lectionary reflections

Reflection on the Catholic lectionary readings

Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for April 30, 2025

Acts 5:17-26, Ps 34:2-9, John 3:16-21

Today’s readings are all about escaping the fear and judgments that keep us from being ourselves, good and holy people.

We begin with Luke’s story in the Acts of the Apostles that tells of the Apostles being put in prison because the authorities were jealous of all the good things they were doing. That same night an Angel comes, let’s them out and tells them to go to the Temple and preach about the good life that Jesus has brought.

Our Psalm acts as a perfect summary and interpreter of God’s action in similar situations in life. The response is simply, “The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” Followed by “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.” No wonder the psalmist blesses and glorifies the Lord throughout these verses. Our fears and the judgments of some people can be a jail that imprisons us. Only a sense that we are loved and not judged can set us free.

Love and empowering non-judgment are exactly what Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus in John’s Gospel. You may well have heard this line quoted in television ads for various Christian groups. It is the core of the Christian message: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” This is almost a repeat of the verse that precedes it, “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” This is followed by a pretty simple statement of how people can choose Jesus and light or evil and darkness. This statement about believing in Jesus or not, seems to be at odds with the prior verse that says the Son didn’t come to condemn the world.

 Yet the Psalm says, “Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.” Also when the temple guards go to get the Apostles out of prison to face the judgment of the Sanhedrin, the Apostles are gone. They are gone even though the doors are still locked and prison guards still on duty. There’s no logical way they could have gotten out. However, they did.

 I don’t want to dismiss this as an obvious miracle that God performed a long time ago. I believe this incident is meant to send us a message now. No matter the prison we’re in, not matter whether we’ve chosen the light or the dark at this point. Situations and attitudes can change with no logical explanation. Sometimes there is no logical explanation for what God does. Why? Because I’m not sure God looks at the light and dark of this world the way we often do. I think God simply loves us and acts out of that love.

Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

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Scripture Readings for April 29, 2025

Acts 4:32-37, Psalm 93:1-2, 5, John 3:7-15

Happy Easter. Jesus is risen. He is truly risen!

So as you know, it is the Easter season. We are celebrating this amazing event that no one really understands. Jesus died and yet we believe he rose from the dead and lives with us still today. We may have become so used to the idea in our religious selves that we have forgotten how absolutely outrageous that claim can sound. Someone died and yet is alive in a real way 2,000 years later.

Perhaps we are like Nicodemus trying to understand what Jesus is trying to do with us. For me that is why I have always been drawn to the part of this reading that talks about the wind and how we don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. I think that is also true of how our lives work. Don’t we think, at times, how did I get here? In the same way, don’t we often wonder, what’s next? These common experiences expose a real vulnerability and hopefully humility that is part of human life. Too often we try to cover that vulnerability with behavior meant to hide it, or deny it or worse avoid it.

We need to accept our inability to control or comprehend every facet of our life so we can accept the loving care of God and follow where God leads. Wherever that might be. So Jesus is telling Nicodemus, and us, to look to God. To look up like the Israelites did in the desert. Looking up at the serpent in order to be healed. Facing, in other words, those things that frighten us. We can only overcome what we are willing to look at and tackle head on. In our case, it is Jesus on the cross who is lifted up. So we can see that giving ourselves totally to the challenges in our lives is the way to go. Giving ourselves totally to the people in our lives is the answer. That inherently means that we are not alone. Like the ideal description in the Acts of the Apostles we too can contribute to the good of the whole community but then also receive what we need from others. Which, of course, brings us back to where we started. In order to receive the gifts, the care and love from others we have to admit we need it. We have to admit that like Nicodemus we aren’t entirely sure of everything. We aren’t in total control of what happens in our lives. We need the help of others, we need the help of God to find our way, and only then will we be born again.

