Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 3, 2021
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
It can be easy to think of people who are far from us as great people, but much harder to imagine the same about those whom we know very well. We like to see people of great wisdom and influence at a distance. The people from Jesus’ hometown show us this same tendency in today’s gospel passage.
It seems like the power of his message and the familiarity of his origin are too much for the crowd to process and they simply can’t accept it. On the one hand they openly proclaim, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!” And yet, on the other hand, they “took offense at him” and asked, “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary?”
As I contemplated this, two things occurred to me. The first is that this is part of the mystery of the incarnation. Jesus is intimately close to us in his humanity, as he was to his friends and family, and yet transcendent in the greatness of his divinity. How can we hold these two things together? Like the crowd in this gospel, we can find this juxtaposition jarring.
The second thing I realized is that we not only have trouble viewing those close to us as wise or important, we also have trouble viewing ourselves in that way. In our faith, we should not only think of saints as people who lived long ago or in distant lands. We are all called to lives of saintly holiness. We are all called to witness to the power of Christ in our families, among our friends, and in our hometowns. If we find that we are not immediately accepted and embraced for this, that only makes us more like Jesus.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, give us today a faith to believe in you. You are the one sent by the Father to reconcile the world and to forgive us of our sins. Perfect our doubts, purify our lips, that we may only speak and act for your glory and praise. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Many Catholics are familiar with St. Blaise because he is associated with a special blessing of the throats that is given on this day.
Blaise was born to a wealthy family of noble heritage in present-day Armenia in the fourth century. He received a good education—some accounts tell us that he was a physician before he was named a bishop.
During a persecution of Christians, Blaise escaped arrest by living in a cave. There are many stories about him interacting with wild animals during his hiding. People sought him out there to ask for his intercession because he was known for curing the sick.
One woman came to him with her little boy, who was close to dying because he had a fishbone stuck in his throat. Blaise healed the boy; this event and others like it has made him the patron saint of those with throat trouble.
He was eventually discovered and brought to authorities. While he was being transported to prison, the arresting party came across a poor woman in distress. The woman depended upon her pig for her livelihood, but a wolf had carried the pig away. At the command of St. Blaise, the wolf returned it unharmed.
While he was imprisoned, Blaise was beaten and starved. The woman whose pig he saved brought him food, and she also brought him candles so that he would not have to sit in the dark of his dungeon. Eventually, Blaise was tortured and beheaded.
The story of the throat miracle and the candles in the dungeon are the origins of the special blessing of the throats that is given today with candles. Traditionally, the candles are blessed on Feb. 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also known as Candlemas.
Priests hold these candles in the shape of an “X” and place them over the head or under the chin, and extend this prayer: “Through the intercession of Saint Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you from every disease of the throat and from every other illness, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
The Church prays in a special way today for all of those who are sick as well as those who care for them. St. Blaise’s relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Blaise, who saved a boy from choking to death and intercedes for those facing illness—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Blaise is in the public domain. Modified from the original. Last accessed January 23, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
