Tuesday 31 August 2010

Peter's mother-in-law


Wednesday of 22nd Week
1 Cor. 3:1-9
Lk. 4:38-44
Mass Intro                    (Fr. S …)
In the Gospel we find dynamics in the life of Jesus which all of us can imitate.
  • Jesus was a man of prayer. Early in the morning he would be alone in God’s presence drawing strength for his mission.  
  • It is amazing to see how contemplation and action have been merged in the life of Jesus.
  • There is a perfect harmony, a blending between his interior prayer life and actions.
  • He is so patient after days hard work of teaching and healing. He was never impatient and angry.
  • There was no word of complaint and resentment when Jesus’ privacy was invaded by the crowds.
  • He was very compassionate. At dusk people from everyone brought their sick and infirm. Laying his hands on them, he cured them all. There was no mass healing. Jesus touched each person personally understanding their pain and anxiety of each sick person as if they were his own, Thus we find his interior prayer life and external actions are well blended in the life of Jesus. 
  • The world today is looking for authentic spiritual persons who would initiate them into God experience. Many critics and seekers have offered different criteria to describe the true spiritual person whom the world needs today. But there remains one test proposed by Jesus, “By their fruits you will show them.” (Lk. 6:44). The ideal of a true spiritual person is always characterized by charity, simplicity, patience, humanity, compassion and poverty.

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The Navarre Commentary. Luke 4. Peter’s Mother-in-law

 38-39.  In the public life of Jesus we find many touching episodes (cf. for example Luk_19:1  ; Joh_2:1  ) which show the high regard He had for everyday family life. Here we can clearly see the effectiveness of prayer on behalf of other people: "No sooner did they pray to the Savior", St. Jerome says, "than He immediately healed the sick; from this we learn that He also listens to the prayers of the faithful for help against sinful passions" ("Expositio In Evangelium Sec. Lucam, in loc."). St. John Chrysostom refers to this total, instantaneous cure: "Since this was a curable type of illness He displayed His power through the way He brought healing, doing what medicine could not do.  Even after being cured of fever, patients need time to recover their former strength, but here the cure was instantaneous" ("Hom. on St. Matthew", 27). The Fathers saw in this lady's fever a symbol of concupiscence: "Peter's mother-in-law's fever represents our flesh affected by various illnesses and concupiscences; our fever is passion, our fever is lust, our fever is anger--vices which, although they affect the body, perturb the soul, the mind and the feelings" (St. Ambrose, "Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc."). On the practical consequences of this St. Cyril says: "Let us receive Jesus Christ, because when He visits us and we take Him into our minds and hearts, even our worst passions are extinguished and we are kept safe to serve Him, that is, to do what pleases Him" ("Hom. 28 In Mattheum").


43.  Our Lord again stresses one of the reasons why He has come into the world.  St. Thomas, when discussing the purpose of the Eucharist, says that Christ "came into the world, first, to make the truth known, as He Himself says: `for this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth' ( Joh_18:37  ).  Hence it was not fitting that He should hide Himself by leading a solitary life, but rather that He should appear openly and preach in public.  For this reason He tells those who wanted to detain Him, `I must preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.'  Secondly, He came in order to free men from sin; as the Apostle says, `Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners' ( 1Ti_1:15  ).  This is why Chrysostom says, `Although Christ might, while staying in the same place, have drawn all men to Himself to hear His preaching, He did not do so--in order to give us the example to go out and seek the lost sheep, as the shepherd does, or as the doctor does, who visits the sick person.'  Thirdly, He came so that `we might obtain access to God' ( Rom_5:2  )" ("Summa Theologiae", III, q. 40, a. 1, c.).
   

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