Monday, Second Week of Easter

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Scripture Readings for April 28, 2025

Acts 4: 23-31, Psalm 2:1-4, 7-9, John 3:1-8

Today let’s talk about the Holy Spirit. We live in the time of the Spirit. Easter represents that change from Jesus, a person of history, to Jesus, our Savior. Easter is the basis of our faith. Jesus, a living human being died and rose to new life. Since that happened, each generation, beginning with the disciples has had to figure out what Easter means for them.  Jesus is no longer physically with us but amazingly he is still present.  As Jesus promised we were not left alone. The Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Spirit if you will, is part of our lives in a way so intimate and personal that I suspect many of us don’t always recognize the Spirit’s presence with us. That is what our readings are about today: the amazing presence and life giving support of the Holy Spirit.

The first reading presents exactly what we need to know. Peter and John had been threatened by the Pharisees. So the first thing they did was go to the community and the first thing the community did was pray for the Spirit to strengthen them to do what needed to be done. What may not be obvious in this sequence is that the Holy Spirit was part of their understanding before they made that first move. Jesus says it best in the Gospel, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Peter and John and the community of faithful wouldn’t have known what to do unless they had already been “born from above.”  We might say they had been converted, or had faith, they already believed in the power of God to be part of what was happening around them.

In the Gospel, Jesus is trying to get Nicodemus to look at life so he can see how much more is at hand. He is saying there is something more to this life than the physical world taken at face value. There is more to everything.

Unless we move beyond the immediate physical world and all its limitations we won’t see the Kingdom of God either. I don’t mean going to heaven after we’ve died. I mean the Kingdom that can be created right here, right now. That Kingdom, that reality is only accessible through the Spirit, God’s Spirit, Jesus’ Spirit.

I think Jesus is talking about the possibility of overcoming life’s limitations, the things that threaten us. We all know and can think of examples: how about overcoming the fear that keeps us from taking on something new, overcoming hatred that separates people, overcoming ego that makes us righteous, overcoming ambition that keeps us from being generous? Wouldn’t that be a birth to new life? That way of living is beyond the physical it is the realm of the spirit. There is more to life than the physical but we have to be open to it. Jesus again, put it this way, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” We have to be willing to see the possibility, to have faith that the Holy Spirit can be a real factor in our lives.

Acts tries to tell us how real and concrete the action of the Spirit can be. It says, “As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook” And the result of their prayer? “They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the word of God fearlessly.” It says, fearlessly … wouldn’t we love to be without fear?  This is the Easter season, death has been vanquished, new life is everywhere. We should ask ourselves if Easter is going to have any effect on us? Perhaps, it is time for us to acknowledge our own need to be shaken up?

Thursday, Octave of Easter

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Scripture Readings for April 24, 2025

Acts 3: 11-26, Psalm 8:2ab, 5-9, Luke 24 35-48

          Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen, have you seen him yet?

          Are you surprised by some of the Gospel stories about the Resurrection? I often find them a little confusing. I mean if you were God, and Jesus had risen from the dead don’t you think you would have handled it more dramatically? Wouldn’t there be flourishes and huge signs of the divine presence coming to demonstrate the victory over death? Jesus, the son of God has just been brutally killed by the Romans and the whole point is to show how God’s power is stronger than death and the travails of earthly living. And what happens? Do we have bursts of radiance or sparkling hallo’s or dramatic appearances before thousands? No, essentially we have an empty tomb.

          On Tuesday, in John’s Gospel after Peter and another disciple have left after seeing an empty tomb, Mary Magdalene, alone in the Garden, mistakes Jesus for the gardener. Yesterday, in Luke’s Gospel, immediately before what we read today. Two everyday disciples who are disheartened walk with him all the way to the next town without recognizing him until they eat together at night. Today, his disciples are all gathered together but Jesus has to show them the wounds in his hands and feet and eat some fish in front of them before they accept that this is Jesus the one they have been with for 3 years.

