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| The Resurrection in Nain by James Tissot |
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
The
Son of the Widow in Nain Restored to Life
[11] Soon afterwards He (Jesus) went to a city called Nain,
and His disciples and a great crowd went with Him. [12] As He drew near to the
gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only
son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was
with her. [13] And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to
her, "Do not weep." [14] And He came and touched the bier, and the
bearers stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise."
[15] And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And He gave him to his
mother. [16] Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, "A great
prophet has arisen among us!" and "God has visited His people!"
[17] And this report concerning Him spread through the whole of Judea and all
the surrounding country.
Cited
in the Catechism: In declaring the promulgation
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
Blessed John Paul II explained that the Catechism
"is a statement of the Church's faith and of catholic doctrine, attested
to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic Tradition and the Church's
Magisterium." He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for
teaching the faith and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial
communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Passages from this Gospel reading are cited and explained in the Catechism paragraphs 545, 994 and 1503.
Commentary:
11-17.
"Jesus crosses paths again with a crowd of people. He could have passed by
or waited until they called Him. But He didn't. He took the initiative, because
He was moved by a widow's sorrow. She had just lost all she had, her son.
"The evangelist explains that Jesus was moved. Perhaps
He even showed signs of it, as when Lazarus died. Christ was not, and is not,
insensitive to the suffering that stems from love. He is pained at seeing
children separated from their parents. He overcomes death so as to give life,
to reunite those who love one another. But at the same time, He requires that
we first admit the pre-eminence of divine love, which alone can inspire genuine
Christian living.
"Christ knows He is surrounded by a crowd which will be
awed by the miracle and will tell the story all over the countryside. But He
does not act artificially, merely to create an effect. Quite simply He is
touched by that woman's suffering and cannot but console her. So He goes up to
her and says, `Do not weep.' It is like saying, `I don't want to see you
crying; I have come on earth to bring joy and peace.' And then comes the
miracle, the sign of the power of Christ who is God. But first came His
compassion, an evident sign of the tenderness of the heart of Christ the
man" (St. J. Escriva, Christ Is Passing By, 166).
15.
This mother's joy on being given back her son reminds us of the joy of our Mother
the Church when her sinful children return to the life of grace. "The
widowed mother rejoiced at the raising of that young man," St. Augustine
comments. "Our Mother the Church rejoices every day when people are raised
again in spirit. The young man had been dead physically; the latter, dead
spiritually. The young man's death was mourned visibly; the death of the latter
was invisible and unmourned. He seeks them out Who knew them to be dead; only
He can bring them back to life" (Sermon,98, 2).
Source:
The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries.
Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co.
Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage
readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers
for details.
"Ignorance
of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." St Jerome
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