Lent – Day 24: Wherever the river flow all living creature will live, all trees grow, and all the sick find healing.

Ezekiel 47:1 – 9, 12; John 5: 1-6

Does the river that flow from our heart bring healing and life to those around us? The river that flows from our hearts is the influence that we have on those around us. It is in how we live; how we speak; how we think; how we smile; how we respond to situations; how we see life; how we dress; how we pray; and in how we relate with others. It is what people encounter when they encounter us. Do we leave people with hope, and trust, and joy, and peace, and passion, and love, and with a renewed desire for living? Or do we leave them with pain, and hopelessness, and doubts, and sadness, and with a desire to have never being born? Maya Angelou, the American Poet, said it so well: People may not remember what you said or did but they will never forget how they felt in your presence.

In today’s reading from the Prophet Ezekiel, we are told that the river that flowed from the sanctuary of the Lord brought life to all living creatures and that it brought healing to all those along its shores. During this season of Lent, we are invited to allow the Lord to sanctify the rivers of our heart; we are asked to allow the river of our heart to flow from the sanctuary of God. It is only the sanctuary of God that has what it takes to filter and remove all the impurities in our river that causes death and pain. Sometimes we may feel that if the Lord filters our river it may become too small and shallow. No matter how small the river is, if it is from the Lord’s sanctuary, it will grow and it will bring life to everyone that we meet. During this season of purification, the Lord comes to purify us so that our influence on others will not be morbid and deadening but life giving.

Jesus in the gospel showed us what our life and influence is meant to do. He is, as we are all called to be, the sanctuary that brings healing. His presence brought healing to the man by the pool of Siloam.  May the water that flows from our hearts not create a malarious swamp that brings death to others but a refreshing and a healing stream that brings life and hope!

What have you become or what are you becoming – a malarious swamp or a healing stream? May God bless you all!