          How come nobody recognizes him? I would like to suggest to you that they don’t see him because nobody including Peter and Mary Magdalene knew what to look for. What Peter and Mary were looking for was the body of a dead man. The disciples going to Emmaus were downtrodden because of his death and were leaving because they thought it was all over. In today’s Gospel, even though the disciples are all gathered together hearing about Jesus’ appearances to others they’re not expecting him. In a very real sense, none of them knew what to look for. Nobody had ever risen from the dead. The risen Jesus is something so new they didn’t know what it was.

          In Acts Peter explains what has happened to the Jews. Peter recounts how God has promised salvation since the time of Abraham. He talks of Moses and Samuel and all the prophets. The Jews are the children of the prophets and with whom God made his covenant of salvation. And they missed it. They couldn’t see Jesus in their midst. They missed it even though it was part of their very own history. The very substance of their lives produced the Savior and they couldn’t see him. They didn’t know what to look for. They were waiting for fancy and powerful, they got something totally new, totally different and unexpected.

          Let’s remember for a moment that the Gospels were written at least 40 years after Jesus died. The Gospel writers are trying to tell Christians who never met Jesus what it means to see him, to have faith, as the first witnesses did. They’re not trying to report history. I think what they are saying is, don’t expect an obvious, convincing demonstration of divine power with recognizable bells and whistles. Look for him instead in the everyday course of life and expect to be surprised. He will be there if we are looking for the one who is alive in the Scriptures, the one who is with us when we gather and celebrate his presence in Eucharist. If we’re sailing through life confident of what to expect then we’ll miss him even if he’s standing right in front us. If we’re gathered with others worried and frightened about the world around us then we’re likely to miss his presence among us.

          Today 2,000 years later, Jesus has become part of our scriptures in much the same way he was available to the Jews of his time. The question remains, do we know what to look for? Will we keep looking? Even though each of these Gospel stories recount how people didn’t recognize Jesus at first. Jesus makes himself known in each encounter. It was however a reality they could not have expected.

Tuesday Octave of Easter

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for April 22, 2025

Acts 2: 36-41, Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22, John 20:11-18

Today’s readings explore the amazing depth of what Jesus’ resurrection means. In the Gospel, Peter has just recounted the history of God’s revelations in Hebrew Scriptures to the surprising recognition on the part of the assembled Jews. Crucially they were “cut to the heart” and in that recognition of who Jesus was they ask what should they do? Peter explains they need to repent of their sins and be baptized “in the name of Jesus.” They need to pledge their lives to Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

The part of this reading that strikes me as most significant is what Peter says next. Those who repent and are baptized will receive the “gift of the Holy Spirit” to fulfill “the promise made to you … and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God may call.” This is massively inclusive. At the time it certainly was meant to include the Gentiles, non-Jews who weren’t Abraham’s descendants. For me it feels like a call to us today who are “far off” in time and not just heritage. We are being called to see the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection in our lives and not just as a religious belief but as an offer of presence.

What I mean by an offer of presence is what I think today’s reading in John’s Gospel is about. Peter and the disciples have just left the tomb after discovering it empty. But Mary Magdalene overcome by emotion remains and looks inside to find two angels who ask her why she’s crying. Mary replies that someone has taken Jesus body away and she’s trying to find him. In her loving search for Jesus, he appears to her but she doesn’t recognize who she’s talking to and repeats her plea that she will take away the body if this man will just tell her where Jesus is. Only when Jesus calls her by name, does she recognize him and he cautions her not to cling to him and tell his disciples he has not yet ascended to his Father. Now she goes to tell them, “I have seen the Lord.”

