J 5,1-16

Stand in God’s presence. God is present here and now, looking upon you with love.

Ask for the Grace: I will beg God our Lord that all my intentions and actions may be directed purely to the praise and service of His Divine Majesty

Fixing a place, a picture for meditation: Jerusalem during a festival of the Jews. Jesus also goes up to Jerusalem at that time and he meets a man who has been ill for 38 years.

Ask for the fruit of meditation: for the hope that Jesus gives me

1. Do you want to be made well?

In the Gospel we see a sick man. His disease is not named. Perhaps it is some kind of motor dysfunction, a kind of paralysis that prevents him from moving freely. They make this man stay in the same place for several decades and repeat the same pattern of action: he tries to approach the pool of water. And then Jesus comes to him and asks: Do you want to be made well? The sick man does not answer this question directly, but tells about his difficulties. anything else, he doesn’t have to make decisions, and he has an excuse for his miserable life.

Look at your reality, look at yourself. What is paralyzing you in your life? What are the benefits of being stuck in your illness , paralysis?

2. Stand up, take your mat and walk.

Jesus says to the sick man: Stand up, take your mat and walk. It is an invitation or a call to life for which the sick person has to take responsibility. It’s up to him to get up, pick up the mat and go on. It is his decision and responsibility how he lives his life.

This scene is an invitation for us to learn to respond to Jesus, another people, to take responsibility for our life, for its shape, taste and smell. Each decision is better than no decision, because it leads us to a different place, it does not keep us paralyzed. If it is not good, you can always change the course of action. Daily prayer helps in discerning – that is, meeting Jesus (cf. CCC 2725: We pray as we live, because we live as we pray.)

What is your response to Jesus’ invitation to live? How do you take responsibility for your own life? What shape, smell and taste do you give it? How do you give life to others?

3. … do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.

Jesus shows that sin is worse than bodily disease. Note that Jesus does not scare the sick of Hell, but rather indicates worse consequences in life, a spiritual paralysis that is worse than physical paralysis. This paralysis may be the loss of hope that I will get out of a difficult situation, addiction, the lack of faith that I have an influence on my life or the resignation from my needs and desires.

What are you choosing today: Jesus who gives hope and life or spiritual paralysis that gives you hopelessness?

4. … Jesus saw him …

Now Jesus see you. He goes to you just as he went to the sick man. Let yourself meet Jesus as you can.

Meditation: St Ignatius encourages in The Spiritual Exercises No. 2 … Because not so much knowledge, but internal feeling and the taste of things please and saturate the soul, that is, we stay where we feel interior movement … and nervously do not try to go on.

The final conversation: Spend a little time at the end, being with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit….as you would with a good friend: sometimes talking, sometimes listening, sometimes being together in silence. Speak to God about your feelings. Remember that times when ‘nothing is happening’ can also be significant. When you’re ready, end your prayer by saying thank you or using words that are familiar, such as the Lord’s Prayer (Our Father)–whichever feels right and comfortable. (The Spiritual Exercises No.54)