Today’s Gospel reading reveals the compassion and mercy of God as Jesus is moved with pity and resurrects the widow’s son. While Jesus has, presumably, encountered countless people suffering from deep grieving and loss, this particular woman is one who is chosen as the recipient of a miraculous event that relieves her immediate suffering when her son’s life is restored. This miracle also serves as an awakening to the witnesses of the event and to those who will learn of it. It is an opportunity to see and acknowledge the divinity of Christ and to follow Him. In our daily lives, and especially in our recovery meeting rooms, we, too, bear witness to the miraculous. Our brothers and sisters share their experience, strength, and hope that comes from the divine intervention of the Holy Trinity with Its power to heal and transform. Many of us have been restored and renewed at precisely the moment it all seemed lost, when even death loomed near.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the word “miracle” as follows: “A sign or wonder, such as a healing or the control of nature, which can only be attributed to divine power.” Perhaps we would benefit from considering the abundance of examples around us of lives that have been saved and transformed by divine intervention. The recovering people we meet in our meetings each have a story of redemption marked by grace and the intervention of the divine. Are we not, therefore, both benefactors of—and witnesses to—the miraculous?
Reflection Questions
- What miraculous transformations have you seen and heard of in the recovery meetings you attend?
- In what specific ways can you live each day with an “attitude of gratitude” for the miracle of your new life in recovery?
Daily Mass Readings
First Reading: 1 Timothy 3:1-13
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 101:1b-2ab, 2cd-3ab, 5, 6
Gospel: Luke 7:11-17
Reflection by Mark L.