Lourdes and Bethesda

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12 / Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9 / John 5:1-16

Lourdes and Bethesda

In the 150-plus years since Our Lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes there are less than 70 miracles at that site which have been authenticated by the Church. One might wonder what the record of the pool at Bethesda would be, with or without rigorous modern criteria. For Lourdes that’s one authenticated miracle every two years or so. Who can wait that long? Who could guarantee it would be me if I did wait? I might be left thinking, “It’s always someone else who gets there at the right time.”

The passage from John’s gospel makes it clear that the man at the pool of Bethesda had been sick a long time — thirty-eight years. Who knows how many of those years he had spent waiting and hoping by the pool of Bethesda? He had been sick since before Jesus was born of Mary. Fortunately for the man at Bethesda he did not have to time his arrival at the pool just right for healing. Healing came to him unexpected, probably just when he’d gotten used to disappointment.

·        In what situation in your life have you given up hope? Imagine Jesus questioning you about it. What might he say? How do you respond? What might be the miracle to change you in regard to this situation?