Reading 1 1 Kgs 17:17-24
The son of the mistress of the house fell sick,
and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing.
So she said to Elijah,
“Why have you done this to me, O man of God?
Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt
and to kill my son?”
Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.”
Taking him from her lap, he carried the son to the upper room
where he was staying, and put him on his bed.
Elijah called out to the LORD:
“O LORD, my God,
will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying
by killing her son?”
Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times
and called out to the LORD:
“O LORD, my God,
let the life breath return to the body of this child.”
The LORD heard the prayer of Elijah;
the life breath returned to the child’s body and he revived.
Taking the child, Elijah brought him down into the house
from the upper room and gave him to his mother.
Elijah said to her, “See! Your son is alive.”
The woman replied to Elijah,
“Now indeed I know that you are a man of God.
The word of the LORD comes truly from your mouth.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11, 12, 13
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Reading 2 Gal 1:11-14a, 15ac, 16a, 17, 19
I want you to know, brothers and sisters,that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin.
For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it,
but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race.
But when God, who from my mother’s womb had set me apart
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem
to talk with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.
Alleluia Lk 7:16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.A great prophet has risen in our midst
God has visited his people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Lk 7:11-17
and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As 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.
When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, crying out
“A great prophet has arisen in our midst, “
and “God has visited his people.”
This report about him spread through the whole of Judea
and in all the surrounding region.
FIRSTHAND
"I assure you, brothers, the gospel I proclaimed to you is no mere human invention. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I schooled in it." –Galatians 1:11-12
Unlike St. Paul, we have received the gospel from other men and women. Most of us have been schooled in it, possibly having gone to Catholic school eight, twelve, or more years. Like Paul, however, we must base our personal relationship with Jesus not on what others have said, but on who we say He is (Mt 16:15). We must not just know about Jesus; we must know Jesus. Many of our Catholic school graduates know hundreds of facts about Jesus. (And it's good they do.) Nonetheless, those facts do not come alive until they know Jesus personally. We may know hundreds of things about a celebrity, politician, or superstar. Yet that completely differs from knowing them personally.
A famous evangelist once visited a church that was sick, had stopped breathing, and died (1 Kgs 17:7). He remarked: "What this church needs is someone who has a first-hand experience of God." They were singing and praying from their prayer books, but not from their hearts or personal experience. The Lord has pity on the neediest of all, those who do not know Him personally. He wills to touch the coffins of their lives and bid them get up (Lk 7:14).
| PRAYER: | Jesus, may I seek a deep personal relationship with You. May You be more real to me than my very self. |
| PROMISE: | "God has visited His people." –Lk 7:16 |
| PRAISE: | Praise You, risen Jesus, our Brother, for raising us to new life in You. Thanks be to God! |
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