On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

The Christmas season has come to an end and this week Ordinary Time has begun. Through the Church’s pedagogy at the start of this liturgical season, the Gospels lead us back to the very origin of Christian life. On Monday, we hear a call: Jesus invites us to follow Him. On Tuesday, we discover that Jesus teaches with authority and sets us free from evil. Today, and in the days that follow, we see how He enters our daily lives and heals us.

Christian life begins by allowing ourselves to be loved and healed by Jesus, and it continues when we spend that love we have received by loving and serving others. “The fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Health is given to us so that we may give it away, so that we may use it in the service of Christ and of our neighbour—beginning, in our case, with our spouse, our children… When we have been touched by the Lord, we learn that life is lived by giving oneself, not by holding back.

If what truly mattered were simply having good health, we would all be doomed to misfortune, because sooner or later health fades. But if what truly matters is to love and serve God, then health becomes something to be spent, and illness something to be offered at the foot of the Cross, for the salvation of souls. In this way, in health and in sickness, we can always give ourselves, and we can always love.

Rachel: Have you noticed how Mary and Luke are doing? Every time we speak with them it seems they understand each other less. They do nothing but reproach one another, listing what each does or fails to do. They don’t value each other anymore… We really need to pray for them; they’re growing further and further apart.
Paul: Yes—so much pain. I think that besides much prayer and sacrifice on our part, it would do them good if we went to see them, if we were simply with them, and listened to them… like Jesus in Peter’s house, who drew close to the one who was suffering and took him by the hand.
Rachel: Yes, to be close… although I confess that sometimes I don’t know what to say to them.
Paul: Come on—perhaps this closeness will help them more than a thousand words. On the way we can pray a rosary and place everything in Our Lady’s hands. She knows what to do.

Mother,

Our hearts are wounded, and we give thanks because in every Communion, Jesus draws near to touch us and to heal us. How much we need His closeness! Thank you for bringing Jesus to us. Blessed and praised be your name forever!

From the Gospel according to Mark 1:21-28

Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers,
and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

What is driving you to speak that truth? Examine your heart. If it is not love that moves you, then let Jesus silence you. Restrain your passions, tie up your judgement, submit your will—but do not use truth as a weapon. Use it to love, for Jesus is the Truth. And when you find yourself in that temptation, call upon Him. Invoke His Holy Name. Slowly pray the Our Father, with all your heart, asking for help. Allow Jesus to cast out that demon within you that urges you to use truth to injure rather than to build, and to place it instead at the service of God. Then, if upheld by grace you manage to restrain your tongue, you will discover that in such a moment, the greatest strength lies in remaining silent rather than in speaking. And if, even so, you should fall, do not be afraid to look at yourself truthfully. Do not hide, do not defend yourself. Present your frailty to the Lord; acknowledge your fault with simplicity and ask forgiveness of your spouse and of God, with a contrite heart—which God never despises—and He will also make you grow in humility. Everything can serve love.

Margaret and Michael have just returned from a retreat they coordinated over the weekend. During their spousal prayer time at home:

Michael: Margaret, I think that during the retreat I went too far again with the issue of punctuality. I know you noticed too, even though you didn’t say anything… I still have so much to work on.
Margaret: Michael, we are all on a journey. But I have noticed that you’ve made progress in that area. To begin with, you acknowledge it—and that is the first essential step towards change, and you’ve taken it.
Michael: Yes… (sad tone). We are nothing…
Margaret: We are not, no. Sometimes it is simply a matter of ordering things. The intention is good, but along the way it can get distorted. You want to do things well for the Lord.
Michael: How lovely you are.
Margaret: Well, not long ago I would have used that attitude of yours to reproach you, criticise you, throw it back at you to attack you and expose your weakness… in short… what a work the Lord is doing in our hearts.
Michael: Nothing is impossible for God.
Margaret: Glory to God, my husband—glory to God!

Mother,

Teach us, as you do, to keep silence in our hearts, so that it may be God who speaks there and not ourselves. Praised be the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary!

From the Gospel according to Mark 1:14-20

After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him.

Jesus begins by saying: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
In marriage, we sometimes fall into the trap of waiting for “better times” or longing for “times gone by”. Marriage is not a goal to be reached, but a living sacrament where God dwells in the present time of husband and wife.

