Jesus thought that the Pharisees and scribes were merely partially wrong, and he deeply desired their full conversion. He tried to show them that religion cannot be merely exterior because humans are a union of body and soul. 

Faith, therefore, must be practiced both interiorly and exteriorly. When either is disregarded, it is impossible to know God to our fullest capacity.

Jesus’ hard-hitting words are a challenge to both inner and outer conversion. One could imagine him saying to us, “You go through the motions, attend church, read the Bible, receive the sacraments, but you still do not recognize me?” Or, for those who fall prey to the opposite extreme, “You neglect to come to worship and to receive my graces regularly in the sacraments, and you think you know me?” 

In moments like this, Jesus insists, “Come to me” (Mt 11:28). Where is Jesus? He is in the Church: “He is the head of the body, the church” (Col 1:18). He is in the Eucharist: “I am the Bread of Life” (Jn 6:35). He is in the poor, the vulnerable, and the needy: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40). And through your Baptism, he is within each of us: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn 14:23).”

Jesus thought that the Pharisees and scribes were merely partially wrong, and he deeply desired their full conversion. He tried to show them that religion cannot be merely exterior because humans are a union of body and soul. 

Faith, therefore, must be practiced both interiorly and exteriorly. When either is disregarded, it is impossible to know God to our fullest capacity.

Jesus’ hard-hitting words are a challenge to both inner and outer conversion. One could imagine him saying to us, “You go through the motions, attend church, read the Bible, receive the sacraments, but you still do not recognize me?” Or, for those who fall prey to the opposite extreme, “You neglect to come to worship and to receive my graces regularly in the sacraments, and you think you know me?” 

In moments like this, Jesus insists, “Come to me” (Mt 11:28). Where is Jesus? He is in the Church: “He is the head of the body, the church” (Col 1:18). He is in the Eucharist: “I am the Bread of Life” (Jn 6:35). He is in the poor, the vulnerable, and the needy: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25:40). And through your Baptism, he is within each of us: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him” (Jn 14:23).”

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope
(Sermo 15, De passione Domini, 3-4: PL 54, 366-367)

Contemplating the Lord’s passion

True reverence for the Lord’s passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity.

The earth—our earthly nature—should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks—the hearts of unbelievers—should burst asunder. The dead, imprisoned in the tombs of their mortality, should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future resurrection should appear in the holy city, the Church of God: what is to happen to our bodies should now take place in our hearts.

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance.

Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The sacred blood of Christ has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place to the true light.

The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless indeed they close off for themselves the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.

The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive with all the love of our heart to be like our Redeemer, and to follow his example. Everything that he did or suffered was for our salvation: he wanted his body to share the goodness of its head.

First of all, in taking our human nature while remaining God, so that the Word became man, he left no member of the human race, the unbeliever excepted, without a share in his mercy. Who does not share a common nature with Christ if he has welcomed Christ, who took our nature, and is reborn in the Spirit through whom Christ was conceived?

Again, who cannot recognize in Christ his own infirmities? Who would not recognize that Christ’s eating and sleeping, his sadness and his shedding of tears of love are marks of the nature of a slave?

It was this nature of a slave that had to be healed of its ancient wounds and cleansed of the defilement of sin. For that reason the only-begotten Son of God became also the son of man. He was to have both the reality of a human nature and the fullness of the godhead.

The body that lay lifeless in the tomb is ours. The body that rose again on the third day is ours. The body that ascended above all the heights of heaven to the right hand of the Father’s glory is ours. If then we walk in the way of his commandments, and are not ashamed to acknowledge the price he paid for our salvation in a lowly body, we too are to rise to share his glory. The promise he made will be fulfilled in the sight of all: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.

RESPONSORY
1 Corinthians 1:18, 23

To those who are on the way to destruction,
the message of the cross is foolishness;
– but we who are on the way to salvation
see it as the proof of God’s power.

We preach a crucified Christ:
an obstacle to the Jews,
sheer madness to the Gentiles.
– But we who are on the way to salvation
see it as the proof of God’s power.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Merciful Father,
may the penance of our lenten observance
make us your obedient people.
May the love within us be seen in what we do
and lead us to the joy of Easter.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope
(Sermo 15, De passione Domini, 3-4: PL 54, 366-367)

Contemplating the Lord’s passion

True reverence for the Lord’s passion means fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognizing in him our own humanity.

