OT X [C]: I Kgs 17:17-24; Gal 1:11-19; Lk 7: 11-17

A number of years ago the New York Daily News carried a story about a television news anchorwoman named Pat Harper who left her luxurious East Side apartment with 80 cents in her pocket and spent five days living on the street "to learn what it's like to be homeless." Harper spent the days wandering the streets in the icy January rain and her nights sleeping in doorways, train stations and public shelters. She began to realize that most of the homeless people were not much different than she. Several people helped, giving her food and advice on how to survive without money. The undercover investigation made her realize that many homeless are simply normal people who have been hit with financial problems from which they have not been able to rebound. There was no other way to know how they felt than for this successful media person to walk where the homeless walk.

There is another who left comfort and convenience to walk where the outcasts walk. When he saw the widow of Nain, he could probably see his own mother in the shoes of this widow, a few months later what his own mother would be going through when he will be dying on the cross.  And he saw wanted to help the poor widow by bringing her son back to life.

The central theme of today’s readings is that, in a world of broken hearts, God sees and cares for us in our grief. He shows compassion on our miseries and gives us His healing touch.

The first reading, taken from I Kings 17, shows us how our merciful God uses His prophet Elijah to resuscitate the only the son of the poor widow of Zarephath who had given the prophet accommodation in her house during a famine. Tragically her only son became very ill and stopped breathing. In utter desperation and anger the poor widow struck out at Elijah, as if somehow this were his fault.   Grief often gives rise to misplaced anger, and hurting people hurt other people.  This woman was hurting, and so she struck out at Elijah. Elijah realized that it was his turn to help her in her tragedy. And he prays to God and He brought him back to life.

Today's Gospel presents one of the three accounts in the Gospel of Jesus’ raising of a dead person to life. The other stories are those of Lazarus and of Jairus, the synagogue leader’s daughter. Today's story is found only in Luke. Meeting a funeral procession coming out of the village of Nain, Jesus was visibly moved at the sight of the weeping widow going with the town to bury her only son.

This woman had lost her husband, now she has lost her only son – she is alone, suffering without hope. No one asked him to perform this miracle; he took the initiative to intervene.

The Christian God is not a God who remains aloof: he does not keep his distance; he cares too much about us, in spite of our sinfulness, weakness, and brokenness. Sometimes we feel like we are suffering alone, as if God doesn’t care. Sometimes Christ seems far away, because he doesn’t give us the miracle we long for. But that is not what we find in the Bible.

The whole gospel gives witness to the compassion and care of Jesus for sick and tired. Mark 8:1-4 gives the account of Jesus healing a leper who was suffering. Verse 25-35 recounts the account of Jesus healing a woman with hemorrhage. Jn 5:1-18 relates the story of Jesus healing a man who was paralyzed for 38 years. Mark 6:30-32 tells how Jesus took his tired disciples to a deserted place away from the crowd so that they could have some rest. John 21:9 tells us how Jesus prepared a breakfast for the disciples who had been tired from fishing all night. All these reveal the tender compassion of Jesus for people.

We don’t see Jesus in the Gospel episode as a remote Divine Being, but as somebody close to us, sharing our loss and sorrow. Jesus’ raising of the widow’s son was also a sign of the spiritual resurrection offered to all people. Jesus is showing concern about the need for us to be spiritually alive here and now.

We can also offer our broken hearts to Jesus: We need to bring our deepest hurts and broken relationships to Jesus and experience how he reaches out to us to grant us his loving reconciliation. Let us invite Jesus to transform the most difficult situations in our life. 

We need to become channels of God’s compassion and healing love as Jesus was. Our deeds of love will transform the broken-hearted and help them to experience God as the Father who has come among His people. We must ask God for the grace to be like Christ for the others in our daily lives. Those who saw St. Francis of Assisi, for instance, were also seeing Jesus in him. Saints are those who carry Jesus in their words and deeds, imitating his way of doing things and his goodness. Our society need saints, and we can each be one in our own environment. Those who hurt also need comfort, and again, it is our responsibility to offer that comfort. As our Lord comforted this woman, let us comfort others (Galatians 6:2, Romans 12:15). And thus let’s be his hands and heart to others.