Imagine yourself into the scene of first century Capernaum. It’s the time of Jesus.
Capernaum is a fisherman’s town. A small town right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The sea looks a little smaller than you first thought.
The shore feels a bit rocky. Waves crash. Birds sing. It’s a lively place: plenty of business there for a fisherman.
On the way back to town, you stop and make small talk with a couple friends. You hear chatter and giggling in the background: children play with a wooden spinning top.
You say, “talk to you later” and keep walking till you arrive at the doorstep of a first century home.
As you feel the wooden door on your hand, you take a step inside Peter’s mother-in-law’s house.
It’s a familiar place, isn’t it? Memories flood your mind of the conversations you’ve had there. The food you ate. That one time you drank.
Who do you imagine there with you? Your friends? Other family members?
Today the environment isn’t as warm as usual. No smell of fresh baked bread. No tidy floor. No laughter or sound of a crackling fire.
The news you hear feels upsetting, like the time you heard bad news about your mom, your close friend, your relative, your neighbor, or your co-worker. It’s sounds something like COVID.
Peter’s mother-in-law is awfully sick and in bed.
You turn to the others in the room and say, “We need to go talk to Jesus about her. She doesn’t have much time.”
You hear, “He should be leaving the synagogue right about now.”
It is just like it says in Scripture, “they interceded with him about her” (cf. Luke 4:38).
Moments later Jesus enters the home. He makes eye contact with you and listens to you before heading his way to her.
How do you envision Him?
He stands over her, rebukes the fever, and it leaves her (cf. Luke 4:39). Following her healing, she rises and tends to the needs of the community.
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We know this story about the healing of her fever falls before Jesus calls Peter to discipleship. Do you think the healing helps to build trust in their relationship?
Peter’s mother-in-law’s house is an early example of a house church. It is a place where meals are shared, prayer is taught, community life blooms, saints pray, and vocations flourish. Today pilgrims still travel to this place in Capernaum—Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection is still being remembered there. All day long pilgrim groups take turns participating in Mass there.
We know from our participation in the Mass, that participating in intercessions is a part of what we do when we gather together as a family of faith. Intercessory prayer is just one way of being a close friend of Jesus.
Practicing Catholics believe Jesus is really present, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. So, when a friend, family member, or co-worker cries out with a prayer intention, we can really go to Jesus and intercede. We cry out to him in our hearts, and we go in person to talk to Him because Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, hidden in the tabernacle, at our local church.
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