John 5:1-16
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 Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
This weekend I'm going to be a part of a men's retreat at St. Thomas the Apostle. We had our run-through this past Saturday, and as we were leaving, someone told us to beware of the evil one this week for he will be attacking each of us in order that the weekend won''t happen.
I have seen many scenarios of the evil one attacking those who are striving to do God's will. God Himself was persecuted as we hear of the Jews beginning to persecute Jesus because He loved the outcast and showed him mercy.
This past Sunday, the second reading had a line that went, "He who knew no sin..." As I sat there, pondering that line, it resonated in my head as, "He who didn't know disobedience." We all know disobedience very well, It is Christ who teaches us the way of obedience... the way to love. Let us love with total obedience, regardless of the cost, for Jesus did the same. Take care and God Bless.
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