Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 29, 2019
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.”
“For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
There are times in our lives when saying “yes” to God’s will comes easily and is often followed by feelings of peace and joy.
In his autobiography, He Leadeth Me, Fr. Walter Ciszek describes this sense of joy at the beginning of his mission to Russia: “It was as if my whole life, in God’s plan, had pointed to this moment.” This is exactly how I felt when I said “yes” to becoming a teacher with the Alliance for Catholic Education. Every smaller moment, from playing “teacher” as a child to taking classes in education during college, pointed to this greater moment. I feel this joy every year when I continue to say yes to teaching.
Once the back-to-school excitement wears off, however, the day-to-day tasks of teaching are not always joy-filled. There are moments when I ask myself, “God, is this really your will?” No matter what our vocation, we all encounter this dilemma when life becomes unexpectedly difficult or frustratingly mundane. While experiencing difficulties in his own mission, Walter Ciszek found the best response was a “childlike faith” which responds “lovingly to all the situations of the day as truly sent by God.”
I am so grateful for my vocation as a Catholic school teacher because I learn so much more about this “childlike faith” from my first graders than I have from any other teacher. They teach me how to trust fully, forgive freely, and live in the present moment. My students inspire me to keep saying “yes” to what God brings me each day. This Catholic Schools Week, let us strive to follow God’s will with this truly childlike faith.
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
Major relics of the early Christian martyr St. Severa rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. Upon entering the chapel, visitors are immediately drawn to a wax figure of St. Severa, which rests above two lead boxes that contain her bones.
Severa was a child in a Christian family of martyrs who were killed in the early Christian persecutions. Her parents are Sts. Maximinus and Secunda, and her brothers are Sts. Mark (not the evangelist) and Calendine. Severa's entire family is commemorated all together on this feast day.
Maximinus, her father, commanded a thousand soldiers. When it was discovered that he was converting many of his soldiers to Christianity, he was condemned to work in the mines. When he continued to make converts even there, he was executed.
His wife, Secunda, and her children were arrested and brought to trial. Secunda died from the anxiety of the crisis itself, and Mark, Calendine, and Severa were scourged and martyred.
St. Severa, the child-martyr whose bones rest in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart—pray for us!