reveals the intention of Jesus. His intention is not to judge or condemn, but to heal, to free. And it’s just by his very intention that this can happen within a human being who is open to it.

So it’s a good thing to wonder about whether you believe in something as miraculous as a change within you. That isn’t something you achieve, but it’s truly a gift. The Closing Prayer Father, awaken us to your heart so that we know your intention is always not to condemn, not to judge, but to heal. Open us to the multiple ways in which you miraculously heal us of our wounds. Amen.