Catholic Daily Reflections

Read Online “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.” John 3:26  John the Baptist had amassed quite a following. People kept coming to Him to be baptized, and many wanted his ministry to grow. However, once Jesus began His own public ministry, some of the followers of John became jealous. But John gave the right...

Read Online The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray. Luke 5:15–16 This line concludes the beautiful and powerful story of a man who was full of leprosy and who came to Jesus, fell prostrate before Him and pleaded with Jesus to heal Him if it was His will. Jesus’ respons...

Read Online Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.  Luke 4:14–15 Jesus had just spent forty days in the desert, fasting and praying prior to beginning His public ministry. His first stop was Galilee, where He entered the Synagogue and read from the Prophet Isaiah. However, soon...

Read Online “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” Mark 6:50 Fear is one of the most paralyzing and painful experiences in life. There are many things we can fear, but most often, the cause of our fear is the evil one trying to deter us from faith and hope in Christ Jesus. This line above is taken from the story of Jesus walking on the water toward the Apostles during the fourth watch of the n...

Read Online When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. Mark 6:34 What is compassion? It’s an attribute by which someone sees the suffering of another and experiences true empathy for them. This empathy, in turn, leads the person to reach out and share in the person’s suffering, helping...

Read Online From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17 Now that our Christmas Octave and Epiphany celebrations are complete, we begin to turn our eyes to the public ministry of Christ. The above line from today’s Gospel presents us with the most central summary of all of the teachings of Jesus: Repent. However, He doesn’t say only...

Read Online When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage."   Matthew 2:1–2 The Magi were most likely from Persia, modern-day Iran. They were men who regularly engaged in a study of the stars. They were not Jewish but...

Read Online They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. John 1:38–39 What an interesting exchange. Andrew was one of two disciples of John the Baptist who heard John say that Jesus was the “Lamb of God.” As a result, Andrew and the other...

Read Online John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” John 1:32–34 It’s interesting to note tha...

Read Online “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”  John 1:26–27 Now that our Christmas Octave is completed, we immediately begin to look toward the future ministry of our Lord. In our Gospel today, Saint John the Baptist is the one who points us to that future ministry of Jesus. He...

Read Online And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.  Luke 2:19  Today, January 1, we complete our octave celebration of Christmas Day. It’s an often overlooked liturgical fact that we celebrate Christmas Day for eight straight days. We do this also with Easter Day, which concludes with the great celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. On this, the eighth day of the Octave of C...

Read Online What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  John 1:3–5 What a great image for meditation: “...the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This line completes the unique approach taken by John’s Gospel to introduce Jesus, the Eternal “Word” Who e...

Read Online There was a prophetess, Anna…She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.  And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.  Luke 2:36–38 We all have a unique and sacred calling given to us from God. Each one of us is called to fulfill that calling with generos...

Read Online When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.  Luke 2:39–40  Today we honor family life in general by pausing to ponder the particular and beautiful hidden life within the home of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In many ways,...

Read Online When the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Matthew 2:13 The most glorious event ever to take place in our world also filled some with hatred and rage. Herod, who was jealous of his own earthl...

Read Online On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. John 20:1–3 It’s interesting that Saint John refers to himself as the disciple “whom Jesus loved.” Of course, Je...

Read Online “When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” Matthew 10:19–20 These words of our Lord came to fruition in the life of Saint Stephen, the Church’s first martyr. Saint Stephen was martyred within a couple...

Read Online Merry Christmas! Our Advent preparations have been completed, and we are now invited by our Lord to enter into the glorious celebration of His birth! How well do you understand the awe-inspiring mystery of Christmas? How fully do you comprehend the significance of God becoming a human, born of a virgin? Though many are quite familiar with the beautiful and humble story of the birth of...

Read Online Zechariah his father, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; for he has come to his people and set them free…” Luke 1:67–68 Our story of the birth of Saint John the Baptist concludes today with the song of praise spoken by Zechariah after his tongue had been loosened on account of his transformation in faith. He had moved from doubting...

Read Online Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.  Luke 1:64 This line reveals the happy conclusion to Zechariah’s initial failure to believe in what God revealed to him. Recall that nine months earlier, as Zechariah was fulfilling his priestly duty of offering sacrifice within the Holy of Holies in the Temple, he received a visit from the glorious Archange...

Read Online “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Luke 1:42–43 Elizabeth expressed a beautiful humility in this statement. The Blessed Virgin Mary had just made a long journey to be with Elizabeth in her final months of pregnancy. As soon as our Blessed Mother greeted Elizabeth, Elizabeth’...

Read Online Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.   Luke 1:39–40 We are presented today with the glorious story of the Visitation. When Mary was about two months pregnant, she traveled to be with her cousin Elizabeth who was to give birth within a month. Though much could be said abou...

Read Online And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” Luke 1:35 Try to set aside all that you know about Jesus and simply ponder these words of the Archangel Gabriel as if you were to hear them as our Blessed Mother did for the very first time. She...

Read Online “I am Gabriel, who stand before God.  I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.  But now you will be speechless and unable to talk until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”  Luke 1:19–20 Imagine if the Archangel Gabriel appeared to you. What would that have been like? This particul...

Read Online This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Matthew 1:18–19 Mary’s pregnancy was truly mysterious. In fact, it was so mysterious that...