Daily Catholic Reflection: Thursday, February 1, 2024, Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

1 Kgs 2:1-4, 10-12

Psalm: 1 Chronicles 29:10, 11ab, 11d-12a, 12bcd

Mk 6:7-13                            Full Readings

Saint Ansgar

Sent Them Two by Two

Brethren, for quite a number of days, we have been reflecting and learning from David very important lessons. Today, he dies, leaving the kingship to Solomon his son.  David finished his kingship successfully despite the grave sins he committed. What made David a great king is known to us all. He was the founder of the dynasty and in some sense the founder of the liturgy of Israel. Perhaps most of all he was the model of the repentant sinner, admitting his failure and casting himself on the mercy of the God to whom he owed so much. He stayed focused on his mission which God had entrusted him and when he sinned he came back to God, when he failed, he withdrew strength from God with trust that he will rise up and fulfil his mission. He relied only on God's providence as Jesus encourages his disciples in today's Gospel.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, January 31, 2024, Memorial of Saint John Bosco, Priest, Year B

2 Sm 24:2, 9-17

PS 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7

MK 6:1-6                             Full Readings

Saint John Bosco

Familiarity Blinds our Vision of God

Brethren, knowing people so well may hinder us from knowing them truly. We get so used to what we have known of people that we tend to be blind to what they have become or are becoming. For the people of Jesus’ hometown, ‘This is the Carpenter, surely…’ and they would not accept him.’ The wisdom in his teachings and the reports about his power, even those that were before their very eyes did not fit into their initial knowledge and impression of him, and thus were unacceptable to them. They did not know that the Carpenter was also the Messiah they awaited and hence, rejected him and he could work no miracle there. We must be careful not to let our familiarity blind us to the wonders of God’s ways. Being a Christian in this age and time requires great openness to God’s continual action in the church, in the world and in our very own brothers and sisters. We must be careful not to set a boundary as to the extent of God’s wonders and his ways.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Tuesday, January 30, 2023, Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

2 Sm18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30–19:3

PS 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Mk 5:21-43                             Full Readings

Blessed Angela Truszkowska

Parents and Children

Brethren, every time we always have something to learn from David. From today's first reading, we have two lessons we can learn concerning the relationship between members of the family. Firstly, is that children in their way of behaving should really be mindful of their parents and the second one is that parents should have unwavering and unending love of parents towards their children. The son of David Absalom turned against his father David, fought him and yesterday we saw David running for his life. Today, Absalom, as he is riding a mule becomes stuck with his head caught in the oak tree and is hanging between heaven and earth. Joab, one of David men, uses this chance to kill him and when the news reached David, he, instead of rejoicing that the enemy is killed, he mourns seriously for the loss of his son. David shows that his love for his son exceeds everything Absalom did for him.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Monday, January 29, 2024, Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

2 Sm 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13

PS 3:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Mk 5:1-20             Full Readings

Servant of God Brother Juniper

You are not Irredeemable.

Brethren, when you sin or turn away from God, do you have a real sorrow for your sins, take responsibility of them or you try to run away from them and their consequences? Sometimes, we sin too much, and we feel that we are irredeemable but one of the conditions of true repentance and forgiveness, is the true sorrow for sin while taking the responsibility of our sins without blaming anybody even if we were drawn into sin by another person. This is because God gave us reason and freedom to decide on what to do and what not to do. We have also to accept the consequences while praying to God that he may forgive us and lighten our punishment.

Daily Catholic Reflection: January 28, 2024, Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Dt 18:15-20

Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9

1 Cor 7:32-35

Mk 1:21-28                Full Readings

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Teaching Authority of Jesus

Brethren, Moses was the messenger who gave the Law to Israel on Mount Sinai. In their difficult and lonely journey of forty years through the desert, he was their leader. It was his legal decisions on cases presented to him which formed Israel. His prayers gave them manna in the desert, water from the rock and protection from their enemies. Israel remembered him ever afterwards as the founder of their people. In the Book of Deuteronomy, the last of the five books of the Law, God had promised that he would raise up another leader, a Second Moses. At the time of Jesus God’s final messenger, who would put everything to rights, was thought of in these terms. This is why Matthew especially represents Jesus in these terms: just like Moses, he was persecuted at birth by the king, and later had to flee into exile until his persecutor was dead. He taught his Sermon on the Mount just as Moses gave the Law on the mountain. He gave bread in the desert just as Moses had done. So, in today's Gospel as Jesus taught ‘with authority’ in the synagogue at Capernaum, he was seen as acting like Moses, the teacher.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Friday, January 26, 2024, Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, bishops, Year B

