Come Out!

“In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you.”

Isaiah 49:8a

Is there something in your past that you are not proud of and that weighs you down? Have you been carrying a burden that seems like you are walking with a backpack filled of bricks everyday? Have you been living in the shadow of guilt or past shame? Know that you are not your past. Your identity lies not in what you may have done - good or bad, but rather in the love that God has for you, which is infinite and eternal.

The Lord promises to be with you. In fact, He says He will answer you when you call out to Him and He will help you. Give to Him all those stones that weigh you down and take His hand as He leads you into the Light, into the freedom that He has won for you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and put your faith in the Lord. In the Gospel today Jesus tells us everything that He does is what the Father does for He and the Father are one. Today is also the feast day of St. Patrick, who spread the faith to the Irish people, famously using the shamrock to explain just that — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are One. We too are invited to share in this intimate life of love. Will we accept this invitation or will we allow our past and the Enemy to keep us from doing so? Our sins are no match for God. Jesus has already conquered them. Trust in the Lord and know that He loves you and this love conquers all. So today when the Lord says to you “Come out!” confidently hold onto His hand as He takes that first step into the Light with you.

St. Patrick, pray for us!

True Love is Risky

“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?’ ”

— John 5:6

Have you ever found yourself torn because of a difficult decision? In my experience, most difficult decisions were ones that in some way affected me negatively. In other words, those were risky decisions. Sometimes when we love someone we make decisions that might cause them to turn away from us. It is true that the truth hurts. I mean look at the cross. Jesus preached repentance and the Kingdom of God, preached the truth, preached true love, true joy, and true peace, and look where He ended up. Nailed to the cross, and left to die in humiliation.

In today’s Gospel reading we hear about Jesus asking a sick man if he wanted to be well. He said that he’s been there 38 years and no one helped him to get into the pool to be made better. Can you imagine that? Thirty-eight years of waiting and humiliation. Sick not simply because of physical deformities because of a deep sinfulness that paralyzed him. We can see that there is something greater than the water that can make him well here. God himself. But, it was the Sabbath. Jesus knew that if He healed him, and the Pharisees found out, He would be in danger. But being moved with compassion, Jesus could do nothing other than to heal him. We are told that Jesus slipped away after healing him, so the man didn’t catch who had healed him. But later on, Jesus went to find the man in the temple and told him, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man knew then that it was Jesus who had healed him. He told the Pharisees and they began to persecute Jesus. To love means to take risks. Because Jesus loved this sick man and wanted his good, He took the risk to go back to find him to encourage him to sin no more.  It is out of love that Jesus acts, and this love casts out all fear.

How do we approach our relationships? Do we stay on the surface or do we strive to go deeper? Are we content in knowing about their day, or are we concerned about their souls? When we say we love someone, what is it that we are really saying? May we today reflect on how we love, and may we ask God for the grace to truly love, to truly be moved with compassion for others, even if it means taking risks. 

You Will Live

“The royal official said to him,
‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’
Jesus said to him, ‘You may go; your son will live.’
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.”

— John 4:49-50

Has someone ever said to you or have you ever said to someone , “You have my word?” What is it really that we are trying to say? It’s not really the words per se that we believe in, right? We really believe in the person behind those words. We believe in the relationship that we share with that person. We believe that that person genuinely wants our good. In today’s Gospel, a royal official goes up to Jesus and asks Him to heal his dying son, saying “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus replies, “You may go; your son will live.” This man who probably never really needed to ask someone for a favor personally set out to find Jesus because he had heard about Him and all that He had done. He was desperate. Think about it. This royal official stooped from his high place to find this Jesus who was seemingly just some poor carpenter. Why? Because his son was dying? But, why not go find a royal physician? He had faith in Jesus. He heard of the great things Jesus had done and so he has hope that He will be able to heal his son. And when he approached Jesus and asked Him to heal his son, Jesus simply said, “You may go; your son will live.” And the man did. Jesus gave the royal official His word and he believed in it. His son was healed. It was Jesus’s words that healed the boy. But wait, I thought we said it was not really the words per se that we believed in and that could accomplish things. Yes, that’s right. But Jesus is the WORD made flesh. With God, the Word is Jesus, and it is Jesus who heals.

Do we believe in what Jesus says and teaches? Do we believe in the God who tells us “I have you loved with an everlasting love?” Do we believe it when Jesus tells us that the Father will provide and that our sins will be forgiven if we are to forgive others? Jesus’ words are not like ours. His has the power to save. He is His Word. When you have hit rock bottom and are in the depths of the pit and there is seemingly no way out, Jesus says to you “You will live.” Will you believe Him? Jesus wants so much to give us life. Will we allow Him to? May we today, like the royal official, run to Jesus and give Him all our worries and all our sins and wrongdoings, all that weighs us down and keeps us from living freely, confident that He will say to us, “You may go; you will live.”