Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 27, 2026
The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.
Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
“Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you.”
But he said to them in reply,
“Who are my mother and my brothers?”
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.”
Of the many blessings in my life, Alumni Hall’s weekly Bible study certainly ranks near the top. Every Friday evening, a remarkable group of Alumni Hall “dawgs” gathers to reflect on the Lord’s Word and to seek deeper intimacy with him. While encountering many spiritual insights throughout the year, one theme comes immediately to mind when reading this passage from Mark—the radical demands of Christ’s love.
When Jesus proclaims, “Here are my mother and my brothers,” referring to the crowd surrounding him, he radically redefines family. To do the will of God is to refuse to see anyone according to worldly markers of division—not as strangers, rivals, acquaintances, or even merely friends—but to regard and treat all people as our own brothers and sisters.
This familial love is fundamentally sacrificial. It requires the lowering of one’s own desires and, in accordance with Christ’s teaching, actively willing the good of another. Familial love is also unconditional. Family is not chosen; it is given. We do not love our siblings or parents because they are useful or impressive, but because we’re tied together by a unique and enduring bond. In this passage, Jesus reveals that we share a similar connection with every human being, as we are all collectively God’s children.
In a culture that endorses an eye-for-an-eye philosophy of justice, extending Christ’s love universally, particularly for one’s perceived enemy, feels radical. Nevertheless, it remains our Christian duty and God’s will.
May we pray for those we struggle to love, commit ourselves to reading God’s word consistently, and ask meaningful questions so people can tell us their stories rather than write one in our heads for them. In committing to these practices, we allow for the grace of Christ to transform our hearts, empowering us to transform the world through his radical call to familial love.
Prayer
Father, help us to see and hear your presence in the events of this day. Fine-tune our minds and hearts to pick up the often subtle signals of your guidance. Bless our efforts this day so that we may be a blessing to those for whom and with whom we work. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Angela Merici was a laywoman in fifteenth-century Italy who revolutionized the education of women as well as religious life.
She was born in 1474, the younger of two girls. By the time Angela was 15, the sisters were orphaned and sent to live with an uncle. Angela was distraught when her older sister died suddenly without receiving a final anointing. This event sent Angela to prayer—she joined a group of laypeople who lived in the spirituality of St. Francis, and she prayed fervently for the soul of her sister. She eventually received a vision in which she saw her sister celebrating in heaven.
Angela was admired for her beauty, and people found her hair especially pretty. To divert attention from herself, Angela covered her hair in ashes.
When she was 20, her uncle died, and she returned to her family home. She saw a great need for Christian education for girls—at the time women were educated only if they were rich or if they became religious sisters. Angela, herself, had only received an education by her own hard work.
At the time, girls fell through cracks in the educational system because women were not allowed to be teachers. Unmarried women could not do their own work outside of the house, and nuns lived in cloisters and could not leave the convent.
In response, Angela turned her house into a school to teach girls in her city of Brescia. Other young women joined her there; she formed these teachers into a community dedicated to the education of young women, and their work began to spread. “You have a greater need to serve the poor than they have of your service,” she told her companions.
In 1524, she took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On the way, she stopped in Crete and was suddenly struck blind. She continued on the pilgrimage, visiting all the sites as though she could see. When she was returning home, she stopped in Crete again, and her sight was restored while she was praying in front of a crucifix. For this reason, she is a patron saint of sick people and those who are disabled.
When the pope heard of the good work she was doing, he invited her to move to Rome. Angela saw this opportunity as a temptation to pride and decided to remain in Brescia with the community she had formed.
In 1534, she chose 12 of the women who shared her work and established a formal religious community, known as the Company of St. Ursula (now known as the Ursulines, or the Angelines). These sisters dedicated their lives to serving God and others but were not to remove themselves from the world, as cloistered orders do. The sisters would live celibate lives in their own homes.
When she died in 1540, there were 24 different communities of Ursuline sisters, and today these sisters lead educational institutions throughout the world. They were the first religious sisters to land in Canada in 1639. Her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica on campus, and her image appears in these stained glass windows in the Basilica.
St. Angela Merici, teacher of young women and patron saint of those who are disabled—pray for us!