Our Holy Father Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome (655); the Newly Revealed Martyrs Anthony, John and Eustathius (1342)
Acts 4:13-22; John 5:17-24
Read John 5:17-24
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
The healing of a paralyzed man on the Sabbath started a controversy between the Jewish authorities and Jesus. They persecuted Jesus in a prosecutorial manner, claiming that He broke the sabbath rule for rest and had blasphemed. Our Lord’s response reveals to them (and to us) His identity as the Son, which, in turn, reveals to us the nature of the Holy Trinity. Jesus, the Son, heals (gives life) and judges on the Sabbath—an activity, a work, that only God can do. The Father and the Son are one; the Son is the perfect envoy of the Father. When we honour the Son, we will honour the Father. An essential aspect of honouring the Son is hearing His word and taking it in. Doing this now will lead to future freedom from condemnation.
Just as we consume the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, so that we may have His life in us so that we become more like Him, in like manner we are to ‘consume” His Word to us, ruminate upon it, and let that Word transform us, first in the renewal of our minds (see Romans 12:2), and also our behaviours. This is so important to us when we gather together to worship the Lord that we actually hear (eat), ruminate and respond to His Word FIRST, and then we eat, ruminate, and live when we come forward for Holy Communion.
The Word of God is so important in our lives that the Church desires that we read and ruminate on the Scriptures each day. That is in part why we offer this service from Royal Doors. We encourage each reader to take a step forward and personally move into lectio divina (literally, holy reading), a meditative reading of the Scriptures, the Word of God, practised both in the East and the West. Here is a link to modern presentation on lectio divina by Fr. Mike Schmitz from Ascension Presents. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fthhy59rxWo