February 08, 2015
5th Sunday Ordinary Time
My sister Linda is sending photos of Savannah, Georgia back to her two granddaughters, my grand nieces, with simple explanations of the photos. Linda is a retired public school teacher. Each transmission is a lesson. The evangelist, St. Mark, is giving us a snapshot of the public ministry of Jesus over a twenty-four hour period of time. It is also a life lesson for attentive listeners. It begins with last weekend and continues with today’s Gospel: Jesus and his recently called disciples come to Capernaum and go to the synagogue; Jesus teaches and expels an evil spirit; leaving the synagogue they go to Simon and Andrew’s house; they immediately tell Jesus that Simon’s mother-in-law is sick in bed with a fever; Jesus approaches her, grasps her by the hand and helps her up; the fever leaves her and she begins to serve; at sunset the sick and possessed gather at the door and Jesus heals many; before dawn Jesus goes off to a deserted place to pray; Simon and the others hunt him down because everyone is looking for Jesus; Jesus directs the disciples to other villages to preach and expel demons -- “for this purpose have I come.†Simon’s mother-in-law is likely a widow and the custom would be to stay with her own son if she has one. But she is staying with her son-in-law. Now sick and confined to bed she becomes even more dependent. Jesus heals the fever and restores her position of respect and honor in the family. Modern men and women expect cures of physical ailments. Jesus heals the entire person: body, mind, heart and soul. It is not just that Jesus heals Simon’s mother-in-law or the sick outside the door at sundown. It is by his death on the cross and his resurrection, in whose benefits we partake in every Eucharist, that he continues to heal and to restore meaning to our lives. Indeed that is the refrain of our responsorial psalm: “Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.â€
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4th Sunday Ordinary
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6th Sunday Ordinary Time
