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.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Tuesday, January 9, 2023, Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

1 Sm 1:9-20

Ps: 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd

Mk 1:21-28                                                         Full Readings

Saint Adrian of Canterbury 

The Authority in the Words of Jesus

Dear Brethren, after our Christmas time is finished, we embark on the Ordinary time of the church's liturgical year where we reflect on fundamental teachings and miracles of Jesus. Today, after Jesus had chosen the first disciples, he moves on preaching with authority, the authority which has never been seen in the whole of Israel with any Rabbi. He showed his authority in his words and deeds. Today's Gospel shows the authority of Jesus' word as he commands the devil which possessed a man to get out of him. The devil surprisingly recognizes him as the Holy One of God. However, this was not a genuine confession but a way of defending itself.

Daily catholic Reflection: Monday, January 8, 2023, The Baptism of the Lord, Year A

Is 42:1-4, 6-7 or Is 55:1-11 or Acts 10:34-38 or 1 Jn 5:1-9

Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10 or Is 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6

Mk 1:7-11                                                          Full Readings

Saint Angela of Foligno

The Baptism of Jesus

Brethren, today we celebrate the feast day of the Baptism of Jesus. The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord concludes the Christmas Season and transitions us into the beginning of Ordinary Time I up to Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, an invitation to move and act with Jesus in his public ministry. From a Scriptural point of view, this event in Jesus’ life is also a transitional moment from His hidden life in Nazareth to the beginning of His public ministry. As we commemorate this glorious event, it’s important to ponder on some simple yet profound questions: why was Jesus baptized? Recall that John’s baptism was one of repentance, an act by which he invited his followers to turn away from sin and to turn to God. But Jesus was sinless, so what was the reason for His Baptism? What is the significance of his baptism to me? What is the invitation to me on this day of Jesus' Baptism?