Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 17, 2026
Jesus went out along the sea.
All the crowd came to him and he taught them.
As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus,
sitting at the customs post.
Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
And he got up and followed Jesus.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples;
for there were many who followed him.
Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners
and tax collectors and said to his disciples,
“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus heard this and said to them,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
In today’s passage, Jesus invites a man named Levi to follow him. Through this invitation, Jesus is not only inviting Levi to journey with Jesus to a place on earth, like a house or a garden, but he is actually inviting Levi to follow him to a place in Levi’s own heart, an opportunity for unity.
This invitation that Christ makes to Levi, he makes to each of us, as well. When Christ asks us to follow him, he is making an invitation to our own hearts. He is inviting us to let down the walls of our own fears, and to let the God of love and mercy enter in.
Later on in this passage, some scribes present a question to Jesus, saying, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus hears this question and responds, essentially saying, “This is why I came.”
When we think about these words in our own lives, we realize that we are the ones that Christ is inviting to follow him, and we are the tax collectors and sinners that Jesus came to sit at the table with.
G.K. Chesterton, Catholic philosopher and theologian, writes in his 1922 essay titled “Where All Roads Lead” that the two reasons a person joins the Catholic Church are as follows: “he believes it to be the solid objective truth, whether he likes it or not, and that he seeks liberation from his sins.”
In my own life, I desire to be more like Levi, following Jesus’ invitation into the depths of my own heart, and more like those who sat at table with Jesus, recognizing that he is the one who has the power to liberate me from my sins.
Prayer
Christ our good shepherd, you tirelessly seek out the lost and give strength to the weary sinner. In your unfathomable mercy, you never cease to pour out blessings upon those who despair of finding you. Help us to extend this same spirit of consolation to our brothers and sisters in need, and may we always imitate your example of tender care towards the marginalized. We ask this in your name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Anthony the Abbot is the famous father of monasticism in the Church—he took the Gospel literally and gave everything away to seek God in prayer.
Anthony was born in Egypt in 251, and when his parents died when he was about 20 years old, he assumed responsibility for the family’s 300 acres and for the care of his sister.
One day at Mass, he heard the words of Jesus proclaimed from this Gospel passage: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Mt 19:21). The passage moved him to action, and he walked out of the Church at that moment and gave away all of his property except what he and his sister needed for sustenance.
Later, he heard Jesus’ words from this passage: “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil” (Mt 6:34). He immediately gave away the rest of their property and entrusted his sister to the care of a convent. He began a simple life on the outskirts of town, embracing only prayer, fasting, and manual labor.
When he was thirty-five, he moved even further out of town to live alone in an abandoned fort. He received rations of bread only a few times a year and spoke to people through a crack in the wall. By this time, he was becoming well-known for his faithfulness and wisdom and people sought him out for counsel and healing.
Feeling disturbed by the crowds who were seeking him out, he went deep into the desert, where he lived by a small spring of water. His life took on a rhythm of prayer and work, a pattern that continues to sustain monastic communities today. Soon, hundreds of people followed his example by going into the desert to live an ascetical life of prayer, and they began to loosely congregate into communities.
During his time in the desert, Anthony became friends with St. Paul the Hermit, whose feast day fell two days ago. The two friends are depicted in murals that face one another in the Basilica, and they are also shown receiving bread from a bird in this woodcut from the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. Relics of both of them stand in the reliquary chapel.
Anthony died at the age of one hundred and five. St. Athanasius, who knew Anthony and wrote his story, said, "Anthony was not known for his writings nor for his worldly wisdom, nor for any art, but simply for his reverence toward God." He is depicted here with a book of Scripture that is aflame because God’s word sparked a fire in him to devote his whole life to God.
St. Anthony the Abbot, who sought perfection by giving away everything in order to seek treasure in heaven—pray for us!
Image credit: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528), St. Anthony Visits St. Paul in the Wilderness, ca. 1503, woodcut. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Acquired with funds provided by the Humana Endowment for American Art, 1991.001.157.