Do you want to get well?

It happens so often in life. No matter how careful, or what preventive measures we take, we can still get sick. And when we do, we look for the cure, be it from a doctor, or some kind of medicine or prayer. Yes, sometimes even a miracle

 We see that in one of the Gospels. The man born crippled, lay at the healing waters at the pool of Bethesda, but was unable to reach to waters for healing because of his condition.

“Do you want to be well” Jesus asks the man. A question where you would expect a yes or a no. But the man responds by saying how difficult it is to get to the pool. 

Was that an excuse? Was he, after all these years, just giving up? Was hope fading quickly? Did he believe that he would die a cripple?

Many of us find ourselves in the same boat, making excuses for why God isn’t first in our lives. Giving up our prayer life and losing hope, allowing our surroundings and circumstances to be our master.  But God will always ask us “do you want to be well”

Of all the people at the pool that day, Jesus singles out this hopeless man. Where there was doubt, he awakens hope by asking the man a simple yet searching question "Do you want to be well?" 

But, the man, in his heart said yes, but the excuses poured out as to why he was not well. And Jesus, reading his heart, said "rise, take up your mat and walk!"

Like the crippled man, God knows our heart and will not force our hand against our will.  He reads our heart, not our excuses.

And on that day, that hopeless man was healed, and just like that man, of all the people in the world today, Jesus is speaking to you and to me, as if it were you and I alone in this vast world.

If we have but a spark of hope, if we say yes in our heart, Jesus will ignite that spark to a flame of love. He will heal our doubt and we will begin to “walk by faith and not by sight”.

It is through that faith that we truly see the world as it is. We become aware of the needs of those around us, especially in those who need those healing waters.

We realize we have gifts and resources we can share to people losing hope. We become a people of hearing and of acting upon God’s charitable words, “Whatever you do for the least of my brethren, that you do unto me”.

Jesus never touched that crippled man at the pool that day, the man who lost hope. He just said, “rise, take up your mat and walk”.

Through our charitable acts, We, too, can be the one who is instrumental in helping another of God’s children walk away from hopelessness.

We can do all things through faith, which brings us hope to enable us to love those in need. Saint Leo the Great once said, “If God is love, charity should know no limit, for God cannot be confined”.

Corporal works of mercy, charity, sharing our talents, and walking in this world the way Jesus walked on this earth builds upon our foundation of faith hope and charity.

Purity of mind and deed, living our lives truly desiring to be a saint will inspire us to be the working miracle, and a possible cure for depression and hopelessness in others.  Bringing those to the waters to be healed.

And our hearts will cry with love when we can say the same words that Jesus said to the man he healed after seeing him sometime later.

 “Look you are well”. It is our faith and our love for God and neighbor that really has the healing power by lifting our prayer to God.

There is an old proverb that says, “Where There is Hope There is Faith Where There is Faith Miracles Happen”