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From: Mark 1:29-39

The Curing of Peter’s Mother-In-Law

[29] And immediately He (Jesus) left the synagogue, and entered the house of
Simon and Andrew, with James and John. [30] Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay
sick with a fever, and immediately they told Him of her. [31] And He came and
took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her; and she served
them.

Jesus Cures Many Sick People

[32] That evening, at sundown, they brought to Him all who were sick or pos-
sessed with demons. [33] And the whole city was gathered together about the
door. [34] And He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast
out many demons; and He would not permit the demons to speak, because
they knew Him.

Jesus Goes To a Lonely Place To Pray

[35] And in the morning, a great while before day, He rose and went out to a
lonely place, and there He prayed. [36] And Simon and those who were with
Him followed Him, [37] and they found Him and said to Him, “Everyone is sear-
ching for you.” [38] And He said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that
I may preach there also; for that is why Icame out.” [39] And He went through-
out all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

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Commentary:

34. Demons possess a supernatural type of knowledge and therefore they recog-
nize Jesus as the Messiah (Mark 1:24). Through the people they possess they
are able to publish this fact. But Our Lord, using His divine powers, orders them
to be silent. On other occasions He also silences His disciples (Mark 8:30; 9:9),
and He instructs people whom He has cured not to talk about their cure (Mark
1:4; 5:43; 7:36; 8:26). He may have acted in this way to educate the people
away from a too human and political idea of the Messiah (Matthew 9:30). There-
fore, He first awakens their interest by performing miracles and gradually, through
His preaching, gives them a clearer understanding of the kind of Messiah He is.

Some Fathers of the Church point out that Jesus does not want to accept, in
support of the truth, the testimony of him who is the father of lies.

35. Many passages of the New Testament make reference to Jesus praying. The
evangelists point to Him praying only on specially important occasions during His
public ministry: Baptism (Luke 3:1), the choosing of the Twelve (Luke 6:12), the
first multiplication of the loaves (Mark 6:46), the Transfiguration (Luke 9:29), in the
garden of Gethsemane prior to His passion (Matthew 26:39) etc. Mark for his part,
refers to Jesus’ prayer at three solemn moments: at the beginning of His public
ministry (1:35), in the middle of it (6:46), and at the end, in Gethsemane (14:32).

Jesus’ prayer is prayer of perfect praise to the Father; it is prayer of petition for
Himself and for us; and it also a model for His disciples. It is a prayer of perfect
praise and thanksgiving because He is God’s beloved Son in whom the Father is
well pleased (cf. Mark 1:11). It is a prayer of petition because the first sponta-
neous movement of a soul who recognizes God as Father is to ask Him for
things. Jesus’ prayer, as we see in very many passages (e.g. John 17:9ff) was
a continuous petition to the Father for the work of redemption which He, Jesus,
had to achieve through prayer and sacrifice.

Our Lord wants to give us an example of the kind of attitude a Christian should
have; he should make a habit of addressing God as son to Father in the midst
of and through his everyday activities—work, family life, personal relationships,
apostolate—so as to give his life a genuinely Christian meaning, for, as Jesus
will point out later on, “apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

“You write: `To pray is to talk with God. But about what?’ About what? About
Him, about yourself: joys, sorrows, successes and failures, noble ambitions,
daily worries, weaknesses! And acts of thanksgiving and petitions: and love
and reparation. In a word: to get to know Him and to get to know yourself: `to
get acquainted!’” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”).

38. Jesus tells us here that His mission is to preach, to spread the Good News.
He was sent for this purpose (Luke 4:43). The Apostles, in turn, were chosen
by Jesus to be preachers (Mark 3:14; 16:15). Preaching is the method selected
by God to effect salvation: “it pleased God through the folly of what we preach
to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21). This is why St. Paul says to
Timothy: “Preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince,
rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:1-2).
Faith comes from hearing, we are told in Romans 10:17, where St. Paul enthu-
siastically quotes Isaiah: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good
news!” (Romans 10:15; Isaiah 52:7).

The Church identifies preaching the Gospel as one of the main tasks of bishops
and priests. St. Pius X went so far as saying that “for a priest there is no duty
more grave or obligation more binding (to dispel ignorance)” (”Acerbo Nimis”). In
this connection Vatican II states: “The people of God is formed into one in the
first place by the Word of the living God (cf. 1 Peter 1:23; Acts 6:7; 12:24), which
is quite rightly sought from the mouths of priests (2 Corinthians 11:7).

