The Gospel talks about the healing of Simon Peter's mother-in-law. It looks just like an act of charity. She was ill and Jesus wanted to heal her. But there is one detail that is very important. The Gospel says that after her recovery, she "waited on them". Why is this detail important? According to the Gospel, it was not enough to remove the fever and restore this woman's health. Jesus’ miracle was to touch the soul of Peter's mother-in-law and change it. Complete healing took place when she got healed physically and also when she began to love. When a person is able to love, then his or her full humanity is restored. Just like each one of us: when we are small children, we need the love of our parents, but when we grow up, we become able to give and love our parents and others. It is only in the capacity to love that we find the maturity of the person. According to pope Francis: Human beings are so made that they cannot live, develop and find fulfilment except “in the sincere gift of self to others”. (Fratelli tutti 87). We will be truly ourselves only if we are able to love God and our neighbor. If not, we cannot reach our full maturity and fulfillment. Because of this, we need to help our neighbors, especially in their poverty or sickness. And the person we help becomes in this way our benefactor, because he or she helps us to grow. At the same time, like Jesus, we also need to teach people to also love their family and their neighbors, so that they can become adult in their faith and humanity, mature enough to give, not just receive.

Two months ago, a friend of mine called Lusius died. He was a Christian and wanted to live the Gospel in his daily life. This friewas a street child with no purpose in his life. Lusius helped the boy and gave him clothes. Lusius even gave his most expensive shoes to that boy. Moreover, Lusius introduced him to the Gospel and the Christian life. This changed the boy's life. This young man eventually got married and started working in video editing until he became a film producer and was finally able to take care of himself and of his family. The miracle of a new life happened because of the Christian witness of Lusius. Lusius’ concrete love was able to transform the life of this young boy who eventually became a giver and not just a receiver.

In our concrete lives, this Gospel is very challenging. First of all, it calls us to reciprocate the love we receive from God. We ask for many graces, but do we return the same love to Him? Are we grateful for the blessings we receive, or do we forget God when our petitions are satisfied? Then we must return the love we receive from others. Do we love those who help us, our relatives, parents, children, colleagues, parishioners? Do we give time to serve the Church, our commitment to proclaim the Good News to the world? Are we just recipients or do we want to be givers?

Finally, in our charity works, do we limit ourselves to helping our neighbors or do we also urge them to become givers? Let us remember that everyone becomes himself or herself only when he or she begins to love. Our and their maturity in faith is complete only when we become like our Father in heaven, who is love. Pieter's mother-in-law understood this.