I think John has told us a story of what Resurrection means for us. As I have written in other reflections, recognizing God’s presence in our lives is not an obvious experience, it takes time to see the presence of God that is right there in our lives. When Mary first “turns” around she thinks she’s talking to a gardener. Remember Jesus is someone she knows really well, so you would think she’d recognize him immediately. But Resurrection means Jesus has been transformed in a way we don’t fully understand. Mary has no experience that will help her see a divine presence. So Jesus asks her to identify what is going on for her and what she wants. He asks her to think about who she is in this moment. Then Jesus addresses her by name. In these times a person’s name was considered to hold their whole identity. When Mary hears her name called, she recognizes who she is, and she recognizes Jesus. I believe this is the pattern John is trying to explain to us. God’s Spirit promised so long ago to Abraham and then through Jesus to everyone else is here if we take the time to look deep within ourselves and the life around us. Jesus’ death on Good Friday ended the history of human separation from God. Jesus Resurrection is the demonstration of a new life in which God’s Spirit is present to us as today’s Psalm says, “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” We just have to learn how to recognize God’s presence as it exists in each of us and the lives we live.

Friday, Fifth Week of Lent

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Scripture Readings for April 11, 2025

Jeremiah 20:10-13, Psalm 18: 2-7, John 10:31-42

What attracted my attention in today’s readings is the point John is trying to make in the Gospel. The pharisees are picking up rocks to stone Jesus for pretty plainly claiming to be God’s son. Why does this seem strange to me? After all John’s writing a Gospel, literally a story of good news that claims Jesus is God, one with the Father and that makes all the difference for us today. Why should this catch my attention?

I think the point that strikes me is that besides the big religious question of whether Jesus is the Son of God, the pertinent issue for me is these guys are questioning Jesus’ identity. They are challenging who he claims to be and that is very relevant to us today. We are acutely aware, today even more than generations before, of what personal identity means for our happiness and ability to succeed in everyday life.

If we start with personal identity, I think there is an encouraging message these readings have to say to us right now. Jeremiah’s in a very similar situation. People he considers friends are waiting for him to trip up so they can “take … vengeance on him.” They think “any misstep” of his will lead to him being “trapped.”  But Jeremiah says he will trust that God will save him because God knows their “mind and heart” and will put them to shame. This same line in my favorite bible translation, New Jerusalem Bible, is translated as, God the “observer of motives and thoughts.” God knows who everyone is deep in their soul. What does God do in this situation? God “rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.” This is not about economic poverty this is about the fragility of our souls. Who of us has not felt the challenge when friends or loved ones question our motives, our desires, our inner most feelings. It is hard to stay true to oneself when others are dismissive of what we value.

This is exactly what’s happening to Jesus in the Gospel. Even though he is doing lots of good things. People don’t see that as evidence of who he really is. They seek to stone him for who he claims to be. Here is the key to this story in John’s Gospel, “they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power.” He escaped from their power, the power to question his identity. He was strong enough to know who he was and not be intimidated.

As is often the case, today’s Psalm tells us what Jesus knew, what Jeremiah did and what we should do, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.” If we believe that Jesus was the presence of God on this earth. Then we can trust that God is active deep within us and available to rescue us from the actions, attitudes and beliefs that can be destructive of our wellbeing.

Wednesday, Fifth Week of Lent

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Scripture Readings for April 9, 2025

Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95, Daniel 3:52-56, John 8:31-42

Today’s readings are about the challenge of living what we believe. Both readings pit the believer against the establishment of the time. For Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego the challenge is the pagan god and statue set up by Nebuchadnezzar. In John’s Gospel, Jesus faces a group of Jews, some of whom think as descendants of Abraham they are automatically God’s children.

What stands out for me in Daniel is the comment of Nebuchadnezzar that these men “yielded their bodies” rather than worship a god other than their own. They acted on their faith. The situation they were in was not some theoretical exercise or test to see if they could answer the catechism questions correctly. They lived their faith by the decision they made in that moment. That’s something that is relevant to us. Do we believe enough in the love and mercy of God to make tough decisions when the prevailing authority wants us to do the opposite?

Jesus faces a similar situation with Jews who think their heritage affords them the privileged position. Today this might look like Christians who know their Bible or Catholics who know all the catechism answers. It’s one thing to know about your faith and another thing to actually trust in God day to day. That’s what Jesus is pointing to when he says, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham.”

