Helping the Helpless

 “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.” Jn 5:7

Flowing waters evoke growth, life and hope in and around us. They remind us that God wants to feed us, desires that we live along the fresh waters of a river so that we can benefit from the fruit and vegetables that will flourish there. Flowing waters also remind us of baptism and God's desire to cleanse us for service to others.

The difficulty faced by the fellow who has been ill for 38 years is clear. His disability doesn't allow him to enter the flowing waters, and he has no one to help him.  That he would still desire to know the cleansing and healing waters after suffering for 38 years is remarkable in itself, and Jesus, the one who will be known as flowing waters, rewards his patience and dream by telling him to take up his mat and walk.

Healed, the newly cleansed fellow faces his greatest challenge. Will he realize that his healing is a call to serve others, especially those who have been suffering for a long time? Unless he does, his new life will fail to bear the fruit promised by God to those living near flowing waters. The lesson should not be lost on us.

Today, be grateful for the cleansing waters of Baptism.

What kind of service has most enriched your life?

St Joseph, Spouse of Mary

  "When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home." Mt 1:24a

There are many ways to wake up. Sometimes, it is simple. Our bodies tell us to pay attention. We have a headache that will not go away or we discover a skin growth that looks strange. Our bodies are telling us to pay attention and take action. At other times, especially when we take time to relax and reflect, an idea that has been percolating in our minds and hearts, takes shape. We read about AIDS in Africa or the plight of refugee children in Syria, and we start searching the Internet for places and organizations that are addressing these vital concerns. Waking up to the challenge of acting on the Gospel is important for our own salvation and the good of others.

Joseph, the husband of Mary, troubled by his young wife's pregnancy, wakes up. Not wanting her to be stoned, he decides to divorce her quietly. In this way, Mary will have other chances to marry and build a family. But then Joseph has a dream and when he wakes up, he knows that God wants him to marry Mary despite his misgivings. That he listens and acts upon the message he receives is critical for Joseph's salvation and ours.

Waking up to the immensity of God's love for us, while sometimes very challenging, is a gift that keeps on giving. Not only does it empower us  personally to live more freely and gratefully, it urges us to tell others the Good News of God's desire to love them more deeply an totally.

Today when you wake up, pause and let God speak a liberating word to you.

Have there been moments in your life that changed the course of your faith?

Acknowledging our Sinfulness

“Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity...But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’" Lk 18: 10-12

Lent is a time when many people commit themselves to develop a richer prayer life. Some say the rosary more often and more devotionally. Others try to get to mass a couple of times a week. A few ask for the grace to sit quietly in the presence of God without words, and still others try something new: centering prayer, lectio divina or mindfulness prayer. While all of these are praiseworthy, they might lead to a silly pride if we are faithful to them and think it is our doing. In fact, all prayer is a gift from God which we need to ask for often. More important, we need to be ready for distractions and not worry about our success. Prayer is about being faithful, not successful.

The tax collector in today's Gospel helps us understand this clearly. So does Pope Francis in the revealing interview he gave to Jesuit publications around the world. When asked who is Jorge Bergoglio, the Pope answered simply and truthfully. "I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition. It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner." Echoing the tax collector in Luke's gospel, who asked for God's mercy because he was a sinner, the Holy Father reminded all his readers that before all else he was a stumbling child of God who needed God's kindness on a daily basis. Acknowledging first that we are sinners situates us in every circumstance as a church of compassion. Accepting our own faults, we walk with other sinners on the road to eternal life.

Today, be honest at prayer. Tell God how much help you need.

What does authentic humility mean to you as a person of faith?

St Patrick

 "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same." Confession of St Patrick

It should never surprise us how much our earliest experiences in life impact our adult years. When St Patrick, only 16 years old and much like Ukrainian, Sudanese and Afghan boys today, was forced into slavery in Ireland, everything changed. Unlike some, however, Patrick's heart, despite the suffering he endured, was touched by the Irish people and after his escape from his captors, he yearned to return to Ireland as a missionary.

Though the church in Ireland is suffering great losses these days, in part because of the sexual abuse by priests and religious in the 20th century, we should not ignore the great work of Ireland's missionaries who went all over the world in the name of the Good News. Fired by the memory of St Patrick's, missionary women and men let go of their homeland and culture to be inserted in churches in North America, Africa and Asia in dizzying numbers, and their influence will continue to be felt for generations to come.

We honor Patrick today, and all those fearless missionaries like him, whose faith was such that they could not be silent about how God has transformed their lives. Listen to the Saints words:

Christ shield me this day: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. The Breastplate of St. Patrick

Today, ask God to send you to someone without faith.

How have you been impacted the zeal of St Patrick and the Irish missionaries?