Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 22, 2026
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing,
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan,
and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him
and shout, “You are the Son of God.”
He warned them sternly not to make him known.
Mary reveals to us the path of salvation through Christ with her proclamation of praise and glory. She magnifies the Lord through her openness in the Annunciation and continues to faithfully carry out her mission as a constant song of praise. The interaction we read today between Mary and Elizabeth in the Visitation illuminates what it is to see Christ and to respond in love.
Elizabeth literally sees Christ in another person, Mary, and this moves her to “[cry] out” in praise. The infant in her womb, John the Baptist, even responds by “[leaping] with joy.” Here we see a profound recognition of and response to Christ. The movement of her heart elicited a physical response. The presence of God necessarily moves us and calls us to praise, since the only response fitting for such a Savior is one of worship.
This gospel challenges us not only to recognize Christ’s presence in Mary’s womb, but also challenges us to recognize Christ’s presence in other people and all of creation as we lift up our song of glory and praise. We, like Elizabeth, should strive to see Christ in others, allow his presence to penetrate our hearts, and move us to respond in love by giving praise to love itself incarnate in the womb of a woman.
We are called to proclaim God’s greatness in word and deed and to rejoice in God—for there is always reason to rejoice. Help us, Lord, we pray, that we may proclaim the greatness of God with our lives, so that we, like Mary, may find favor with God.
Notre Dame, our Mother, pray for us!
Prayer
Lord, in you we trust, and you will not allow this trust to be in vain. You rescue us from stumbling so that here on earth we will walk in the light of your hope and in the strength of your grace. May we always through faith hear your voice and be ready to do your will. 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.
To learn more about this important topic, consider listening to Caring for Women and Children: Navigating Medicine, Law, and Policy After Dobbs from the McGrath Institute for ChurchLife.
Patron saints of the Right to Life movement, pray for us that we might build a consistent culture of life!