Wednesday – 1^st Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Mark 1:29-39

A Labor of Love

Peter’s House, St. Peter’s Church, Capernaum

In-laws are a funny breed

They laugh, they cry, they fill a need

They’re an extra set of parents too often taken for granted

Another pair of helpers when in trouble we’ve landed.

 

Much maligned in jokes and song

In=laws bear the pain

Of a surplus of offsprings

A daughter or a son.

 

They seem to share the burden

Of their new child’s obligations

His thoughts, his actions

His new-found undertakings.

 

And though it is difficult to always do

Either in speech or in expression

Remember always throughout life

This son really loves the both of you.    12/21/72

 Believe it or not, I wrote this for Ginger’s parents 52 years ago!  But it seems appropriate, given today’s Gospel, to revisit the importance and influence of in-laws (parents) in our lives. Today’s Gospel picks up from yesterday.  Jesus has just preached in the synagogue in Capernaum.  And as soon as He hears that Peter’s mother-in-law is sick, He goes to her bedside, grasps her hand, helps her onto her feet and she is cured.

Mothers-in-law get such a bad rap!  They are the constant butt of jokes and comedy routines.  They are portrayed as heartless, cruel, and emotionless, someone who never really accepts the marriage partner of their child!  But not my mother-in-law!  Not her!  She is kind, sensitive, welcoming and a loving mom to Ginger and to me, her ‘adopted’ son!  No matter how tired or stressed or in pain she may be, she goes about her day being a loving mom (and wife) without reward, without payment, without regret!  And she does it all with a smile on her face and love in her heart.

Which brings us to today’s Gospel where Jesus cures Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever and that curious line afterwards where she immediately goes back to her daily chores and waits on Jesus and the disciples!  Isn’t that the case for every mom and mom-in-law we know.  No matter how tired they may be, they put aside their aches and pains to take care of their children and their family day in and day out.  And more often than not, they do it quietly.  Not a word is spoken.  So I wonder if, in this case, she is simply letting her actions be her way of giving thanks for being cured.  Talk about a labor of love!

Are you tired?  I don’t mean tired from a sleepless night or household work but bone-tired and exhausted in body, mind and spirit.  You lack the energy, the drive, the motivation to do anything.  That kind of tired!  Weighed down by life and concern for your family, yourself, your world!  Sound familiar?  And yet, in spite of it all, as parents, as grandparents, as in-laws, we pick ourselves up and do what we must to care for our family.  A true labor of love!

Great Spirit, grant us the courage and the strength to serve You by serving others.  Help us always to appreciate the presence and example of parents and in-laws in our lives!