Tag: Widow of Nain

• Luke 7:11-17: Do Not Cry

  
  

  Luke 7:11-17: Do Not Cry

  Saturday, October 18, 2025

  

  A series of miracles unfolds for us when we read this portion of Luke’s Gospel. It is also an unfolding of God’s hand, a hand that calls us.  is an opening of God’s presence among us, a presence that settles into us. We need to expect miracles in our lives. We need open ourselves to their possibility. We need to ask God for them. We need to believe that they can and do happen every hour of every day. Miracles are not mere stories we read or wishes we hope for when we see a shooting star or blow out the dancing flames of birthday candles. Miracles are the hand of God wiping away tears. Miracles are the voice of God saying to us, Do not cry . . . And they take place every hour of every day.

  In God’s hand is the soul of every living thing . . .  Job 12:10

  God does not leave us to wonder about his existence, God comes to walk among us in the person of Christ.

  God does not visit with us when God is bored or forget us entirely when another interest calls God away.

  God does not play with us to see how we react; God does not find joy in our sorrow.

  The Lord takes delight in his people . . .  Psalm 149:4

  God is constantly with us, never leaving our side.

  God suffers with us and feels our torment.

  God celebrates with us when we find joy.

  Each of us has been the Widow of Nain at some time in our lives; we have each suffered deep and damaging sorrow. We may also have been the deceased son, dead to everything that formerly had meaning in our lives. Seeing that the Widow of Nain would be destitute without the protection and support of her son, Jesus does not hesitate to call the young man back to life. In doing this, he saves not only this small family but he also converts hundreds more who witness the miracle. He calls the people of Nain– and us – to his message of love, telling all who will listen that we are free to act as God acts, free to love as God loves.

  Do not cry . . . God is constantly whispering to us in little ways each day. God calls us back to life and restores what we have lost.

  Do not cry . . . God is constantly shouting to us in big ways each day. God shepherds us past catastrophes and saves us from our worst choices.

  Do not cry . . . God is constantly putting up warning signs. God runs after us when we are too blind to see or hear his message.

  Do not cry . . . God is constantly forgiving and loving us. God runs out to greet us when we return to him.

  Do not cry . . . Jesus says to the Widow of Nain, and to us.

  Come back to me . . . God says to the Widow’s son, and to us.

  We are all children of Nain. Let us rejoice in the miracles we are granted.

  

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  A re-post from September 23, 2011.

  To learn more about the town of Nain in today’s Noontime, visit: https://www.seetheholyland.net/nain/

  Images from: https://364sicilianrolemodels.wordpress.com/2016/02/20/mario-minniti/ 

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  October 18, 2025

  Job 12:10, miracles, Psalm 149:4, Widow of Nain

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• John 11:25: I am the Resurrection

  
  

  John 11:25: I am the Resurrection

  

  Wednesday, April 9, 2025

  This is such an important message that we will spend a few days pulling our thoughts together. We consider how Christ might be the resurrection for each of us. We ponder how this miracle affects us. And we decide how we will rest in the power of this message.

  From a Favorite posted on October 23, 2007.

  Luke 7:11-17: Raising the Widow’s Son

  I love this story. It shows Jesus’ compassion in such a real way. It is about true resurrection.

  Jesus understood that the death of this young man was doom to his mother, a widow with no resources for her survival. With a single touch, Jesus brings the young man back from death and thus cures the life of this woman as well. He also demonstrates how we should act, how we should breathe life into relationships rather than doom them. And with this act, Jesus speaks to the world.

  This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

  

  The story reaches our ears today. We see and hear how we are to behave in relationship with one another. We see that just as Jesus is an expression of God’s love for each of us, so are our actions our expression of how much and in what way we love one another and thus God.

  May our acts and our words be healing ones.

  May our expression of God reflect the hope placed in us.

  May all that we say and do become not only our own resurrection, but may it lead to union with all the holy ones, union with God. Let us spread this report through the whole of our communities, so that we might share the good news of resurrection.

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  Enter the words Widow of Nain into the blog search bar to search for more reflections about this woman, her son, and their interactions with Jesus. 

  For more on the village of Nain, visit: https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/nain/ 

  Images from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacro_Monte_di_Varallo and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacro_Monte_di_Varallo

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  April 9, 2025

  God’s hope in us, Luke 7:11-17, Widow of Nain

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• Tobit 3: Seek Consolation – Death

  
  

  Tobit 3: Seek Consolation – Death

  Saturday, December 21, 2024

  

  We have sought consolation from paralysis, blindness and deafness. We have looked for peace when we are speechless or plagued by possession. Today we reflect on how we might seek comfort in the face of death or deep loss.

