today's (March 24) Mass readings (Clueless about 1st psg (?) / Sin causes illness / Jesus heals crippled man)

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Tuesday (3-24)

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12:


The angel brought me, Ezekiel, back to the entrance of the temple of the Lord, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the facade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He led me outside by the north gate, and around to the outer gate facing the east, where I saw water trickling from the right side. Then when he had walked off to the east with a measuring cord in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and had me wade through the water, which was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand and once more had me wade through the water, which was now knee-deep. Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade; the water was up to my waist. Once more he measured off a thousand, but there was now a river through which I could not wade; for the water had risen so high it had become a river that could not be crossed except by swimming. He asked me, “Have you seen this, son of man?” Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit. Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides. He said to me, “This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Araha, and empties into these, the salt waters, which it makes fresh. Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever his water comes the sea shall be made fresh. Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

Ps 46: The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob…

**St. Jn 5:1-216: **T

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.” ***[Sin causes illness, etc.] The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a Sabbath.

*I’m totally without clue as to the fist psg… :confused:

In the second one, Jesus says that bad things happen to a person when s/he commits sin… I already knew that (been around for awhile…)… but in this “modern” world a lot of people seem to think that illness has only physical causes… or maybe they will admit to a psychological cause, but never a spiritual one… don’t acknowledge that SIN (out-dated word/concept that it is, so they think) could do any harm to the body… :rolleyes:*
 
To me, the water seemed to reflect the water from the side of Christ that itself represents the Mercy and Grace that atones sin by way of the Cross. The ever deepening water is the increasing Grace that God increasingly pours out, as in “where sin abounds, Grace abounds all the more”, through time, represented by the 1000 cubits, one age to another age. The worse we are the more Grace is available to humanity. St Faustina and Divine Mercy Sunday seems to be indicative of this as those who say the Chaplet on that day are made completely clean of sin and the punishment due those sins, an increase of God’s Mercy. What a wonderful God that does this!
 
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