Dear Friends,
United with each one of you in prayer and love. I have remembered you in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today. The Mass Intention, was for the soul of Thomas Mathew, RIP.
In our Gospel reading today we see, Jesus had travelled up to Jerusalem for the feast of the Jews. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool called (Bethzatha in Hebrew).
Just imagine in your mind what an A&E department looks like! People with many differing illnesses of one kind or another, waiting to be seen by a nurse or doctor!?
Where is Jesus, to be found when there is trouble, right in the middle of it, why?
Because where there is pain and suffering there is Jesus smack bang in the middle of his people. Because, wherever Jesus goes there is always somebody waiting to be ‘Liberated’? This man waited 38 years for Jesus to liberate him. We too are waiting to be liberated not just from the Coronavirus, but by the many things that may be going on in our personnel lives. Yes, Jesus liberated the sick man on the Sabbath, but we need to remember the Sabbath was made for us not us for the Sabbath.
In a 2013 interview, Pope Francis famously likened the church to a field hospital, saying that his vision of the ideal church is one that attends to the overwhelming suffering of the world before concerning itself with smaller matters.
Our World is now a field hospital and you and I are part of that world. Let us together like the man in today’s Gospel hear the words of Jesus,
Do you want to be healed? And allow Jesus to heal you!
I pray that God will give you all the graces and blessings that you need for the journey ahead!
United in prayer and love!
Fr John