The way John presents this argument Jesus sees these people as slaves of sin and therefore not only not free but as children of the evil one. If they were children of God they would recognize Jesus as the authentic voice of God. Today we probably wouldn’t suggest the same dichotomy between believers and non-believers. But it is fair to remind ourselves that faith exists only to the extent we live it. Faith is not primarily a mental exercise. It is trust in a God who shares our lives, loves us, forgives us, and supports us in ways we often may not recognize. The choices we make may not be as dramatic as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego facing a fiery furnace but assuredly they are just as important in making us who we are. Sometime we have to, just do it. Because if we believe in Jesus’ loving God then we too must be loving, forgiving and supportive of others even when it may not seem like such a good idea. There is no other way to be a child of God.

Friday, Fourth Week of Lent

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Scripture Readings for April 4, 2025

Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22, Psalm 34:17-21, 23, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

          These are readings about division and conflict. John’s Gospel was written at a time of division in their community and it’s reflected here in the argument over who Jesus is. Some people wonder if he is the Messiah while others want to kill him. A similar outlook is portrayed in Wisdom. Sinful people are plotting against an upright man, a good person who they despise because he is good and is a challenge by his very life to their behavior. The Psalm voices what God offers, mercy and love regardless of past behavior.

          Do we face the same challenges today? Can we decide how to act in the face of daily life? Is this about what is hidden? Are there things that block our ability to be honest with ourselves and others, about how we feel and want to act. Maybe this is about false fronts, clever deceptions that mostly fool ourselves. Can we uncover where we are truly coming from. Some people in Jerusalem thought Jesus was just from Nazareth in Galilee. They believed that the Messiah would come boldly from some hidden place. Therefore, this couldn’t be the Messiah. But like the people in our Wisdom reading they were being misled by their own defensive attitudes, jealousy and self-absorption.

“We see him as a reproof to our way of thinking
The very sight of him weighs our spirits down;
For his kind of life is not like other people’s
And his ways are quite different.” (Wisdom 2:14-15)

Jesus was in fact coming from a very hidden place, the divine life of his Father.

 But to accept that takes knowing “the hidden things of God,” hoping for “the reward of holiness,” and believing in “a reward for blameless souls.” (Wisdom 2:22)

          In today’s language, I would say it takes an openness to life and the people who care for us. Facing what we hide, our own failings and fears. That’s the only way to see ourselves honestly and be able to live a life that doesn’t seek to crucify those who are different or simply disagree with us. To recognize that we don’t need to be defensive.

          We need to listen to what our Psalm says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.” It’s just that we have to accept that we too are brokenhearted and need the love and support of all the people around us. That’s how we experience the love of God by getting beneath our facades into our hidden places so we can live the life we were meant to live, one of love, generosity and gratefulness.

Wednesday, Fourth Week of Lent

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Scripture Readings for April 2, 2025

Isaiah 49:8-15, Psalm 145: 8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18, John 5:17-30

These readings are about the basics of our faith, the foundational principles we should never forget. In Isaiah, God is speaking about loving the people of God no matter what, bringing them back to an ideal world. The Psalm is about God’s mercy and how God is always with us. Finally, John’s Gospel makes clear that Jesus is God’s very presence among us doing God’s work.

It’s easy to forget some of this, to let the prescriptive rules of Lent or what was often a church culture that emphasized penance and the examination of our consciences to avoid sin push us down the rabbit hole of doubt, worry and fear. Rather we need to hear today’s readings and take them to heart.

God’s message has always been one of hope, beginning with the idea that we are not left to our own devices. Isaiah uses the extreme example that even if a mother were to abandon her child God will not abandon us. Jesus in John’s Gospel makes clear he does nothing on his own. What Jesus, a living breathing human being from the little town of Nazareth, does is the work God is doing. The person of Jesus is a message to us about how close God is to our lives. We do not operate on our own much as we might think we do. The question is, can we hear what God present in the world around us is trying to say? Can we read Isaiah and accept the possibility of a road, a pathway that cuts through the mountains of challenges, the stacks of worry, the treacherous terrain of life and provides the refreshing spring of water that satisfies our thirst?

