Raising of the widow’s son

Today's Reflections

                                                  

 

     

Raising of the widow’s son 

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Lk 7:11-17

¹¹[Jesus] journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. ¹²As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. ¹⁶Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.” ¹⁷This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

Reflection:

Do not weep. Among the gospels, Luke shows best the compassion of Jesus. Here Jesus manifests that compassion by raising from the dead the only son of a widow. With orphans, widows are the traditional images, for the Jews, of the helpless ones who need assistance. There is beauty in the gesture of Jesus giving the young man back to his mother after raising him up from the dead. This miracle provokes people to say, “God has visited his people.”

Today also, it is through acts of compassion, more than other things, that God wants to show that he is visiting his people. The world (even non-Christians) recognized the visitation of God through the compassionate acts of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and her Missionaries of Charity. More than through the coherence of our doctrine and the beauty of our rituals, what will reveal the presence and action of God to people will be our acts of selfless love, especially to the most needy.

In the rush of the Christmas season, people bumped against a blind man selling goodies. As he groped for the scattered items, with the people unmindful of him, a man came to help pick up the blind man’s merchandise. The blind man asked the stranger, “Are you Jesus Christ?”

Pray that Jesus continue his healing work

in you and through you.