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A team of 200 priests comment on daily Gospel

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Liturgical day: Tuesday 4th of Lent

Gospel text (Jn 5,1-3.5-16): Jesus saw him, and since he knew how long this man had been lying there, He said to him, «Do you want to be healed?». There was a feast of the Jews and Je­sus went up to Jerusalem. Now, by the Sheep Gate in Je­rusalem, there is a pool (called Beth­zatha in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people -blind, lame and paralyzed. There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him, and since he knew how long this man had been lying there, He said to him, «Do you want to be healed?». And the sick man answered, «Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is dis­turbed; so while I am still on my way, another steps down before me». Jesus then said to him, «Stand up, take your mat and walk». And at once the man was healed, and he took up his mat and walked.

Now that day happened to be the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, «It is the Sabbath and the Law doesn't allow you to carry your mat». He answered them, «The one who healed me said to me: Take up your mat and walk». They asked him, «Who is the one who said to you: Take up your mat and walk?». But the sick man had no idea who it was who had cured him, for Jesus had slipped away among the crowd that filled the place. Afterwards Jesus met him in the Temple court and told him, «Now you are well; don't sin again, lest something worse happen to you». And the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jews persecuted Jesus because He per­formed healings like that on the Sabbath.

Illustration: Pili Piñero

Today the miracle "is working" in a different way. The paralytic has been lying there for 38 years. Poor wretch! Unable to do anything. Jesus Christ anticipates and asks him. The patient explains what happens to him, but he does not even dare asking for his cure... He does not think of that, after so many years! This sad situation turns up the insides of the Christ-God...

—This is how our humanity appears at present! paralytic and sick because of "the original sin". Sometimes we do not even think about it. We had been "thrown" for some time, in a pitiful state. Nothing we could do. Nor does it cross our minds that God could heal us. But He took the initiative and gave His own life for our health.