2 Tm 1:1-8 or Ti 1:1-5

PS 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 7-8a, 10

Mk 4:26-34                             Full Readings

Saints Timothy and Titus

Making A Difference

Brethren, today we celebrate the memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus who were close associates of Saint Paul in his various missionary journeys. Through his pastoral letters to these two, Saint Paul shows that affirming the lives of his followers and associates usually brings out the best qualities in them. Even the best needs encouragement, renewal, prayer and perseverance. Today’s lesson to all Christians is that each of us should be a source of inspiration to others. The witness of these two saints made them part of the family of God.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, January 23, 2024, Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, Year B

2 Sm 7:4-17

PS 89:4-5, 27-28, 29-30

Mk 4:1-20                              Full Readings

Saint Francis de Sales

Which Type of Soil is Your Heart?

Brethren, in the gospel today, we are presented with the parable of the Sower, who went out to sow and as he sowed: Some seeds fell on the path and were pecked by the birds, some on the rocky ground and were scorched by the sun, some in the thorns and withered because of lack of roots and others on good soil and brought forth a hundredfold. Surprisingly, Jesus meant how we receive the word of God and how it has power in our lives if we receive and live it.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Tuesday, January 23, 2024, Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

2 Sm 6:12b-15, 17-19

PS 24:7, 8, 9, 10

Mk 3:31-35                               Full Readings

Saint Marianne Cope

Jesus' Family: Doers of the Will of the Father

Brethren, today's Gospel gives us the way of becoming part of God's family. It is only through doing the Will of God. When the mother of Jesus and his brothers and sisters came looking for him, he told the crowd that his mother and brethren are those who do the Will of God. This means that when we do the Will of God we become members of God's family, mothers, sisters, or brothers of Christ, with one Father, God who is in heaven. Through baptism, we have become “members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). We share a family name: Christian. As part of this family, we are called to do God’s will and “love each other like brothers and sisters” (Romans 12:10). All Christians therefore are our mothers, sisters and brothers.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Sunday, January 21, 2024, Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sunday of the Word of God, Year B

Jon 3:1-5, 10

Ps 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

1 Cor 7:29-31

Mk 1:14-20                   Full Readings

Saint Agnes

The Call of Jesus Needs Urgency

Brethren, on this third Sunday in the Ordinary Time, we celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God. Pope Francis established the Sunday of the Word of God on September 30, 2019. This day is celebrated on the third Sunday of Ordinary Time and is dedicated to the celebration, reflection, and dissemination of the Word of God. The Pope wrote a Motu proprio “Aperuit illis”, in response to requests from the faithful around the world to celebrate the Sunday of the Word of God. The timing of the document is significant: 30 September is the Feast of Saint Jerome, the man who translated most of the Bible into Latin, and who famously said: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. let us today receive the Word of God, not just be hearers but also doers of the Word. The Word of God always calls us not only to love Him but also to become fishers of men as Jesus' call to the first Apostles.  Are we ready to answer His call?

Daily Catholic Reflection: Saturday, January 20, 2024, Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

2 Sm 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27

PS 80:2-3, 5-7

Mk 3:20-21                        Full Readings

Saint Sebastian

Doubting the Work of Jesus

Brethren, Jesus is the perfect revelation of God, the good news and the bringer of Good News, and the long-awaited Messiah who was to come. When Jesus came, he taught with authority, cured the sick, casted out demons and did many miracles. This was an indication of the arrival of the kingdom of God. But what was the response to Him?  Some people, of course, listened to Him attentively with faith and glorious astonishment at His words and actions.  They could see His divinity shine through and knew He was the Son of God, the Savior of the World. But today's Gospel reveals that others, even some who were His own relatives, thought He was “Out of His mind!”  Very interesting and very revealing for our own faith journey.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, January 17, 2024, Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot, Year B

1 Sm 17:32-33, 37, 40-51

Ps 144:1b, 2, 9-10

Mk 3:1-6                         Full Readings

Saint Anthony of Egypt

Sabbath is Made for Man

Brethren, yesterday we saw David being appointed as a king of Israel. Today he goes on to attack Goliath with just a sling and a stone. Obviously ill-equipped and at a disadvantage against the experienced, well-equipped Goliath, and ignoring the persuasion not to go against the philistine, young David marched forward courageously, with only one assurance: it’s God’s battle, not mine. So, against the vicious and vilifying giant, David proclaimed: “I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts.” David beat Goliath and restored dignity to Israel. The Goliaths we stand against daily may be individuals, groups, systems, unknown forces, and sometimes forces from within. Their menacing power cowers us and puts us under constant fear and horror. Knowing that the battle is the Lord’s and that we come against those forces in the name of God and never alone, is sufficient strength for the struggle. Loving God, please fight our life’s battles for us!

