Daily Gospel Reflection

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January 15, 2025

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
Mk 1:29-39
Listen to the Audio Version

On leaving the synagogue
Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.
They immediately told him about her.
He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.
Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

When it was evening, after sunset,
they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.
The whole town was gathered at the door.
He cured many who were sick with various diseases,
and he drove out many demons,
not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

Rising very early before dawn,
he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.
Simon and those who were with him pursued him
and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.”
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons
throughout the whole of Galilee.

Reflection

Andrew Hamaty ’17 M.Ed., ’20 M.A.
Director, Regional Development
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When I first read today’s gospel, I was instantly brought back to my days as an ACE teacher. I was stretched thin between daily lessons, playground duty, soccer coaching, CCD, and my community. On those particularly tough days, I needed the proper fuel—a Stripes breakfast taco. Stripes draws people from all walks of life; I’d often wait in line behind attorneys in suits, officers in uniform, and construction workers in fluorescent orange vests.

It’s likely that our days varied wildly, but demands would be made of each of us. We were all in line together to be fed.

Many of us are familiar with the dynamic of being pulled in multiple directions simultaneously. Perhaps no one understood this feeling more than the Son of God. Jesus had a whole town gathered at his door. I imagine he viscerally felt this stress. Jesus could’ve ignored the requests, vented to his disciples, or sought comfort from the demands placed upon him.

Instead, Jesus got up early and started his day off right. He spent time with the Father and remembered his mission. Jesus recognized that he could not give what he, in his humanity, did not have. He needed to bask in the Father’s love, hear the Father remind him of his purpose, and receive the daily sustenance of the Father’s reaffirmation to fulfill his purpose.

We, too, need a centered start. Regardless of what our day holds, there is a mission for each one of us. In the words of St. John Henry Newman, “God has created me to do him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another.”

When God is the center, the rest of our day falls into place according to God’s plan, and we resist the temptation to see ourselves as only accomplishers of tasks but mission-driven, chosen children of God. Regardless of what our day holds, each one of us needs to be fed. Join the line!

Prayer

Rev. Herbert Yost, C.S.C.

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

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!