Tuesday, March 16, 2021

 Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Lent

 (Ezekiel 47:1-9.12; John 5:1-16)

 Inspecting paintings of the crucifixion, we are probably going to see Jesus’ right side pierced.  Even though John’s Gospel, the only one to mention the piercing, does not indicate which side was pierced, artists almost universally paint the wound on the right side.  Their reason is not a preference for the right over the left but is found in today’s first reading.

The water flowing after his blood from Jesus’ side fulfills Ezekiel’s vision of water flowing from the right side of the Temple.  As this water is pictured crescendoing into a flood that produces food and medicine, so water from the side of Jesus represents healing grace.  The gospel shows Jesus’ grace strengthening the limbs of the paralytic so that he might walk.

We are about to enter a special period of grace.  Jesus will restore our capacity to forgive and love that often withers as we deal with life’s problems.  The grace does not flow automatically as water from a mountain spring.  Rather, it is released by our loving attention to Jesus’ passion.