Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
Today's Gospel continues a story from yesterday. After the prayer in the synagogue of Jesus' preaching, we went to Peter's house, which was only about 50 yards south of the synagogue.
Franciscan archaeologists found the remains of both buildings in the last century.
Peter's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and Christ healed her. His healing was so rapid and complete that she was immediately able to serve the guests. She did this also to thank Jesus for what he had done. In yesterday's Gospel, Christ helped a man in the synagogue.
In the passage we heard today, he helped a woman in Peter's house. In St. Luke's Gospel, this is the first time that Jesus casts out a demon, and the first time that he heals someone.
So, St. Ambrose sees these as particularly significant for understanding Jesus' work, and that's probably true. They are particularly important for St. Luke. These obviously aren't the first miracles that Jesus did in his life, but they're the ones that St. Luke chooses to put at the beginning of his Gospel. Also, Nazareth was not the first place that Jesus preached, but St. Luke chose to put that preaching at the beginning of his Gospel, when he begins to talk about Jesus' public life. So, what does St. Ambrose say?
By freeing a man and a woman of their respective afflictions, Christ shows that salvation is meant for both sexes. He frees first a man and then a woman, because, in the beginning, he created first a man and then a woman. He is restoring what he created. He frees from a demon, and he frees from a disease. The latter is a natural evil, the former is a preternatural evil. Christ has the power to deliver us from all evils. The Sabbath commemorates God's rest after he finished the work of creation, but then sin marred that work, and so on the Sabbath he resumes. He begins to restore what he had once created. St. Ambrose adds that the fever of Peter's mother-in-law, that in this fever we could see a prefiguration of our flesh afflicted by various illnesses and concupiscences, and we burn with various things. St. Ambrose says our fever is passion, our fever is lust, our fever is anger, vices which, although they affect the body, perturb the soul, the mind, and the feelings. So, by delivering this woman of a fever, Christ shows that he can deliver us from all these vices.
The setting of the sun marks the end of the Sabbath. For the Jews, and also for Europeans in the past, the day begins at sunset. This is what it says in Genesis, evening came and morning followed one day. So the setting of the sun marks the end of the Sabbath and the beginning of a new day, the day after the Sabbath. So now people feel free to make the effort necessary to bring their sick and possessed friends and relatives to Jesus, who then heals the sick and casts out demons. As in the synagogues who also, at Peter's house, did not want the testimony of demons, so he silenced them. Why did he not want it?
St. Athanasius explains this for us. He did this to keep them from sowing their own wickedness in the midst of the earth. He also wished us to get used to never listening to them, even though they seem to speak the truth. The day after the Sabbath will be known as the Lord's Day, because this is the day on which he will rise from the dead with healing in his wings. This is the day of the week on which he laid his hands on each of the sick people and cured them. It shows us then the power of the resurrection. As day was dawning, he went out to a deserted place to pray. In Nazareth, he had been rejected.
In Capernaum, he had been received with enthusiasm, but how many of those people who were enthusiastic would arrive at a genuine conversion? He had to also preach elsewhere. He could not stop with just these two places. He had to proclaim the good news of the kingdom elsewhere, too.
The crowds gathered again in the morning, but they found Jesus was no longer at Peter's house, because he had gone out to pray, so they went looking for him. When they found him, they tried to get him to stay, but he had to go to preach elsewhere. He went south from Galilee to Judea and preached in the synagogues there. So first, St. Luke tells us about Jesus' preaching in Galilee, giving us these two examples of Nazareth and Capernaum, and then he speaks of him preaching in Judea. The whole world, however, needs to hear the gospel, not just the Holy Land, and so the Church continues Christ's mission of evangelization.
St. Paul preached the gospel in many cities, but Colossae was not one of them. That city was evangelized by Epaphras, St. Paul's fellow-servant, or fellow-slave, as our translator puts it, a servant or slave in service to Christ. As we find out later in the letter, Epaphras also worked in two other cities that were near Colossae, Laodicea and Hierapolis. He is a trustworthy minister of Christ, unlike some other people who had come to Colossae.
St. Paul thanks God that the Colossians accepted the genuine gospel as Epaphras preached it.
Their faith proves it is genuine by the fruits of charity it produces. By your fruits, you shall know them. Their hope in God is another proof. True charity and hope are both founded upon faith. St. Paul is writing to them, as we shall see in the coming days, to warn them against the danger of syncretism arising from the paganism and the occult beliefs that circulate in their city. And the way that he does this is a positive one. He does not so much speak about the earth as to help them to appreciate the uniqueness of Christ. In this way, they will see that Christ is far superior to the other supposed supernatural beings that the pagans or speculating philosophers speak of. Understanding the uniqueness of Christ is still important today when people try to reduce him to just another religious leader. But if we know who he really is, if we truly come to know Christ, who will accept him as substitutes. 
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.