Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 15, 2020
When Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions pursued him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”
He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”
And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
When I was in the second grade, I received my first communion. There was a party afterwards and people brought different gifts in celebration of the special day. My parents gave me a gift too, a pouch that was embossed with the words, “My Rosary.” I have carried all of my rosaries in this pouch.
For a long time the pouch stayed in my room, and I did not bother praying the rosary. I always figured going to Mass on Sunday was the time for me to pray. Soon after entering college however, I noticed a certain ache in my heart, a yearning. I began praying more, using different forms of prayer I had learned over the years in my Catholic school upbringing. I eventually turned to the rosary because I wanted to mimic my grandfather, a former Notre Dame football player who was revered in the community more for his commitment to praying his rosary every day than his accomplishments on the field. So I decided to dust off the brown pouch labeled, “My rosary” in my room and began praying my rosary each morning. The morning ritual changed my outlook on the day. I drew strength from the rosary and began looking forward to my alone time with God in the morning.
In the gospel, we see that Jesus needed time to be alone with God “while it was still dark.” When do we find time to be alone with God during the day?
Prayer
Lord, in healing Simon’s mother-in-law you restored his family. We need you to restore health to us, and to our family and friends. Please guide us to do all we can to bring healing and comfort to our minds and bodies and to those we love. Remove our anxiety and give us that peace and hope that surpasses human understanding. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Paul the Hermit was forced to flee to the desert to survive, but ended up living there an amazingly long time.
Paul was born around the year 230 in Egypt to an upper-class Christian family. He was well-educated, but left an orphan at the age of 15. The persecutions of Decius began a few years later, and members of his family planned a scheme to seize control of his property by reporting him as a Christian to the authorities. He fled both his family and the authorities by going into the desert and living in a cave.
The hermitic lifestyle suited Paul well and he spent the rest of his 113 year-long life surviving off fruit and water and wearing leaves. He spent most of his time in prayer, and a legend tells of a raven bringing him bread for sustenance.
St. Anthony the Abbot, who is traditionally credited with formalizing the monastic movement, visited Paul and became friends with him. (In fact, Anthony’s feast day lands in two days.) When he died, Anthony buried Paul in a cloak that was given to him by St. Athanasius, and it is said that two lions helped dig the grave. The two friends—Paul and Anthony—are depicted in murals in the Basilica on opposite-facing walls. St. Paul’s image includes the bread-bearing raven, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Paul the Hermit, who lived nearly 100 years in the desert on little more than prayer, pray for us!