Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 8, 2025
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.
It was years ago at a different time in our lives. My wife worked one night a week, and we had three young children. After a crazy day at work, it was up to me that evening to get the kids fed and into bed. While preparing dinner, I made several requests for the kids to clear the kitchen table of their homework and projects so we could sit down to eat. Requests were falling on deaf ears when suddenly something snapped.
I walked over to the kitchen table and, with my arm, cleared the table with one swipe, sending everything onto the floor into the corner. Not my proudest moment. Thankfully, the kids were very cooperative the rest of the night, and I have not detected any lasting emotional scars, but unsurprisingly, one of my biggest challenges remains patience.
In today’s passage, Jesus and his disciples needed rest and made plans to get away. Jesus’ followers had different ideas. He saw their spiritual hunger and put them above himself. Jesus continuously demonstrates his compassion, mercy, and patience when his plans are changed by encountering someone in need. What a great example to put others ahead of my priorities and stop to respond to them warmly. People like my wife, Mr. Rogers, and Mother Teresa embody this warmth so vividly to me—I am still praying and working on it every day.
Jesus’ message of love tells us that there is nothing more important than loving him by loving each other. Even if my plans are interrupted, I am tired, the kids aren’t listening, or I disagree with someone, knowing Jesus better helps me to pause and respond as he would. May we all grow closer to Jesus and care for each other daily as we journey to heaven.
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
Imprisoned, St. Jerome Emiliani made a deal with Mary—if she freed him, he would dedicate his life to serving God. That's just what happened.
Jerome was born in Venice, Italy, in 1481. When he was a teenager, his father died, and Jerome ran away from home. It may have been this experience as a homeless and orphaned teenager that allowed Jerome to identify with other abandoned children and devote his adulthood to serving them.
Joining the military pulled Jerome from his wayward path, and he soon rose in rank to command a league of forces in charge of a castle near Venice. When the fortress was captured, he was imprisoned in a dungeon.
There, in the dungeon, he had a lot of time to think, and he gradually learned to pray. He prayed to Mary and promised that if she helped him escape, he would live a life worthy of being called a Christian. She appeared to him in a vision, freed him from his chains, and led him out past his captors. When he returned to Venice, he placed his shackles in a Church as an offering of thanksgiving and a sign of his dedication.
He immediately began studies for the priesthood, and cared for the poor he found in Venice. He was ordained in 1518 amidst an outbreak of a plague, and he continued to care for the sick—especially for children who were orphaned by the sickness. He took these orphans into his own home and fed, clothed, and taught them. He was the first to use a question-and-answer format to teach children the Catholic faith, an approach that became common in catechisms.
He would wander the streets of Venice to bury the dead who had died of the plague that day. Eventually, he caught the fever himself, but survived, and he redoubled his efforts to help those who were suffering. He founded six orphanages, a hospital, and a shelter for prostitutes.
Others started to gather around him to help him, and he established a religious order of priests dedicated to the care of orphans, called the Clerks Regular of Somascha, after the place where they had their headquarters. This order continues his work today in a dozen countries.
St. Jerome is patron saint of orphans and abandoned children, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Jerome Emiliani, you braved the plague to care for children who were orphaned by it, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Jerome Emiliani is in the public domain. Last accessed December 5, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
