Splash int he pool of life

John 5:1-6

Words form the gospel: Sir, I have no one to put me in 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.'

Here are a few words from Pope Benedict XVI for tho year Lent prior to resigning,

"Sometimes we tend, in fact, to reduce the term “charity” to solidarity or simply humanitarian aid. It is important, however, to remember that the greatest work of charity is evangelization, which is the “ministry of the word”. There is no action more beneficial – and therefore more charitable – towards one’s neighbour than to break the bread of the word of God, to share with him the Good News of the Gospel, to introduce him to a relationship with God: evangelization is the highest and the most integral promotion of the human person. As the Servant of God Pope Paul VI wrote in the Encyclical Populorum Progressio, the proclamation of Christ is the first and principal contributor to development (cf. n. 16)."

We can never reduce charity to a simple hand out or a hand up.  Charity with out Christ is just cruel. 

The greatest work of charity is introduce another to a relationship with GOd in Christ. Only in the encounter with Christ, like the man in the gospel, can a human person truly discover the inner strength to Rise, pick up their mat, and walk. 

Too long have we dragged our tale.  Too long have we refused to rise.  Too long have we allowed others to go down before us in the pool of life to spread their own message.  IT is time for Christ to take priority, center stage.

And this introduction is a costly one.  There are many who do not appreciate a relationship with God.  Like the pharisees and scribes there are those who will want to persecute us all the more because of our effort.  Let them persecute, let them rebuff,let them come forth with an attack for in the words of St. paul to love Christ is gain and everything else we count as loss.

Charity without Christ is cruel.  Charity with Christ gets us up and moving in the right direction, no longer just spinning our wheels waiting for someone to push us in the pool of life.  Rather with him we are unafraid, and let nothing hold us back to make that splash into the pool of life.