Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 22, 2023
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.
He went around all of Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness among the people.
In today’s gospel, we observe a turning point for Jesus, who travels to a new location and starts his teachings, healings, and miracles. Similarly, we learn of a turning point in the lives of two sets of brothers who Jesus asks to leave behind their families and become his followers and the foundation of the church.
These turning points remind me of when I have faced a difficult life choice. Sometimes the events that I encountered and the options presented to me were those that I had facilitated, and other times they were completely unexpected and took me by surprise.
Sometimes they involved events impacting my personal life, and others affected my professional life. Sometimes they brought me great happiness, and other times they caused me significant pain. Sometimes they validated everything I believed in, and other times they left me confused and searching for some explanation.
You have probably experienced all of these types of life events as well and have faced difficult choices, wishing that some of them had never occurred. But rather than fear them happening again in the future, we should embrace them.
All the turning points in our lives come with the blessed opportunity for Jesus to redirect and refocus our lives. Each time we face a difficult life choice, we must pray for the Holy Spirit to allow us to determine what Jesus would do so that we can follow Christ’s will for our lives.
If we follow Jesus’s teachings when making difficult life choices, we act just like Peter, Andrew, James, and John did when Jesus asked them to follow him—we too can become “fishers of men.”
Prayer
Loving Father, the light of your Son illuminates the truly beautiful but also reveals our sins. May we never despair but be quick to repent and reconcile. With unburdened hearts, may we see the face of God and joyfully proclaim, “The Kingdom of God is at Hand!” We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated today as a National Day of Prayer for the Protection of the Unborn.
People of all faiths—including Notre Dame faculty, staff, students, and alumni—customarily gather in Washington, D.C. to participate in the March for Life on this day. Thousands will gather to witness to what it means to walk with a woman who is pregnant and vulnerable.
Several saints are patrons for the Right to Life movement. St. Maximilian Kolbe is one of them—he was a Polish Franciscan priest who was imprisoned in 1941 and sent to a concentration camp for speaking out against the Nazis. When a fellow prisoner—a husband and father—was selected for execution in the camp, Maximilian stepped forward to take his place. With nine other prisoners, he was locked in a starvation chamber and eventually executed.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is another patron of the Right to Life movement. In 1531, she appeared to Juan Diego, an indigenous Indian living near what is now Mexico City. She appeared to him as an indigenous woman herself and spoke to him in his native language. She left him a miraculous sign—her image imprinted on his cloak. In the image, she appears with a black band around her waist—a custom symbolizing her pregnancy.
Patron saints of the Right to Life movement, pray for us that we might build a culture of life!