Daily Catholic Reflection: January 16, 2023, Tuesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

1 Sm 16:1-13

Ps 89:20, 21-22, 27-28

Mk 2:23-28                         Full Readings

Saint Berard and Companions

Sabbath is Made for Man

Brethren, how lucky must have been David, to be told by God, "I have found David, my servant." Imagine if God is telling you the same words, and indeed he told you and at the time we were baptised, and recieved us both as his children and his servants to love him, serve him and at last be with him in heaven. This was the same way David was chosen after unexpected anointing by Samuel as we see in the first reading. David, though found by God, was not perfect, but he kept on realizing that he was a sinner and came back to God and God forgave him. The good deeds of David that were sustained gave him and his followers the privilege to eat the meal of the High Priests. This the same David that Jesus quotes in the gospel today, who entered the sanctuary with his men and ate the bread that was only eaten by only priests (1 Samuel 21:1-6). Jesus uses this example to teach us that Sabbath was made for man not man made for Sabbath. This was because the Pharisees had taken law of Sabbath to be a law of oppressing people and a scape goat from doing works of charity. God can waive laws in order to see us saved. We in turn must not be inhumanly strict.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Saturday, January 13, 2023, Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

1 Sm 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1

Ps 21:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Mk 2:13-17                   Full Readings

Saint Hillary of Poitiers

Follow Me

Brethren, in yesterday's first reading, we saw the Israelites demanding a king from Samuel. This indirectly meant that Israelites had refused God as their king because Israel was a theocratic nation meaning it was led by God himself as a king. That's why we see Samuel anointing Saul as a king of Israel. Don't we sometimes also reject God as our king and prefer to make others our kings, or even make our own egos our kings? The similar scene is also seen in the New Testament, when the Jews rejected Jesus as their king preferring Ceaser. How often do we reject Jesus as our king and give in to sin? However, though we reject Jesus, he is always waiting for and inviting us to follow him, as we see in the gospel of today, and our role is to have a positive response to Jesus.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2024

THEME

"You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself."

Luke 10:27

The theme for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2024 was selected by the Pontifical Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the World Council of Churches, and the Christian Churches in Burkina Faso, coordinated by the community of Chemin Neuf, a French Catholic and ecumenical community of vowed and lay people and its local community in Burkina Faso. 

The theme, taken from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, reflects the connection between love of God and love of neighbor with a particular concern for challenging the boundaries of who is considered "neighbor". In this pericope, Jesus is questioned as to the path to eternal life. His answer is not to only observe the commandments, but to also imitate the love of God in the giving of self for another. It is a call for charity, mercy, justice, and unity.

Download Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Resources

Biblical Reflections and Prayers for the Eight Days

• Day 1, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Daily Catholic Reflection: Thursday, January 11, 2023, Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

1 Sm 4:1-11

Ps 44:10-11, 14-15, 24-25

Mk 1:40-45                   Full Readings

Blessed William Carter

Lord If You Will, Heal Me

Today, we are presented with a leper who knew he could not cure himself but needed Jesus' divine touch. He came to Jesus and said, "If you want to, you can cure me." Jesus stretched his hands touched him and healed him. We too today can come to Jesus and say to him, Jesus if you will heal me. It becomes inevitable therefore for us as human beings to always rely on God's help in all the daily battles of our life but more especially our illnesses both spiritual and physical.  Jesus is ready to heal us, let us come to him.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, January 10, 2023, Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time, Year B

1 Sm 3:1-10, 19-20

Ps 40:2 and 5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

Mk 1:29-39                                                        Full Readings

Blessed Pope Gregory X 

Prayer: A Strong Companion to Mission 

After a powerful day of miracles and preaching, Jesus rose early the next morning to go to a “lonely place in the desert” to pray in communion with His heavenly Father (Mk 1:35). It is from this place of deep communion with the Father that Jesus comes out to minister with power and authority. He shows us that prayer is a strong companion to mission, without prayer, our mission might not bear fruit as expected. Jesus going off to pray in the early morning, shows that the well-spring of all his activity was his union with the God whom he called his Father. We cannot say what Jesus’ prayer was, any more than I can say what your prayer is, but the confident communication between Father and Son must have been the source of his strength and compassion.