For since nobody can be saved who has not first believed (Mark 16:16), it is the
first task of priests as co-workers of the bishops to preach the Gospel of God to
all men (2 Corinthians 11:7). In this way they carry out the Lord’s command `Go
into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15) (cf. Mala-
chi 2:7; 1 Timothy 4:11-13; etc.) and thus set up and increase the people of God”
(”Presbyterorum Ordinis”).

Jesus’ preaching is not just limited to words: He backs up His teaching with His
authority and with deeds. The Church also has been sent to preach salvation and
to effect the work of salvation which it proclaims—a work done through the Sacra-
ments and especially through the renewal of the sacrifice of Calvary in the Mass
(Vatican II, “Sacrosanctum Concilium”, 6).

In the Church of God all of us should listen devoutly to the preaching of the Gos-
pel and we all should feel a responsibility to spread the Gospel by our words and
actions. It is the responsibility of the hierarchy of the Church to teach the Gospel
authentically—on the authority of Christ.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

He Cured Many Who Were Sick

February 7th, 2009 by Fr. Jack Peterson ·

We can learn much about the Christian life from this week’s Gospel, which offers a glimpse of a day in the public life of Christ. Three important lessons can be gleaned from this short description of a 20-hour period in Jesus’ life.

Jesus always demonstrates prudence and wisdom in His ministry. No one could doubt the importance of extending His healing touch to Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. Jesus would soon demand very serious sacrifices of Peter as the head of the Apostles. Given that all of the necessary factors were present to bring about the healing, like faith, desire and the will of the Father, it was very prudent for Jesus to offer such a sign of love and support to Peter and his wife by healing her mother who lay sick with a fever.

Do I spend time thinking critically about how I can better support those in my care? Do I spend my energies reflecting on how to build up those who support me with their prayers, hard work and love? Do I ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in creating an atmosphere around me where those closest to me know my care and appreciation for their presence in my life?

Second, Jesus reveals His heart about His mission. In Peter’s hometown, the word is spreading rapidly about Our Lord. The people are flocking to Him to hear Him speak with authority, to be recipients of His amazing love and to be healed of their many ailments. “The whole town was gathered at his door.”

Yet, after some time in prayer in the morning, Jesus makes the decision to move on to other towns. He may have been tempted to sit around and enjoy all of the attention, to bask in the light of the crowd’s admiration. Instead, Our Lord tells Peter, “Let us go on to nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.”

Jesus has a burning desire to share the Good News of the Kingdom with more and more people. The gift of His truth, His love and His mercy needs to spread to the whole world. Do I share in Christ’s sense of urgency? As a Christian, do I have a burning desire that others hear the message of Christ and come to know Him personally as their Creator, Redeemer and Friend? Do I recognize that I, as a baptized Christian, share in Christ’s mission to bring His light into every corner of our world?

Third, Jesus spends quite a bit of time extending His healing touch to individuals throughout this short passage. He comes as the Divine Physician to heal a sick and broken world of sin as well as all kinds of physical and emotional ailments. The Gospels paint a clear picture of the healing dimension of Christ’s public ministry.

Am I convinced that Jesus wants that healing work to continue in our own day? Do I turn to Christ for the most important healing of all, the forgiveness of my sins, which is given so freely and generously in the sacrament of penance? Do I bring others to Christ and encourage them to treasure this healing? Do I realize that God wants to use me as an instrument of His healing in this world?

So much of this world’s ills are the result of sins against charity. Neglect of spouses and children, anger, sexual abuse, greed and numerous other grievous sins create the deepest wounds in our society. Christ wants to extend His healing touch to people in homes, schools and places of work, in part, through our care and concern for those that He places in our lives. I have been greatly encouraged by the variety and depth of healing that God has brought about in the lives of young people at Marymount from these same kinds of wounds through the gifts of the sacraments, strong Christian community and solid Christian counseling.

May the glimpse that we are given into a day in the life of Our Lord encourage us to be true disciples of Christ. May we be wise in our efforts to encourage those who support us, zealous for the spread of the Gospel to every corner of our world and keenly aware that Christ’s healing ministry is as important today as ever, and that I have a critical role to play in that ministry.

Fr. Peterson is Campus Minister at Marymount University in Arlington and interim director of the Youth Apostles Institute. (This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)