John 5:1-16 Do You Want to Be Well

There was a man who'd been sick for 38 years sitting in the porticos of the Sheep Gate.  Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be well?"  (Note the irony that the Good Shepherd is taking care and healing his sheep at the gate.)

Human compassions would dictate that our hearts yearn to help those in need.  God's is no different.  Although the Jewish law dictates that no healing should be done on the Sabbath, God is greater than the Sabbath, and the Son of God heals this man.  God's mercy and compassion are endless for all days and all times. 

There is much in our world that we wonder where is God's mercy.  A child recently told me that sometimes God takes people away so they don't do really bad things.  Why is it so easy for a child to understand this and difficult for adults?  There is a man who is busy trying to take care of his grandchild because the boy's father wont.  He is trying not to become bitter, and wonders where is God's mercy in this situation?  Many of our saints remind us that when we ask God to help us with difficulties we have a preset idea of what God should do.  We forget that God will do what is best for us even if it takes us on a journey that we don't expect or are sometimes not entirely thrilled with.  Is it easier to fight God's will, or to put our will in-line with His letting ourselves be vessels of his love?

Luke 2:36-40 The Prophetess Anna

In this presentation story following the reception of the Christ Child by Simeon, we meet Anna who also receives the Child and proclaims him to the world.  It is argued by some the Simeon and Anna are prophets of the Old Testament representing all of the Jewish people of the Old Covenant waiting for the redeemer.  With the reception of the Christ Child, they are accepting and recognizing the Savior and proclaiming him to the world. 

Women often enjoy holding babies and seeing the hope and possibility that could come from the child, recognizing the child as a gift from God.  Here Anna does not do this.  She recognizes not the gift from God, but God himself.  How much more the potential this Child in her arms!  The One who has been long awaited.  How could she not be excited?  As one who as received Christ she, like Simeon, cannot but share Him with the world.  Isn't it similar to what we are called to do when we receive Christ within the Eucharist?  Anna is a Hebrew word that means 'grace'.  How fitting then that she is given the grace of God to be his messenger to proclaim Him, to recognize Him, to receive Him, and to love Him? 

And the Holy Family?  They fulfill the prescriptions of the Law and return home where the child grows in wisdom and strength with "the Lord's favor upon him."  It is Jesus' time for quiet growth before the Lord calls him to his vocation.  We are each called to a vocation.  We see one of Anna's vocations within today's reading.  We hear that Joseph and Mary were called to obedience in the Law.  What are you being called forth to do today that will grow God's kingdom within and around you?

Luke 1-26:38 Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Today's Gospel reading is the same as those from Tuesday, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  A beloved deacon I knew used to tell me that whenever I saw a reading twice in the same week, pay attention! 

In the story of the Annunciation we are given only two phrases that Mary speaks herself, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" and, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to  your word."  What should impress us most is that these words contain no fear.  In one she asks a question relating to a fact that she knows to be true.  In the second she fully commits herself with courage and faith to God's plan.  It indicates that she knew that she had a choice.  She could have said 'no'.  She could have been apathetic, which is also a choice.  Instead she chooses to live out God's will through her. 

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  We honor Our Lady and remember the story as she appeared to St. Juan Diego calling him to serve God, similar to the way that the Angel Gabriel appeared to her calling her to serve God. Through her, Juan Diego was led closer to her son, Jesus Christ. Through following God's will, so many more would come to follow the Son and know the Way, the Truth and the Life that leads to the eternal kingdom.  Because of her eternal love, watchfulness and protection that leads to Christ, we honor our Lady who bore the Christ Child.  Indeed as she appeared to Juan Diego, Christ radiated from within her. 

Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe from St. Juan Diego's tilma

 

Luke 10:21-24

In today's Gospel reading Jesus teaches us how to praise God Our Father in the Holy Spirit.  Praise is nearly a forgotten form of prayer, but one that is so important.  Throughout scripture God is very insistant about praise.  Even in the Lord's Prayer we find praise in the words, "Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, thy kingdom come, Thy Will be done..."  Within these words and all other prayers of praise we acknowledge God's greatness, and conversely our lowliness.  Praise allows us in our humility to find room for God's love and for His will to be done in and through us.  Praise is also a thanksgiving.  Shouldn't we be grateful?  Our Father sent his Son to die for our sins so that we may be given eternal life.  Doesn't that deserve our eternal praise and thanksgiving? 

Think about a child.  Most young children are filled with such awe and reverence toward those they love and admire.  They seek to please them by doing what they know is right.  And they are grateful for the love shown to them and the gift they receive.  We are called to be childlike, to have complete abandon in Him, so that His love and Kingdom will be present to us and not hidden.  Praise can lead us to be worthy to receive and see.  May we in our humility lovingly turn toward Our Father in praise and thanksgiving with the heart of a child holding nothing back.