Daily Gospel Reflection for February 4, 2021

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Mark 6:7-13

I read the email a second time as my heart began to race. As a health provider living in a COVID “hot spot,” I knew many others who were being redeployed from their regular roles into hospitals to care for patients with COVID. But as I read the email from my employer, I was hit with the reality that I, too, might be redeployed. And if I’m honest, I was terrified.

I wasn’t afraid of coronavirus or of getting sick. No, I was afraid I lacked the knowledge needed to care for very sick patients infected with COVID. I’ve worked in a very specialized outpatient clinic for nearly twenty years. In this role I am confident, good at my job! But pull me to the hospital and ask me to do something new and different? With people’s lives at stake? The mere thought of this left me feeling horribly ill-prepared and filled with anxiety.

I prayed I would not be redeployed.

In return, God led me to this passage in Mark’s Gospel, reminding me He called and sent out the twelve to address demon spirits and heal the sick … seemingly armed with NOTHING! No food, bags or money!

Did their hearts quicken with anxiety when Jesus told them of the plans? With their fishing backgrounds, did they, too, feel ill-prepared?

As I prayed with these verses, I heard His reassuring whisper … Jen, I have called you to healthcare. You know this is your vocation. I want you to trust that I have prepared you for all you will encounter, that I will not send you alone. I want you to trust in me, not in your own capabilities. Don’t let fear and anxiety surrounding your calling immobilize you.

Ponder:

Do you feel unqualified or anxious about something to which you know God has called you?

Pray:

Lord, grace me with the clarity to discern my vocation so I can follow Your will for my life. And when I feel unqualified to go where You are sending me, help me to always remember that my trust should lie in You, and not in my own capabilities. Amen.