" Lord, I am not worthy, that Thou shouldst enter under my roof." (Luke vii. 6.)
FRIDAY.
Cure of Peter's Mother-in-Law.
I. Christ having entered into St. Peter's house, found his mother-in-law lying sick of a fever; but his disciples "besought Him for her." (Luke iv. 38.) Observe the charity of the disciples in interceding for their neighbors, and the efficacy of their prayers; for the woman was immediately cured. All of us labor under some spiritual fever, caused by the heat of concupiscence or some unlawful passion. "Our fever is covetousness," says St. Ambrose, " our fever is lust, our fever is ambition." Examine under what spiritual ailment you labor, and have recourse to the Apostles as your intercessors.
II. " Standing over her, He commanded the fever, and it left her." He did not employ the ordinary means to destroy the fever, but to show His Divine power, He exercised command over it. Thus He commanded the winds and the sea and the infernal spirits, and they obeyed Him. As the members of the body obey the soul, and are subservient to it, so do all the things of creation obey God. " He spoke, and they were made; He commanded and they were created." (Ps. cxlviii. 5.) Do not yourself be an exemption to this rule of universal obedience.
III. When St. Peter's mother-in-law was cured, " immediately rising she ministered to them." She did not allege weakness after sickness, but immediately began to labor, like the deserving woman in the Proverbs; " She hath girded her loins with strength, and strengthened
