Do you feel like a failure? Maybe your partner cheated on you. Or your best friend betrayed you. Or maybe you have a habitual sin that’s been haunting you for years and you feel hopeless about changing. 

Listen. God can build from failures.

I know this firsthand.

God can build from the remnants of our torn-up lives. Whatever we have left in us that we offer to God, He can use to construct and build. And He does it best with “failures” like you and me.

He took my painful past, including my sinful bondages, and created me to be who I am today—a broken, humbled man who desperately needs God’s grace.

Friend, allow God’s grace into your brokenness. Let Him take the shattered and scattered pieces of your life. Call out to Him. 

Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@kerygmafamily.com)

reflect

How have you failed in life? Surrender all these to God’s grace, and let Him help you rise up.

Dear God, You are not done with me yet. Help me to follow You, no matter how much failure I face. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

St. Hugh of Grenoble, pray for us.

Water is a powerful symbol of life. Without water, life is impossible. I grew up in Australia where two-thirds of the country’s land is too dry to eke out a living. Most of the people live within a hundred kilometers off the sea. Water is a key aspect of our physical lives just as the Holy Spirit is a key aspect of our spiritual lives. Let us cultivate our relationship with the Holy Spirit and allow Him to lead us to Jesus.

¹ The angel brought me, Ezekiel, back to the entrance of the temple of the Lord, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the facade of the temple was toward the east; the water flowed down from the right side of the temple, south of the altar. ² He led me outside by the north gate, and around to the outer gate facing the east, where I saw water trickling from the right side. ³ Then when he had walked off to the east with a measuring cord in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and had me wade through the water, which was ankle deep. ⁴ He measured off another thousand and once more had me wade through the water, which was now knee-deep. Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade; the water was up to my waist. ⁵ Once more he measured off a thousand, but there was now a river through which I could not wade; for the water had risen so high it had become a river that could not be crossed except by swimming. ⁶ He asked me, “Have you seen this, son of man?” Then he brought me to the bank of the river, where he had me sit. ⁷ Along the bank of the river I saw very many trees on both sides. ⁸ He said to me, “This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah, and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh. ⁹ Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh. ¹² Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow; their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail. Every month they shall bear fresh fruit, for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

R: The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

² God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. ³ Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea. (R) ⁵ There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High. ⁶ God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed; God will help it at the break of dawn. (R) ⁸ The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob. ⁹ Come! behold the deeds of the Lord, the astounding things he has wrought on earth. (R)  

Gospel | John 5:1-16

Pettiness is an annoying trait. It is frustrating when you are trying to accomplish a big and complicated task but are constantly thwarted by petty problems posed by individuals who are just being “pains in the neck.” Jesus experiences this often from the Jewish leaders. Why would healing a person on the Sabbath be a bad thing? You do not tell a sick person to wait if you can heal him right away.

Gospel Acclamation

A clean heart create for me, O God; give me back the joy of your salvation.

¹There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. ³ In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. ^4-5 One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ 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?” ⁷ 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.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a sabbath. ¹⁰ 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.” ¹¹ He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” ¹³ The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there. ¹⁴ After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, “Look, you are well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. ¹⁶ Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.

Read the Bible in one year! Read EXODUS  16 - 18  today.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the ministry of Jesus was His authority. He spoke the words, and then it simply “happened.” We should reflect more on His authority as we have been given a share in it through the Sacrament of Baptism. Baptism is not simply a photo opportunity or a ritual that has no real effect in our lives. Or it can be the latter, if we fail to apply our faith to the sacramental experience. If we truly believe in the power of the sacraments—in this case, Baptism—then they can truly change the course of our lives.

When we are baptized, we are conformed to both the death of Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and His resurrection in His victory over sin and death. This means that through the sacrament, we are empowered to live in the victory of Christ that He exercised in His ministry. In other words, we are empowered to rebuke the work of the devil and be freed of it. We are empowered to exercise the gifts and charisms of the Holy Spirit and to receive their power.

How many of us expect a share in and experience the power of the Holy Spirit daily? Probably not a high percentage of Christians. This is a shame, as it is the true nature of our baptismal calling—to live our lives under the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. 

Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

reflection question

How do you allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life?

Holy Spirit, help me to believe. Destroy my unbelief and allow me to live according to the grace of the sacraments I have received so that I can live the life of an empowered disciple of Jesus. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _______________________________________