Have the confidence to ask him for whatever you need.

I open myself to his compassion and let his heart shape mine.

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

１Corinthians 3:1-9

  I could not, friends,

Speak to you as spiri­tual persons but as fleshly people, for you are still infants in Christ.  I gave you milk and not solid food, for you were not ready for it and up to now you cannot receive it   for you are still of the flesh. As long as there is jealousy and strife, what can I say but that you are at the level of the flesh and behave like ordinary people.

 While one says: “I follow Paul,” and the other: “I follow Apol­los,” what are you but peo­ple still at a human level?

 For what is Apollos? What is Paul? They are ministers and through them you believed, as it was given by the Lord to each of them.   I planted, Apollos watered the plant, but God made it grow.   So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who makes the plant grow.

The one who plants and the one who waters work to the same end, and the Lord will pay each according to their work.  We are fellow-workers with God, but you are God’s field and building.

 

Ps 33:12-13, 14-15, 20-21

Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

 

 ＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Luke 4:38-44

Leaving the synagogue, Jesus went to the house of Simon. His mother-in-law was suffering from high fever and they asked him to do something for her. Bending over her, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and waited on them.

At sunset, people suffering from many kinds of sickness were brought to Jesus. Laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Demons were driven out, howling as they departed from their victims, “You are the Son of God!” He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, for they knew he was the Messiah.

 Jesus left at daybreak and looked for a solitary place. People went out in search of him and, finding him, they tried to dissuade him from leaving. But he said, “I have to go to other towns to announce the good news of the kingdom of God. That is what I was sent to do.” So Jesus continued to preach in the synagogues of the Jewish country.

 

 Gospel Reflection：

Though we are living in an era where touch is viewed with suspicion and fear – be it due the stories of abuse or the pandemic – human touch does heal physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

Some cultures have the tradition of children touching the feet of their parents and teachers to seek their blessing and the latter blessing them by laying their hands on their heads. How moving a sight it is! “Jesus laid his hands on each one and healed them.”

Nothing more was necessary for Jesus to do than lay his hands gently on them and whisper a prayer. We can do the same and heal those around us as well: a gentle hand on the shoulder or a warm hug when someone is hurting, a pat on the back when some one does something good, laying of our hands and a prayer over those who are sick – these gestures do incredible miracles in their lives.