Stational Church: Friday in the First Week of Lent

Today's Stational Church is at the Church of the Twelve Apostles.  For information on this devotion, see the Stational Churches of Lent Homepage. I will post on each Stational Church for Lent. Information is from the Canon Regulars of St. John Cantius:

Today we find ourselves at the Basilica dedicated to the Apostles and in particular to the Saints Philip and James the Minor, whose bodies are enclosed in a precious marble urn located under the main altar in the crypt.

Today, thirty-eight days before Easter, the Church reads to us the account of the cure of a man sick for thirty-eight years. This miracle occurred at the pool of Bethsaida. The merciful Jesus healed body and soul of this friendless sufferer. After the cure, Jesus said to him: "Behold thou art made whole; sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee."

This sick man is a picture of the world, especially of the pagan world—a world in a state of utter helplessness, laden with sin, steeped in despair, with no one to help it but Him who is "the expectation of all nations and their Savior." The Church entrusts us today to the Holy Apostles. In their company we will celebrate the healing mysteries. In their presence we will answer the question of the king of Apostles: "Will thou be made whole?" "I will, Lord. Save Thy servant, O my God that trusts in Thee. Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer."

Let us pray: Be gracious, O Lord, unto Thy people, and even as thou make them devoted to Thee, so mercifully revive them with Thy kind assistance. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.