13 January 2027 · Latin Rite
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“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35
Mark shows us a full day in the life of Jesus. After the synagogue he enters Simon's house, where Simon's mother-in-law lies sick with fever. “He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Healing becomes service. At sunset the whole town crowds at the door, and Jesus cures many. Then, “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” The secret of his day is his night prayer.
Hebrews explains why the Son came so close: he shared our flesh and blood “so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” He became like us in every respect to be a merciful high priest. “Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” St Hilary of Poitiers, a married convert who became bishop, defended the divinity of Christ in exile; he knew both trials and the Lord who helps in them.
Theme: “In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up… and there he prayed.”
Healing that leads to service, prayer that sustains, a priest who understands.
“O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.” Psalm 30:2
“He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” Mark 1:31
Apply: Serve someone today in thanks for a blessing.
“O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.” Psalm 5:3
“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” Mark 1:35
Apply: Pray before you touch your phone each morning.
“He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.” Isaiah 53:3
“Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” Hebrews 2:18
Apply: Bring your present trial to Jesus by name.
Jesus' power flows from his prayer.
He who was tested lifts us up to serve.
Take-home resolution: Keep a morning prayer time all this week.
Dear friends, today's Gospel shows us a full day in the life of Jesus. After teaching in the synagogue he goes to Simon's house, where Simon's mother-in-law is in bed with a fever.
He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them (Mark 1:31). The first thing she does with her new strength is serve. Healing leads to service.
At sunset the whole town gathers at the door, and Jesus cures many. Then: in the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed (Mark 1:35). Jesus' busy day rests on his night prayer.
Hebrews tells us why he came so close: he became like us in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested (Hebrews 2:18).
Today we remember St Hilary, who defended faith in Christ even in exile. Let us ask for Jesus' habit of early prayer, and let him lift us up to serve. Amen.
Children, Jesus prayed very early in the morning, while it was still dark. Tomorrow, say a little prayer to Jesus as soon as you wake up!
Lord Jesus, you took Simon's mother-in-law by the hand and lifted her up, and before dawn you prayed to your Father. Lift me up from what weighs me down, teach me to pray, and help me in every test, for you were tested as I am. Amen.
Hebrews says today why the Son had to become like us in every respect: so that he might be merciful, and able to help. Mark shows that mercy at work on a single day in Capernaum: a sick woman lifted by the hand, a town at the door at sunset, and a man at prayer before dawn. The psalm calls us to “seek the Lord and his strength”. Both readings speak of one who comes very close, and who does not stay in any one place.
Setting.
The argument of yesterday's reading continues, the Lectionary leaping only v. 13. If the Son calls us brothers and sisters, he has to share what is ours. Here for the first time in the letter Jesus is called high priest (v. 17), the great theme that will fill chapters 4–10. Verse 16 names the people he came to help: not angels but “the descendants of Abraham”.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things,” (2:14)
This is the Incarnation in its simplest form. St Gregory of Nazianzus gave the reason in a famous line: what has not been assumed has not been healed.
“Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect,” (2:17)
“Had to”, not because anything could force God, but because this is what mercy required. There is no part of our life that he has not touched from within, except sin.
“Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.” (2:18)
A word for anyone who feels that God cannot understand them. The Lord does not help us from a distance. He has been there.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes vv. 14–15 when it teaches that Christ, by dying, destroyed him who has the power of death and delivered those who were subject to lifelong bondage through fear of it (CCC 635). The Church's prayer at funerals rests on this hope. The fear of death has not vanished, but it no longer has the last word.
Setting.
The Gospel continues directly from yesterday's scene in the synagogue, and it is still the same sabbath. Archaeologists at Capernaum have uncovered a house that early Christians honoured as a place of worship, and many think that it was Peter's. The people wait until sunset, probably because the sabbath ended then, and they could carry the sick. The story of this one full day ends in a very different place: in the dark, alone, in prayer.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.” (1:31)
There is no word of power here, only a hand. The disciples told him about her (v. 30), and this is the simplest form of intercession: they told him.
“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.” (1:35)
After the busiest day so far, he gets up in the dark. Prayer was not what Jesus did when the work was done; it was where the work came from.
““Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”” (1:38)
“Everyone is searching for you” (v. 37) is what success sounds like. He hears his mission in prayer, not in the crowd's applause, and it takes him further on.
How the Church reads it.
Christ's healings, the Catechism says, are a resplendent sign that “God has visited his people” (CCC 1503). Jesus often draws apart to pray in solitude, on a mountain, preferably at night (CCC 2602). The Church keeps that order in her own life: the morning prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours comes before the day's work.
Was St Peter married?
Yes. A mother-in-law means a wife, and St Paul also mentions that Cephas took a believing wife with him on his travels (1 Corinthians 9:5). In the Latin Church today priests are normally chosen from men who live celibacy for the Kingdom, as a discipline and a gift; in the Eastern Churches married men may be ordained priests (CCC 1579–1580). Celibacy is not a judgment on marriage; both are ways of following the Lord.
St Hilary of Poitiers, bishop and doctor, may be remembered today. In the fourth century he was sent into exile by the emperor for defending the faith of Nicaea, and he wrote his great work On the Trinity. Today's reading fits him well: he defended both the true divinity of the Son and the truth of his becoming our brother.