Today’s Gospel speaks of the healing of a man with dropsy. It is significant that Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, incurring the wrath of the Pharisees, who accused Him of disobeying God’s commandment. In answering them, Jesus showed that in fact He had done the exact opposite: by freeing the man from the disease that tormented him, He did not break the commandment to keep the Sabbath, but fulfilled it.

There is probably no one whose heart does not weep at the sight of a mother who has lost her husband and now has to bury her only son. What does a mother feel when she sees her child dying, be it the only one or one of many? Can there be a greater pain of sorrow?

These ten men were equal in every way; they were all in the same situation. When they heard and saw Jesus approaching, they cried out as if with one voice: “Master, have mercy on us!“ Jesus healed them all together. And when He saw them, He said unto them, “Go shew yourselves unto the priests.“ And it came to pass that, as they went, they were cleansed.

We too often expect something extraordinary from Jesus. But he, on the contrary, usually does not expect anything extraordinary from us. Rather, He expects from us the simple and most ordinary acts of charity toward our neighbors.

Today’s Gospel tells us about the healing of a deaf man who, in addition to not being able to hear, also had an impediment in his speech. In fact, the text of the Gospel shows that these were not the only problems this man had. We are told that he was brought to Jesus. Literally translated from the Greek, we should say that he was carried to Jesus. The reason was either that he didn’t want to go on his own, or that he wasn’t able to walk on his own.