17th Week in Ordinary Time
Alphonsus Liguori

1st Reading: Col 1:1–8
Gospel: Lk 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.

Commentary
What we believe matters. What we believe determines how we behave. Just look at the current events now transpiring in our nation and around the world. The message of the book of Colossians centers on having a right view of Christ and on how to live the Christian life. To know Christ is to experience the powerful and radical life-changing grace of Almighty God.
As Christians, our challenge is to know Christ more. We can never know enough about Christ. We need to focus on him. We need to study about him. We need to grow in our knowledge of him and in our experience of him. Christianity is about life transformation. This is what happens when we come to Christ. We receive faith. We are saved by faith and we live by faith. The truth of the gospel transforms our attitudes. When we receive the truth of the gospel we now can stand by faith. Obedience and faith go together. We must not only believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we must also commit our lives to live for him, in the light of what he did for us.

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