Daily Journey Through the Great Fast With the Early Churchنموونە

When you got in the car yesterday, there may have been an accident, a roadblock or a detour that took a longer route to get you where you needed to go but you somehow managed to get to your destination in the end. You didn’t say, “there’s a detour that will take a little bit longer to get me to (destination) so I think I will just turn around and go back home” Clearly, you wanted or needed to get to your destination and there you were. That is prayer. When we face uncertainties and when our prayers aren’t answered immediately and require a little bit longer route to get to our destination, to get the end result, we shouldn’t just stop, pack up and go home.

We read in today’s Gospel about the paralytic man in John 5:1-18, waiting to be healed for thirty-eight years -38 years! That is an extremely long time, an extremely long detour to wait for healing, to be living in such pain, to be so helpless, for the situation to be so completely out of your hands and depending on others who do not even acknowledge you. The reality is that we are human and therefore weak but we are born of Spirit so we are made strong in Christ, when we are led by the Spirit and not the flesh. We lose sight of this sometimes and worry over things, things that have not happened that when we think of them bring tears to our eyes and make us want to beg for help, but we do that because we lose sight of His glory. We, in our weakness, allow our minds to wander and think of different scenarios that arise, trying to solve real and fictitious problems all the same. Our humanity is weak and forces us to be anxious over things of life, but the Spirit of God we received at Baptism allows us to cast those worries and cares aside, because God cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

Find comfort in Him, comfort in knowing that God knows your anxieties and He hears your cries - the Lord Jesus Christ became Incarnate and took our flesh, He lived as one of us, He knows the anxieties of life and knows the feeling of prayers with tears.

I find comfort in knowing that the only One able is the only One who truly sees me, who has been where I am now, who understands because He experienced these sorrows. When I think about that, I get a renewed sense of strength - if Jesus was able to endure this suffering and showed us what to do, then why am I worried? If I follow His lead and do as He did then what could possibly be so scary? He walked that path of sorrow and sufferings before we ever did and He will walk it again with each of us now. Sometimes it takes suffering and sorrow for God to give us a renewed strength in our faith.

Let your faith be strengthened during time of suffering so you cannot be swayed when doubt comes as an unwanted visitor. Let this suffering do a work in you so that you can persevere in His name (James 1:2-4) - and never forget that “as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation (comfort) also abounds through Christ.” [2 Corinthians 1:5]

The paralytic man sat by the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years suffering and waiting. By his own means, he would unsuccessfully attempt to get into the pool, nor did he have anyone to help him into the pool. Jesus saw the paralyzed man and did not wait for him to call out, Jesus went over to him (John 5:6)

Even in our attempts to resolve our own suffering, God is there. Not only is He there, but He sees us, comes to us and heals us! Even when He heals us, God does not leave us where we are at, He tells us to get up and take our beds, then seeks us still (John 5:14). The paralytic man did not forget the grace bestowed upon him; he went into the house of prayer and that is where Jesus met him again. When God strengthens you, do you remember to first thank Him before going on about your life?

Do not be discouraged or frightened of your suffering - our most blessed, wonderful and sweet Lord sees you, He hears you, He has been in the path you currently walk in. What happens after He sees us? He heals - it may not always be the physical healing but always will be the spiritual healing, if you, like the paralytic man, answer to His question of, “Do you want to be made well?” [John 5:6] with a resounding “yes!” and He will make you upright. He is walking by your side and will bring you through your time of difficulty. Push through the struggle. Be reminded of God’s glory. Pray. Ask for His help and for strength. Be strong in faith. Be strengthened in knowing that you can cast “all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” [1 Peter 5:7]. Praising God is the appropriate response of a faithful believer to suffering.

Be comforted to know that "the LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." [Exodus 14:14], that He will give "strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" [Isaiah 40:29], that "those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength" [Isaiah 40:31], that He "will strengthen you and help you" [Isaiah 41:10] for He is "the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear; I will help you.'" [Isaiah 41:13]

“Just as the blessings of God are unutterably great, so their acquisition requires much hardship and toil undertaken with hope and faith.” [St. Macarius the Great, a 4th century monk and hermit, who is also known as “The Lamp of the Desert”]