DAILY MEDITATION (WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13)
MEDITATION OF THE DAY
Christ the Healer
When Jesus had come into the house of Peter, he saw his mother-in-law lying down with a fever. We should understand in Peter’s mother-in-law a diseased disposition of unbelief that is associated with a freedom of the will, and links us to her in a kind of bonded fellowship. Thus, with the Lord’s entry into Peter’s house, that is, in his body, he cured the unbelief of those who are burning in the heat of their sins and who are dominated by the illness of their wickedness. Soon afterwards, now healed, she performs a servant’s role. Peter was the first to believe and has the primary apostolic place. Although faith was formerly weak in him, he grew strong by the ministry of the Word of God because the Word undertook the work of salvation for all….
When evening had come, they brought to him many who had demons, and he cast out the unclean spirits. In those evening hours we can recognize in his indiscriminate healing of that assembly [the following]: those whom he taught after his Passion, remitting all sins, expelling the infirmities of all, and casting out the provocative elements of our deep-seated, evil desires. Moreover, he assumed the weaknesses of our human helplessness…by the Passion of his body according to the words of the prophets.
Saint Hilary of Poitiers
Saint Hilary of Poitiers († 367) is called the Doctor of the Divinity of Christ. / From The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, Vol. 125, St. Hilary of Poitiers: Commentary on Matthew, D.H. Williams, Tr. © 2012, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington, D.C. Used with permission.
