[00:00] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. In today's Gospel, our Lord Jesus reminds us that He has come to set us free from sin. He has come to bring us the light of salvation to transform our lives and to free us from the bondage of sin. And this season of Lent is above all that time to turn back to God with renewed hearts,

[00:35] with ever greater attention, to weed out those things that keep us from loving God most perfectly, and striving to atone for those sins with our sacrifices and penances during this holy season of Lent, that we may prepare for that victory, to share in Christ's victory. But in the Gospel we see our Lord heals a man who had been ill for a long time, 38 years. And Jesus, in curing him, gives him a stern message.

[01:08] He says, "Look, you are well." "Do not sin anymore so that nothing worse may happen to you." And by these words, Jesus is revealing that God can sometimes permit sickness or ailments to afflict us, to cure us from sin, to help us, to bring us back to Him. It's not to say that every illness or sickness is a punishment from God, no. But it's showing that God is calling us to atone for sin, but also to leave sin, to turn

[01:44] away from sin, to turn away from sin, and that we may show our love and honor to God, our love and honor to God. And so the Gospel just points out to us, because there's this attitude in the world that we don't have to change, we don't have to leave sin, that our Lord loves everyone, it's true our Lord loves everyone, but He also wants them to love Him, and we show our love for Him by turning away from sin and leaving sin.

[02:14] And so it's just pointing out to us that there is this attitude that I don't have to change my life, God accepts me as I am, with my sin and all, that I can live in my sin and God still loves me. But our Lord is showing us a different path, sin no more, sin no more. So the Gospel is just instilling in us that call to share in God's holiness, to share in God's divine life, and we do this by striving to remove those things from our life that keep

[02:49] us from loving God most perfectly and reflecting His holiness. May our Blessed Mother help us to, in these remaining weeks of Lent, to truly purge ourselves and purify our hearts, that we may more fully prepare ourselves to celebrate Christ's victory over death and sin. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.