Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Just Do It

Today's Gospel contains a story of Simon's mother-in-law, one of those people who, if I ever get to heaven, I would love to meet. We don't even know her name, yet she is one of the first recorded healings of Jesus. It wasn't a biog splashy miracle. She was not blind, deaf or lame. She had a fever. Mark records no words she spoke, but simply tells us of her reaction: "the fever left her and she waited on them" (Mark 1: 31).
I am in awe of this woman! Here she was, the recipient of a miracle, and she simply got up and returned to what she would normally do, making sure that her daughter, Simon's wife, was able to fulfill the demands of hospitality by taking care of their visitors. No drama, no big display, simply doing what needed to be done. This speaks powerfully to me of the character of the woman.
She is, I think, a model for all of us. How wonderful it would be if we all simply and without fuss did what we were supposed to do, God's will for us. How different the world would be! I make everyone do God's will today. But I can prevent God's will from being done in the whole world. For you see if every other person in the world did God's will and I did not, God's will would not be done completely today. So I have to start and end with myself and not worry about everyone else.
My prayer this morning (and every morning) is "God, please help me see what you want me to do today. And give me the grace to just do it.

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