  We know the stories of those Jesus raised from the dead while he walked among us as human: his friend Lazarus, the widow of Nain’s son, the synagogue leader Jairus’ daughter. We also know the story of how, through the intercession of the risen Christ, Peter brought Tabitha/Dorcas back from death, and Paul called back Eutychus. When we look at the Old Testament, we remember that Elijah restored life to the widow of Zarephath’s son, and Elisha to the Shunammite woman’s son. And perhaps most importantly, we know that Christ has the power to return each of us to eternal life once we leave this earthly one.

  

  All of this reflection on restoration speaks to our desire to overcome death. It exemplifies our hope that deep loss is not permanent. And it resonates with our expectation that Christ’s love for each of us calls all of us to union with him . . . out of certain death and into certain life. In this holiest of seasons when we celebrate the coming of Jesus to the world, we return to one more story of restoration. The story of Tobit and Sarah.

  I have always turned to this Book when I am in the middle of a hopeless situation, when the circumstances in which I find myself offer absolutely no anticipation of salvation for myself or for someone I hold dear.  Each time I spend time with these verses, I come away refreshed by the themes the story offers: healing, restoration, desperate prayers made, and desperate prayers answered.  There are soap-opera elements, cliff-hanging events. There are people focused on money, power and sex; yet, over all of these forces, love holds sway.  And it is the only place in the Bible where Raphael is featured.  He is, indeed, so important that the story cannot take place without him.

  

  So why does this archangel visit these characters disguised as a traveler? How does he bring them hope, rebirth and transformation? What is the attitude of each character before God the Creator? And what might we take away from the lessons laid out here?

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  If we have time to read the whole of Tobit today, let us do so. If not, let us focus on Chapter 3. Tomorrow a Prayer for Death . . . and Birth.

  Adapted from a reflection written during Advent 2007.

  For a quick re-cap of the Old and New Testament resurrection stories above, visit: https://www.gotquestions.org/raised-from-the-dead.html

  Images from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Baptiste_Jouvenet_-_The_Raising_of_Lazarus_-_WGA12033.jpg and http://spirituallydirected.blogspot.com/2010/06/widow-of-nain.html and http://www.boomerinthepew.com/2010/10/do-you-believe-that-jesus-literally-raised-the-widows-son-from-the-dead.html

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  December 21, 2024

  Elisha and Elijah, Eutychus, healing, hope, Jairus, Peter and Paul, resurrection, Tabitha, the Shunammite woman, the widow of Zarephath, Widow of Nain

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• Ezra 6: 19-23: Marvels – Part VI

  
  

  Ezra 6: 19-23: Marvels – Part VI

  Tuesday, November 21, 2023

  

  Luke 7:1-17: Resuscitation

  We have reflected on the marvels God worked for Ezra and the Israelites who returned from exile. We have considered the marvels God works in our lives, and the miracles Jesus brings to us. We have deliberated on the nature of the Holy Spirit who dwells in the new temple of our hearts. Today we turn to a well-known story from the New Testament as we also consider the human deeds at which Jesus himself marvels. And we celebrate the great gifts God gives us freely. Rebirth. Renewal. Rejuvenation. Restoration.

  

  This is the message of today’s reading of the two stories The Healing of a Centurion’s Slave and The Raising of the Widow’s Son.  A pagan master who is more giving, loving, hope-filled and faithful than the people of Israel stirs the Messiah to act with compassion.  A woman whose only son dies moves the Teacher with pity.  So too can we move the Christ and be moved by him.  When we read these stories we understand fully how much God forgives, how much God yearns for union, how much God wants our trust, how much God is present to us . . . constantly.

  From today’s MAGNIFICAT:

  You are faithful in your forgiveness: strengthen in trust all who fear to approach you in the sacrament of penance.

  You are gracious to all who come to you: make gracious all who represent you in the presence of sin and suffering.

  You are merciful to all who turn to you for help: enlighten in wisdom all who have the opportunity to encourage others in prayer.

  You forgive every human failing: preserve us from the temptation to trap others in their sins by passing on small-minded gossip.

  So wide is God’s mercy that no sin is too great or too small for forgiveness.  So much narrower is our charity that we often find the small annoyances the hardest to forgive.  The more we turn in prayer to the all-forgiving God, the more we will become like him in extending the hand of pardon to others in every daily circumstance.

  God is not afraid of sin. We are. God does not take revenge. We do. God wants perfect union with us. And we are invited in to perfect union with Christ.

  God does more than sustain and nourish. God is constantly present. God heals. God renews. God will even resuscitate. We demonstrate our belief in all of this when we take our small and large problems to God. And we demonstrate our love God when we act in deep and abiding trust – even as we marvel at God’s great work in us.

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  Adapted from a Favorite written on September 19, 2008.

  Cameron, Peter John. “Prayer for the Morning.” MAGNIFICAT. 19.9 (2008). Print.   

  Images from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Veronese and http://www.boomerinthepew.com/2010/10/do-you-believe-that-jesus-literally-raised-the-widows-son-from-the-dead.html and https://laruspress.com/worship-like-your-life-depends-on-it-it-does/

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  November 21, 2023

  union with Christ, Widow of Nain

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