Wednesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Healing and the Kingdom of God
Alternative Celebration: Learn more here.
Other Celebrations for this Day:
Liturgical Cycle: C | Lectionary Cycle: I
Introduction
Paul thanks God and the Colossians that the good news of Jesus Christ has taken root among the Colossians and is spreading all over the Roman world.
Jesus has preached his message of hope in the lake town of Capernaum and confirmed it by liberating the poor and the sick from the powers of evil. He has to bring the same good news to other places. The gospel of hope in a new world is destined for all. With the people healed by Jesus, let us in this eucharist thank the Lord for his good news.
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
we thank you today for Jesus, your Son.
He came to heal our wounds
and to set us going on the way
to you and to one another.
Help us in our fumbling, stumbling attempts
to continue looking for him
and to make his gospel of hope and love
come true among us as the good news
that your Son is alive among us
and that he is our Lord for ever.
First Reading
Greeting and Thanksgiving
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Timothy, our brother,
to the saints in Colossae, our faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Thanks be to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! We pray always for you,
for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints.
Indeed, you eagerly await the inheritance reserved for you in heaven, which you have heard about through the word of truth. This gospel,
already present among you, is bearing fruit and growing throughout the world just as it has among you since the day you accepted it and understood the gift of God in all its truth.
He who taught you, Epaphras, our dear fellow worker in Christ and faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
has reminded me of the love you have for me through the Spirit.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 52:10, 11
R. I trust in the mercy of God forever.
I, like a green olive tree
in the house of God,
Trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever.
R. I trust in the mercy of God forever.
I will thank you always for what you have done,
and proclaim the goodness of your name
before your faithful ones.
R. I trust in the mercy of God forever.
Alleluia Verse
Luke 4:18
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Bending over her, he rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately, she got up and started serving them.
demons were cast out, howling as they went, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” He rebuked them and didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
But he said, “I have to go to other towns to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. That is what I was sent to do.”
And Jesus kept on preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
Prayers of the Faithful
– That the Church may continue with compassion the task of healing of our Lord Jesus, that the sick may be comforted, the downtrodden set free, and the poor and the weak be protected, we pray:
– That the faith and the hope of the sick and the dying may be firmly anchored in our Lord Jesus who is the resurrection and the life, we pray:
– That we may learn more to heal one another by forgiving each other and by uplifting the sad and the discouraged, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
we need your Son Jesus Christ
to be with us today.
Give him to us in this bread and wine,
that, weak and fallible as we are,
we may not give up the hope
that your kingdom of justice and peace
can take shape among us.
Let it become the humble sign
of your goodness and justice
and of your joy that lasts for ever.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
in your power you care for the weak,
and so Jesus preferred the poor and the helpless.
Give us his Spirit of compassion and strength,
that we too may commit ourselves
to bring hope and justice
to the dispossessed and the lonely.
And take away our pride, Lord,
for we are perhaps weaker and poorer
than those we presume to uplift.
Count us among those in need of Jesus Christ,
our Lord and Saviour forever.
Blessing
Jesus cured the many who came to him with all sorts of diseases. Are we aware that we too can bring healing to others by showing them affection, compassion, and forgiveness? May the Lord make you attentive to the healing powers in you, and may God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Reflection
3 September 2025
Luke 4: 38-44
Healing and the kingdom of God - Youtube
In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus leaving the synagogue and entering the house of Simon Peter. There, he finds Peter’s mother-in-law sick with a high fever. Without hesitation, Jesus bends over her, takes her by the hand, and restores her. Immediately, she rises to serve.
This simple scene reveals the heart of Jesus’ mission. He is always ready to serve. Even when tired, even after preaching, he responds to the cry of human need. The love of Jesus never stops at the door of a house; it enters into the most ordinary places of life, into our kitchens, our families, our daily struggles.
Notice also how the miracle takes place in private. No crowds, no applause—just the quiet compassion of Jesus. How often we may act generously in public but forget charity at home! Yet Jesus shows us that love begins in the smallest circles—our families, our communities, our daily relationships.
And then, Peter’s mother-in-law teaches us something important: when healed, she immediately begins to serve. Her healing was not for herself alone; it was a gift to be shared. Health, strength, even life itself, are not possessions for comfort but gifts to be offered for others.
Finally, Jesus withdraws early in the morning to pray. His strength to serve comes from his union with the Father. Prayer is not an escape from human need but the wellspring that allows us to meet it.
Here we also hear Jesus speak for the first time of the kingdom of God. It is already here in his healing, his teaching, his love. It is among us whenever we let God’s will be done. And it will reach fullness when all creation lives in that love.
So let us pray: Lord, heal us, so that we too may rise and serve in your kingdom.