“Look at us!”, said St. Peter to the crippled beggar sitting at the entrance of the Beautiful Gate.  When the crippled one did, “intently,” he was cured by Jesus Christ through St. Peter.

We tend to look inward when we have emotional or situational problems.  We complain to our spouses or friends that they don’t understand or we sit alone ruminating. Even when we look at others we tend to be preoccupied with our woes, just like the man at the Beautiful Gate.

These kinds of behaviors never improve our mood or solves problems. Contrary to the cliché, the answer is not within. It comes to us as we take a walk and notice it’s Spring, google for local doctors or counselors, or force ourselves to really look ‘intently’ at those we love.  Most of all it is found looking at Him who rose from the dead. Jesus is the one who heals whether directly by giving us a sense of peace or through people like St. Peter.

Scripture quote from today’s reading in Acts 3:1-10;  Picture faithful reproduction of St. Peter Healing the Cripple by Simone Cantarini (1692-1648), retrieved on Wikimedia, public domain.