The earth—our earthly nature—should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks—the hearts of unbelievers—should burst asunder. The dead, imprisoned in the tombs of their mortality, should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future resurrection should appear in the holy city, the Church of God: what is to happen to our bodies should now take place in our hearts.

No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance.

Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The sacred blood of Christ has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place to the true light.

The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless indeed they close off for themselves the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.

The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive with all the love of our heart to be like our Redeemer, and to follow his example. Everything that he did or suffered was for our salvation: he wanted his body to share the goodness of its head.

First of all, in taking our human nature while remaining God, so that the Word became man, he left no member of the human race, the unbeliever excepted, without a share in his mercy. Who does not share a common nature with Christ if he has welcomed Christ, who took our nature, and is reborn in the Spirit through whom Christ was conceived?

Again, who cannot recognize in Christ his own infirmities? Who would not recognize that Christ’s eating and sleeping, his sadness and his shedding of tears of love are marks of the nature of a slave?

It was this nature of a slave that had to be healed of its ancient wounds and cleansed of the defilement of sin. For that reason the only-begotten Son of God became also the son of man. He was to have both the reality of a human nature and the fullness of the godhead.

The body that lay lifeless in the tomb is ours. The body that rose again on the third day is ours. The body that ascended above all the heights of heaven to the right hand of the Father’s glory is ours. If then we walk in the way of his commandments, and are not ashamed to acknowledge the price he paid for our salvation in a lowly body, we too are to rise to share his glory. The promise he made will be fulfilled in the sight of all: Whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.

RESPONSORY
1 Corinthians 1:18, 23

To those who are on the way to destruction,
the message of the cross is foolishness;
– but we who are on the way to salvation
see it as the proof of God’s power.

We preach a crucified Christ:
an obstacle to the Jews,
sheer madness to the Gentiles.
– But we who are on the way to salvation
see it as the proof of God’s power.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

Merciful Father,
may the penance of our lenten observance
make us your obedient people.
May the love within us be seen in what we do
and lead us to the joy of Easter.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

John 5:1-16

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "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." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a Sabbath. So, the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." He answered them, "The man who made me well told me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?" The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away since there was a crowd there. After this Jesus found him in the Temple area and said to him, "Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you." The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a Sabbath.
 
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I look to you with faith, knowing that you are the Lord of all. I hope in your boundless mercy since without you I can do nothing. I want to love as you deserve, so I come to you in this prayer to console you and bring you the joy of this moment together.
 
Petition: Lord, help me to be humble of heart so you will heal me.
 
1. Christ's Power is Stronger: The man in the Gospel was ill for 38 years. His sickness serves as an example of a life of sin. In 1 John 2:16 we read about a triple spiritual sickness: “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.” However, not even a sickness persisting for 38 years is able to escape Jesus’ curing power. Christ’s power is stronger still. We should, therefore, take hope, for no sickness, no sin – or a life of sin – is too great for him to cure. All that is needed is that we turn to him with a humble and contrite heart: “Lord, I am not worthy, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”
 
2. Revealing Our Weaknesses: Nothing is impossible for Christ. He can heal the sick; he can also forgive their sins, as he forgives the paralytic who is lowered from a rooftop (Cf. Mark 2:1-12). All it takes is for this sick man to reveal his weakness – and he does so with detail, like a true confession: how he has attempted to enter the pool, how as he has tried, someone else has beaten him to it. Perhaps without this detailed account of his failure, he might not have been cured. The sick man’s admitting both his personal weakness and desire to plunge into the pool moves Jesus to compassion. This is the remedy to all of our illnesses: presenting ourselves to Christ as we truly are, with all of our weakness, and thus moving him to compassion.
 
3. “Go and Sin No More” Jesus says, “Look, you are well, do not sin anymore.” It would be a pity if this man, who is deeply moved by Jesus and made whole, afterward dedicates himself to a life of vice. From the Gospel passage, it would seem that Jesus has cured him in order to allow him to utilize his time and energy for the benefit of the Kingdom: Christ warns the sick man that if he misuses his new health, he could be worse off than before. Hopefully, his healing will produce a conversion and make him a herald of the Kingdom. This happens also in the sacrament of reconciliation: After forgiving our sins, Christ tells us, “Go in peace and proclaim to the world the wonderful works of God who has brought you salvation.”
 
