Today’s First Reading
From: Acts 3:1-10
Cure of a Man Lame from Birth
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[1] Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. [2] And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful to ask alms of those who entered the temple. [3] Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. [4] And Peter directed his gaze at him, with John, and said, "Look at us." [5] And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something from them. [6] But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." [7] And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. [8] And leaping up he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. [9] And all the people saw him walking and praising God. [10] and recognized him as the one who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder at what had happened to him.
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Commentary:
1. This was the hour of the evening sacrifice, which began around three o'clock and was attended by a large number of devout Jews. The ritual, which went on until dusk, was the second sacrifice of the day. The earlier one, on similar lines, began at dawn and lasted until nine in the morning.
2. None of the documents that have come down to us which describe the Temple mentions a gate of this name. It was probably the Gate of Nicanor (or Corinthian Gate), which linked the court of the Gentiles with the court of the women which led on to the court of the Israelites. It was architecturally a very fine structure and because of its location it was a very busy place, which would have made it a very good place for begging.
3-8. The cure of this cripple was the first miracle worked by the Apostles. "This cure", says St. John Chrysostom, "testifies to the resurrection of Christ, of which it is an image. [...] Observe that they do not go up to the temple with the intention of performing the miracle, so clear were they of ambition, so closely did they imitate their Master" ("Hom. on Acts", 8).
However, the Apostles decide that the time has come to use the supernatural power given them by God. What Christ did in the Gospel using His own divine power, the Apostles now do in His name, using His power. "The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up" (Luke 7:22). Our Lord now keeps His promise to empower His disciples to work miracles--visible signs of the coming of the Kingdom of God. These miracles are not extraordinary actions done casually or suddenly, without His disciples' involvement: they occur because our Lord is moved to perform them by the Apostles' faith (faith is an essential pre-condition). The disciples are conscious of having received a gift and they act on foot of it.
These miracles in the New Testament obviously occur in situations where grace is intensely concentrated. However, that is not to say that miracles do not continue to occur in the Christian economy of salvation--miracles of different kinds, performed because God is attracted to men and women of faith. "The same is true of us. If we struggle daily to become saints, each of us in his own situation in the world and through his own job or profession, in our ordinary lives, then I assure you that God will make us into instruments that can work miracles and, if necessary, miracles of the most extraordinary kind. We will give sight to the blind. Who could not relate thousands of cases of people, blind almost from the day they were born, recovering their sight and receiving all the splendor of Christ's light? And others who were deaf, or dumb, who could not hear or pronounce words fitting to God's children.... Their senses have been purified and now they hear and speak as men, not animals. "In nomine Iesu!" In the name of Jesus His Apostles enable the cripple to move and walk, when previously he had been incapable of doing anything useful; and that other lazy character, who knew his duties but didn't fulfill them. [...] In the Lord's name, "surge et ambula!", rise up and walk.
"Another man was dead, rotting, smelling like a corpse: he hears God's voice, as in the miracle of the son of the widow at Naim: 'Young man, I say to you, rise up'. We will work miracles like Christ did, like the first Apostles did" (St. J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 262).
Miracles call for cooperation--faith--on the part of those who wish to be cured. The lame man does his bit, even if it is only the simple gesture of obeying Peter and looking at the Apostles.