March 17, 2026 // Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent // Optional Memorial of Saint Patrick, Bishop
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: John 5:1-16
Reflect on the Word //
Last fall I went on an Irish pilgrimage in the footsteps of Saint Patrick. With my fellow travelers, I climbed Croagh Patrick, the seaside mountain where Saint Patrick spent forty days and forty nights fasting and praying and which has since been a place of spiritual pilgrimage dear to the Irish. The day we happened to climb this fabled mountain, hurricane-strength winds met us near the top, and we were not able to reach the small chapel where Mass is celebrated on his feast day, as it will be today, in Saint Patrick’s honor.
We also visited a holy well in which Saint Patrick baptized people while on his journey to the mountain. It was a small pool of fresh water hidden in a small ordinary town, but a visible and revered reminder of the significance of the holy being made known in small, ordinary places.
The man who is healed by Jesus in today’s Gospel was waiting for a friend to help him reach the healing waters of another pool. It is staggering to imagine living with pain and awaiting healing for thirty-eight years, but there are many instances in our own lives where we see the need for healing in an area of pain that we may have lived with for many years. We might also have experience with another person coming into our lives and showing us a new path of grace and healing—a newfound friend, a spouse, or a priest who gives us the Sacraments.
Saint Patrick, standing in Christ’s place, was that friend to those in need of healing through exercising his priestly ministry in baptizing the Irish in those natural springs of water throughout the countryside.
We can see in the lives of Saints how they stepped in to be the friends of those in need of healing, to bring them closer to Christ. We can be that friend who prays for another, who lives an example of faith for someone else, and who brings a friend closer to the healing that God wants to give.
Relate to the Lord // Reach out to a friend today and ask how you can pray with or for them.
Christy Isinger is a cradle Catholic, wife, and mother of five teenagers from western Canada. During the short Canadian summers she tries to garden and grow flowers, while in the long cold winters she reads a lot of books, writes, and homeschools. Her Substack newsletter can be found at christyisinger.substack.com.
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