The conversion to which Jesus calls us is not merely about “behaving well”; it is the redemption of our gaze, the redemption of the heart. It is moving from seeing one’s spouse as someone who “should satisfy me” to seeing him or her as a gift, conceived by God from all eternity. It is a conversion that allows purity of intention towards one’s spouse to grow in our hearts.

The apostles left their nets to follow Jesus. In marriage, these “nets” represent everything that entangles us and prevents us from being fully present. Sometimes the nets are excessive work, the overuse of our phones, or attachments to our family of origin that do not allow the new family to grow. To follow Jesus in the vocation of marriage means learning to “let go” in order to “embrace” the project of love that God has prepared for husband and wife.

Eleanor and Charles. They have had a tense week, full of work commitments, barely having looked each other in the eye. One evening, after putting the children to bed…

Eleanor: Charles, tomorrow I have to get to the office earlier, so I won’t be able to help with breakfast. I’m overwhelmed with this report.
Charles: Eleanor, the Gospel at Mass today spoke to me about this being the time to leave our nets and follow Jesus. I feel that our “nets” right now are these screens. They are trapping us and drawing us apart.
Eleanor: I know. But if I don’t finish this, I feel insecure. These are my nets—they provide for us—but you’re right, they’re suffocating me and distancing us.
Charles: Jesus called the fishermen in the middle of their work, not when they were resting. He is calling us now, in the midst of this tiredness. I’d like to suggest a “conversion”: let’s stop for today. We’ll have something simple for supper and pray together, sharing what the Gospel is saying to us. Our unity is more important than that report.
Eleanor: You’re right. “Leaving the nets” today means letting go of worrying about what they’ll think at the office, and choosing instead to build that shared intimacy which grows every time we pray together.

Mother,

Help us to prioritise love and the presence of God in our home. Praised be God!

The words of John to Jesus echo within me: “yet you are coming to me? ”
And I see how many times Jesus comes to me: to be comforted on the Cross, to ask for my help in saving souls, to seek my company in the Tabernacle, in adoration. And how can I do all that? How can I console You? How can I help You to save souls? And You answer me by asking me to welcome everything that happens to me, pleasant or unpleasant, as something You allow—whether through my husband, my children, my work colleagues, my family; everything You place in my path each day. For all of it is meant to help me grow in virtue and to walk the path of holiness to which I am called.
To do this is nothing more than to fulfil Your will for me. Every day You come to me asking me to follow You and to do Your will. For although it is I who need Your Grace, Your Salvation, yet in order to give it to me, in order to help me, You need me to welcome You in every situation I live through. As Saint Augustine said, God who created you without you, will not save you without you. God needs my consent; He will do nothing if I do nothing. But once I tell Him that I want His salvation, His Grace, I must be willing to do His will—because only He knows what is best for me and for my life, even when I do not understand it, even when I do not fully like it.
Everything is a Mystery—a wonderful Mystery—when you place the reins of your life in God’s hands.

Matthew: Anna, sometimes I don’t understand why we are going through this; I feel overwhelmed and I can’t see the way out.
Anna: Matthew, despair comes over me at times too, but I see that the Lord is asking me to surrender in illness, to accept His will for me, for us.
Matthew: It is so hard—to see you suffer, so weak, and not be able to help you…
Anna: This is what the Lord is asking of us. Look, it seems pointless, and as though we understand nothing, but we must be certain that He will bring great good out of this trial.
Matthew: Such strength, Anna—and such serenity.
Anna: It is the Grace of Our Lord that sustains me and urges me ever more to surrender myself, for the salvation of many. He needs us—our Yes, our self-giving. Suffering with Him has meaning.
Matthew: How much I have to learn from you, from that trust in the Lord. Every day I ask Our Mother to help us to welcome all of this.
Anna: That is the only option we have—to pray and to live in Mary’s heart. She takes such good care of us…
Matthew: Thank you, Lord, for such a wonderful wife.
Anna: It is I who must give thanks for this husband, with such a generous heart.

Mother,

Help us always to say Yes to God’s will in our lives, and to treasure everything in our hearts, as You do, dear Mother. Blessed and praised be God!