Today’s Gospel is filled with statements of how Jesus does what God does, how Jesus can give life just as God gives life, how believing in Jesus takes a person from death to life. This is all about how God’s presence in Jesus, God’s presence in the world, is transformative and can make all things new here in this world, in this life. That is the promise of the Christian faith that we should believe.

In general, the challenge for us is we are often coming from a place where we struggle, falter and fail to live as we have hoped. We can feel guilty for little and big things. It all can become a problem, a burden that feels too big to solve. Which is where today’s Psalm can help remind us of God’s mercy.

The LORD supports all who stumble and lifts up all who are bowed down.

The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call on him from the heart.

No matter how off the path we might go, God, the one as near to us as ourselves, still loves and accepts who are and is ready for us let go of whatever is doing the damage. We can change our way of thinking, our attitudes, and how we feel about ourselves.

It is today’s Psalm that perhaps best captures the message:

The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.

To this message of love and mercy we add the element expressed in today’s Gospel, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” God is still at work. Jesus is still at work. John is trying to tell us that the world is not finished but still being created by all who live in it. Because it’s a joint project, God and all God’s creation. We, with God, are creating that wonderful world Isaiah foresees and it’s to be done with compassion, graciousness and mercy supplied by God so we can try and try again, do better and find our path to a space of peace and joy.

Tuesday, Fourth Week of Lent

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Scripture Readings for April 1, 2025

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12; Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9, John 5:1-16

Every time I read this passage from Ezekiel I love the image. The water that flows from the temple gets deeper and deeper, wider and wider and transforms the desert into a place of abundance even changing the salt water in the sea into fresh. It suggests to me the abundance that comes from God. It says abundance is what God wants for us. A place where there is new fresh fruit every month.

I believe the challenge for us to recognize the gift and appreciate the source. Clearly according to the Gospel not everyone is willing to rejoice over good things. A man who has been lame for 38 years is cured but Pharisees are angered because he picks up his mat on the Sabbath. It makes me wonder if there are good things that we miss because we’re too focused on something else. Are there things we decide are wrong, over react to, while good stuff escapes our notice? I know my personal issue is poor driving behavior. I can become obsessed with other drivers for not following the rules of the road. This includes when people stop the flow of traffic to let others in or let other cars turn into traffic before making their left turn off the road. They are probably trying to be nice. Sometimes I can let it go but other times I find myself upset that they are making up their own rules. So this is a very odd little example but I want to suggest that we all have things that we think of as right. We would say this is the way it’s supposed to be and that righteous attitude blocks our ability to actually experience the fullness of what is happening at the time. I suspect we all have some attitudes like that. The question is, if we can box ourselves in with petty little concerns like that, could we also be missing the big picture? When do our pre-conceptions interfere with what else might be happening. More simply, are we too quick to judge. Do we need to be more open?

I know of only one way to go after this kind of thing. Prayer. Praying to God about all of our life and its experiences. Talking to God and then listening to God’s response. We’re in Lent so this is a great time to put aside some additional time to spend in prayer. Maybe a kind of prayer we haven’t tried before. If you are a rosary person try praying with scripture. If you are great with scripture start examining your everyday experiences and talking to God about them. If you do lots of conversational prayer try the rosary as a meditation. In the end, it is about spending time with God so we can see the world in which we live as a person who has a deep trust in God’s involvement in our life and the lives of everyone around us.

If we’re going to get better at recognizing this world in all its aspects as something God gives us every day we have to spend more time deepening our relationship with God. Because on our own we’ll just reinforce our own prejudices. We’re like the lame man by the pool for 38 years, until Jesus comes along he can’t make it to the healing water in time. Jesus is the one who can heal us. Time spent in prayer is the flowing water that will wash us, heal us and quench our thirst.