{"id":239,"date":"2011-03-17T09:20:52","date_gmt":"2011-03-17T14:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ipsinaction.com\/ips\/?p=239"},"modified":"2024-06-20T15:42:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T15:42:07","slug":"reflection-gospel-john","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/?p=239","title":{"rendered":"Reflection on the Gospel of John"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meg Waldron, IPS M.A. Pastoral Studies<\/a> Student<\/p>\n

Reflection on the Gospel of John 11:\u00a0 1-45\u00a0\u00a0 I am the resurrection and the life. <\/em><\/h2>\n

\u201cSo the sisters sent word to Jesus.\u00a0 Lord, the one you love is sick . . . Jesus said, \u201cThis sickness will not end in death.\u00a0 No, it is for God\u2019s glory so that God\u2019s Son may be glorified through it.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

I imagine my own sisters, Vicky and Chris, running to Jesus and crying out, \u201cJesus!\u00a0 Meg, the one you love, is sick.\u00a0 Do something!\u00a0 Save her!\u00a0 Do not take her from us!\u00a0 Do not let her suffer!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus comforts them and says, \u201cDo not be afraid.\u00a0 Meg\u2019s illness will not destroy her.\u00a0 I am with her always and she believes in Me!\u00a0 Meg understands this with her whole being.\u00a0 She is free.\u00a0 She will always be free.\u201d<\/p>\n

I have experienced two serious illnesses:\u00a0 polymyositis in 1996 and salivary gland cancer in 2009.\u00a0 Each time God sends me wonderful doctors who treat me and control my illnesses, and my family and friends love and comfort me.\u00a0 For those of you living with illness, or with any form of suffering, you may experience that suffering impacts your whole being, not only physically, but spiritually, mentally, emotionally, socially, financially, etc.\u00a0 In my own journey, I know that God comforts me through my pain and sets me free.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus said to her, \u201cI am the resurrection and the life.\u00a0 He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.\u00a0 Do you believe this?\u201d <\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, I believe this.\u00a0 I am still here.\u00a0 Parts of me have died.\u00a0 I am not the same on many levels as I was before I was ill, but that is okay.\u00a0 There is something in me that cannot be destroyed, no matter how many serious diagnoses I receive; no matter how progressive my illnesses become.\u00a0 My body may fail me again and again, but I am renewed in Christ each day.\u00a0 I draw closer to and seek God in each moment, regardless of my illnesses.<\/p>\n

It is God who dwells in each one of us, and He cannot be destroyed.\u00a0 When we place our trust and hope in God, we witness His glory and healing power within us and our life experiences.During Lent in 2007 I attended a retreat at St. Peter\u2019s in the Loop led by Father Bob Hutmacher.\u00a0 The retreat was titled The Reality of the Cross:\u00a0 Living with Pain and Chronic Illness<\/em>.\u00a0 Fr. Bob explained that Christ came so that we could relate to Him.\u00a0 When we connect our experience to the Paschal Mystery — Christ\u2019s suffering, dying and resurrection — we realize this is the cycle of our life experiences:\u00a0 we fall down; we struggle; we rise up.\u00a0 Suffering is all around us, but we are renewed through Christ.\u00a0 When we cling to God in our pain, we are comforted and set free.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus wept.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

These two words clearly reveal Jesus\u2019 compassion for our pain.\u00a0 Although Jesus knows that he can bring Lazarus back to life, he feels deep compassion for those who love Lazarus and are suffering because of their loss of Lazarus.<\/p>\n

I have been asked if it is God\u2019s plan that I became ill.\u00a0 Who would ever wish illness on anyone, especially our loving God?\u00a0\u00a0 I do believe, like no other experience, that the suffering, tragedy, and sorrow in our lives become the unimaginable gifts that lead us to a deeper relationship with God and others.\u00a0 This is how we experience God\u2019s boundless love, and the Paschal Mystery within our own lives:\u00a0 we fall down; we struggle; we rise up.\u00a0 We go on living with our loving God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I want to see God in all things, including my illness.\u00a0 I want to feel God\u2019s compassion throughout my ongoing experience of illness.\u00a0 My prayer and hope for you is to see God in all things and feel His compassion throughout your suffering and your joy.\u00a0 In our suffering, let us allow God to renew, restore and strengthen us.\u00a0 Let us allow God to comfort us, and set us free.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake away the stone.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Take away my stones of disappointment, my sadness, my bewilderment, my despair, my denial, my darkness.\u00a0 My illness consumed me.\u00a0 I was diagnosed in 1996 with polymyositis, and this is now 2007 when I am attending the retreat.\u00a0 I never believed that I could get a true break, no real relief.\u00a0 I believed that the only way that I could be free was to have the illness taken from me; my physical body completely healed.\u00a0 In the beginning of the retreat, I thought to myself, I completely understand the suffering associated with illness, but where is the resurrection?\u00a0 Do I need to be dead before I am free from illness?\u00a0 This is where I made my true turn to God.\u00a0 I believed.\u00a0 I understood.\u00a0 I surrendered.<\/p>\n

My experience at the retreat transformed me, pushed me in a different direction towards God, in an everlasting and comprehensive way that I had never imagined possible.\u00a0 My body is still ill, but my spirit is not destroyed.\u00a0 My spirit is constantly renewed and restored in Christ.\u00a0 Funny, I had 12 years of Catholic education and was raised in a large, loving Catholic family, but in my time of darkness I forgot about the power of the Paschal Mystery, and I could not apply it to my own experience.<\/p>\n

Through God\u2019s generous, healing grace, I truly connect to Jesus and the Paschal Mystery.\u00a0 The Paschal Mystery also dwells inside each one of us.\u00a0 We are human, so we suffer, but God comforts us and is always with us.\u00a0 He lifts us up.\u00a0 He takes our stones away and sets us free.\u00a0 Connecting to Jesus and the Paschal Mystery, I have learned to live within the mystery of my illness, which is not an easy thing to do.\u00a0 I also have learned, very deeply, that through suffering, comes new life.<\/p>\n

\u201cLazarus, come out!\u00a0 Untie him, and let him go.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Jesus prayed to his Father before he called Lazarus to come out of the tomb.\u00a0 He thanked his Father for hearing him.\u00a0 Jesus knew that his Father always heard him.\u00a0 God hears us too and we praise Him.\u00a0 Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead so that the people would believe that God the Father sent Jesus to live among us, to save us from our sins, so that we may live eternally with God.<\/p>\n

Lazarus emerged from the tomb bound in bandages and wrapped in cloth.\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cUntie him, and let him go.\u201d\u00a0 Lazarus\u2019 sisters truly believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.\u00a0\u00a0 Suffering, illness, and death have lost their power over us because God heals and raises His people up.\u00a0 Lazarus is free and his sisters mourn no more.<\/p>\n

Jesus calls us to turn to Him in our suffering in order to untie ourselves and fully feel His love and compassion.\u00a0 God\u2019s grace allows us to live fully and love God fully regardless of our suffering.<\/p>\n

Life is a process, a journey, and each one of us finds our own way in our own time.\u00a0 Although we cannot avoid suffering in this life, I know that through God\u2019s glory, suffering brings us new, everlasting life and generous peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meg Waldron, IPS M.A. Pastoral Studies Student Reflection on the Gospel of John 11:\u00a0 1-45\u00a0\u00a0 I am the resurrection and the life. \u201cSo the sisters sent word to Jesus.\u00a0 Lord, the one you love is sick . . . Jesus said, \u201cThis sickness will not end in death.\u00a0 No, it is for God\u2019s glory so read more <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4669,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions\/4669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.luc.edu\/ips\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}