Daily Gospel Reflection for January 9, 2019

Today's Gospel: Mark 6:45-52 The Gospel starts today with a sense of urgency. There is no time wasted here! Jesus has just fed 5,000 men and collected the leftovers from a few loaves and fish. The disciples are not permitted to sit and watch the satiated crowd. No time to revel in the glory. Get in the boat and row: against the wind. For his own part, Jesus retires to a mountain to pray. Later, we learn that the disciples had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. It seems to me that I am like these disciples. I’ve seen the Good News. I have even, by the grace of God, been allowed to participate in it. But the danger falls in standing idle and watching the satiated smiles of those around me. The temptation is always there to see my own efforts - my own gifts - as the source of any promulgation of the Good News. I can’t see that my own heart has been hardened. It is not my own works, but that God works through me. I am better off leaving the crowds. I am better off set to work to rowing across the shores. The wind blows against me, but I have only to wait on Christ. He will come to me. He feeds me as He fed the crowds. He saves me, as He saves His disciples. My job is only to go where He tell me. To do as He tells me. To wait on Him always.

Ponder:

Do we do a good deed and stand around to watch? Are we waiting for thanks or, even worse, praise? Can we remember, instead, to thank Christ?

Pray:

Heavenly Father, help me to remain in You that I might be Your humble servant and faithful witness.

Copyright 2019 Christine Cooney Christine Cooney is a wife, mother, compulsive reader, and freelance writer living in Central Ohio. She also takes pictures (@Christine__Co) with her iPhone and blogs at Epiphanies of Beauty. Receive CatholicMom.com newsletters in your inbox, including the Daily Gospel Reflection each morning! * indicates required