Daily Gospel Reflection for January 20, 2025

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

Today's Gospel: Mark 2:18-22

The deeper into the practice of the spiritual life I get, the more I appreciate the power of order. The Scriptures (and the Byrds) remind us that “to everything there is a season,” and that’s true on the broader canvas of our lives as a whole and the smaller page of each day.

Honoring the Seasons
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the people that it is right that wedding guests celebrate when the bridegroom is with them,

“But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.”

It was right that we feasted during the Christmas season. It is right that we should fast in the upcoming season of Lent. There ought to be a sense of order in these days of ordinary time as well—a time to work, a time to pray, a time to eat, a time to read, a time to move, a time to be still.

Finding Order in the Day
The Church encourages a daily rhythm of prayer in her Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine Office. This is a beautiful practice, as is more simply starting the day with morning prayer, praying the Angelus at noon, offering grace at dinner, and praying in thanksgiving at day’s end with our families. When we root our days in prayer, we actively choose to make Christ the center of our lives and teach our children to do the same. In creating a pattern of having recourse to prayer, we set our hearts on Heaven.

Each day holds its own joys and challenges, many of which we cannot foresee. If our lives are built on a foundation of prayer and a relationship with Christ, we will never find ourselves weathering a season on our own.

Ponder:

What orders your day?

Pray:

Dear Lord, help me learn to live each day with You as my foundation and support. Remind me that it is only by Your grace that I have this gift of life.

Daily Gospel 2