Tuesday, March 21, 2023 — Fourth Week of Lent — A clean heart create for me, O God; give me back the joy of your salvation — Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (Jn 5: 1-16)

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate
a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.
In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,

“Do you want to be well?”

The sick man answered him,

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up;
while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”

Jesus said to him,

“Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”

Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath.
So the Jews said to the man who was cured,

“It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”

He answered them,

“The man who made me well told me,
‘Take up your mat and walk.’

They asked him,

“Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”

The man who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.
After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,

“Look, you are well; do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you.”

The man went and told the Jews
that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus
because he did this on a sabbath.

Message from the Bishops at the end of the Pilgrimage

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, You who have come in such large numbers to take part in this national pilgrimage, as well as all of you who are following it from home through the media. We, the bishops of Madagascar, would like to express our deep gratitude to you for having responded to our invitation and for having brought this jubilee initiated by Pope Francis to life spiritually. With you, we take up Mary's song: ‘My soul exalts the Lord’ and we repeat with her: ‘What shall I repay the Lord for all the good he has done me?’....

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Love and Salvation

Christmas is a great joy, because it is the love of God that has come to us, proclaims Fr. Bizimana Innocent, Provincial Superior of the Salesians Don Bosco of Madagascar and Mauritius, presenting his Christmas greetings. Salvation is accomplished, so life is not in danger of disappearing. It is this love and this salvation that we wish to fill our life so that we have peace.

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Zatti, our brother

The short film "Zatti, our brother" (Argentina, 2020) focuses on one of the most difficult episodes of his life. We are in Viedma, in 1941: at the age of 60, Zatti is forced to leave the hospital he has attended for decades. His faith and strength are tested.

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