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Gospel: Luke 4: 38-44
“After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon.
Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever,
and they interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.
At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.”
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.
The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, “To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent.”
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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One of the worst parts about being sick is the sense of isolation that sets in.
Despite the care of others, our world becomes increasingly small, as we we’re confined to our own room, to our own bed, and often to our own thoughts.
It can be a terribly lonely place.
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This is the type of isolation we find at work in the Gospel.
Peter’s mother-in-law is deathly ill, confined to her own room and her own thoughts.
Jesus arrives just in time. Taking her by the hand, he raises her up. In effect, he not only restores her health; he also lifts her out of the isolation that sickness brings.
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It’s the type of healing that so many need on a daily basis – to be drawn out of the isolation that COVID, social distance, and our increasingly technological society brings.
It’s partly why some of us attend daily and Sunday Mass; why we make phone calls, text, or write letters.
These simple, social activities are good for the soul.
But I wonder if we can think of anyone who remains sick in bed, so to speak. Someone who may feel isolated from the outside world.
Perhaps it’s a child who spent all of last year learning online and hasn’t readjusted; a parent or grandparent confined to a nursing home; a single mom working from home while raising her children.
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Today let’s be like Jesus and lift their spirits.
Make a call. Pay a visit. Write a letter. Send a text. Simple gestures that can create some semblance of community one person at time.
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Image credits: (1) Health Matters, New York Presbyterian (2) Healing Peter’s Mother-in-Law, John Bridges (3) Two Sides