Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12 / John 5:1-3, 5-16
We have heard of the famous baths at the Marian shrine of Lourdes, as well as the many testimonies of how people who were ill or afflicted with some kind of incurable disease were healed when they went into these baths.
I have not been there myself, so obviously I have not went into that bath waters of Lourdes, but the common thing that I heard is that when one comes out of the bath, the water on the body dries up immediately.
How it happens is beyond reasoning but nonetheless I have no doubts about it.
There is also no doubt that God in all times and in all ages has also offered healing to His people as a sign of His love and mercy and compassion.
In today's gospel, we hear of one such place called Bethzatha where the sick people gathered in hope of a cure when the waters are stirred.
Yet, unlike the well organized baths at Lourdes, the situation at Bethzatha was quite different and it was like each man for himself.
So we can imagine the man who had an illness for 38 years hoping to get to the waters when it is stirred but was never in time.
Yet the healing grace of God does not come only when the waters of the pool are stirred.
Because in Jesus, we find forgiveness and healing, compassion and mercy.
In the Church too, there must be forgiveness and healing, compassion and mercy, because the Church is the new Temple of God, the same Temple that was described in the 1st reading.
The Church can only be that kind of Temple when we are cleansed of sin and healed of our sinfulness and filled with the love and mercy of God.
Let us seek this cleansing and healing through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and let us strive to be the Church where God's love and mercy and compassion can be found.