Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 3, 2024
The Apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.
They hastened there on foot from all the towns
and arrived at the place before them.
When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.
A good idea, even if it cannot be fully executed, remains a good idea. In today’s reading, Jesus looks at his disciples and sees what they do not say: they are tired. He invites them to take some time apart from work and other humans and “rest a while.”
Things don’t go quite as planned; by the time they get to the designated rest stop, a crowd has gathered. Jesus returns to his teaching, but the text doesn’t say what his disciples did. I’d like to think they still got just a bit of rest.
When asked at a November 2023 womanist biblical interpretation panel how African American scholars could continue to do their work well, the Rev. Dr. Gay L. Byron said one emphatic word: “Rest!”
Today is the Day of Prayer for African American Communities. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has asked us to pray and to contemplate whether and how the full measure of justice has been realized for the black community. The still lingering struggles of black folk include unequal access to health care, political systems predicated upon racial stereotyping, and the still present wealth gap, to name only three. These realities will require time and effort in order to become things of the past. But staying in the struggle and working for solutions and change also requires rest.
Rev. Dr. Byron returned to God unexpectedly just two weeks after that panel. Through her one word, however, she echoed Jesus’ word as well: rest.
Those of us descended from enslaved people know that for our ancestors, rest depended upon someone else’s assessment of when and whether they needed rest. Today, we are all free to rest and give our bodies and spirits what they need to face a world that all too often attacks both.
May our rest give us the strength to serve our communities with wisdom, mercy, and God’s abundant love.
Prayer
Dear Lord, as we go about our homes and work, let us bring your presence with us. Let us speak your peace, your grace, your mercy, and your perfect order to all we meet. Give us a fresh supply of strength to do our work. Let even our smallest accomplishments bring you glory. When we are confused, guide us. When we are burned out, infuse us with the light of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for being our source of life! 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, and his image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.
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.