Conversation with Christ: O Jesus, the only way that I can be like the man at the pool of Bethesda is to be grateful for the gifts you have given me, to fight against a life of sin, and to clothe myself with the “new man.” I am ready to embrace your will with love, even if this means dying to myself.

John 5:1-16

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "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." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a Sabbath. So, the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." He answered them, "The man who made me well told me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?" The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away since there was a crowd there. After this Jesus found him in the Temple area and said to him, "Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you." The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a Sabbath.
 
Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I look to you with faith, knowing that you are the Lord of all. I hope in your boundless mercy since without you I can do nothing. I want to love as you deserve, so I come to you in this prayer to console you and bring you the joy of this moment together.
 
Petition: Lord, help me to be humble of heart so you will heal me.
 
1. Christ's Power is Stronger: The man in the Gospel was ill for 38 years. His sickness serves as an example of a life of sin. In 1 John 2:16 we read about a triple spiritual sickness: “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.” However, not even a sickness persisting for 38 years is able to escape Jesus’ curing power. Christ’s power is stronger still. We should, therefore, take hope, for no sickness, no sin – or a life of sin – is too great for him to cure. All that is needed is that we turn to him with a humble and contrite heart: “Lord, I am not worthy, but only say the word and I shall be healed.”
 
2. Revealing Our Weaknesses: Nothing is impossible for Christ. He can heal the sick; he can also forgive their sins, as he forgives the paralytic who is lowered from a rooftop (Cf. Mark 2:1-12). All it takes is for this sick man to reveal his weakness – and he does so with detail, like a true confession: how he has attempted to enter the pool, how as he has tried, someone else has beaten him to it. Perhaps without this detailed account of his failure, he might not have been cured. The sick man’s admitting both his personal weakness and desire to plunge into the pool moves Jesus to compassion. This is the remedy to all of our illnesses: presenting ourselves to Christ as we truly are, with all of our weakness, and thus moving him to compassion.
 
3. “Go and Sin No More” Jesus says, “Look, you are well, do not sin anymore.” It would be a pity if this man, who is deeply moved by Jesus and made whole, afterward dedicates himself to a life of vice. From the Gospel passage, it would seem that Jesus has cured him in order to allow him to utilize his time and energy for the benefit of the Kingdom: Christ warns the sick man that if he misuses his new health, he could be worse off than before. Hopefully, his healing will produce a conversion and make him a herald of the Kingdom. This happens also in the sacrament of reconciliation: After forgiving our sins, Christ tells us, “Go in peace and proclaim to the world the wonderful works of God who has brought you salvation.”
 
Conversation with Christ: O Jesus, the only way that I can be like the man at the pool of Bethesda is to be grateful for the gifts you have given me, to fight against a life of sin, and to clothe myself with the “new man.” I am ready to embrace your will with love, even if this means dying to myself.

Jesus did not come to bring a message of earthly happiness nor to establish in this world an era which would banish all tears and grief. Rather, he came to take upon himself the full weight of human suffering in order to transform it into a means of salvation, and, therefore, of eternal happiness in that blessed land where alone “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying nor pain” (Rev 21: 4). The life of man redeemed by Christ is a beginning of this endless happiness.

Christ’s paschal mystery is a web of grief and joy, of death and resurrection; the life of the Christian, which springs from this mystery and is based upon it, reproduces its characteristics. And just as the paschal mystery is not exhausted in the passion and death of Christ, but through pain and death culminates in the joy of the resurrection, so Christian life, in spite of its earthly tribulation, is constantly oriented toward eternal joy.

Suffering is the gate that introduces us into the paschal mystery of the Lord and lets us live it in its aspect of passion and death to prepare us for that of resurrection. It is impossible to share in the resurrection of Christ if we do not first suffer and die with him.

Even when God does not grant us relief, and permits the suffering to be prolonged, we must continue to trust in him. Only he knows what is for the real good of each of us. Certain tribulations which seem absurd and unfair from our human point of view have a very real place in his divine plans; our personal salvation, and that of many others, may depend on our acceptance of these. “In everything God works for good with those who love him” (Rom 8: 28).