Daily Gospel Reflection for May 22, 2024

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

Today's Gospel: Mark 9:38-40

Today’s Gospel is only three verses, but it has resonated deeply with me for years. When His disciples complain that someone outside their group is casting out demons, Jesus responds,

“Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Many years ago, I had an office temp job during the summer, and I spent my lunch breaks going for walks with a Hindu woman. Since I was teaching at a Catholic school at the time, we soon started sharing our faith traditions. One day, a young man who had recently become a Wiccan joined us. Although the Hindu woman and I obviously had many differences in our beliefs, we both gently shared with this young man (who was clearly searching for himself) that we believed he was created by a God who loved him and who asks us to share that love with others.

One day after lunch, we headed back into the conference room where all the temps worked. Long story short, the Hindu and the Wiccan were soon told they would go to hell by a Baptist and a non-denominational Christian. The latter then proceeded to tell me all the things he hated about Catholics.

Every time Christians argue with each other, I think of this experience. If only we could remember that we are on “Team Jesus” together, and instead of fighting with each other, work together to help others understand how loving and merciful our God is. There’s plenty of time later to get into the nitty gritty details of our beliefs, but if we don’t help others take that first step to learning the love of Christ, we’ll never have an opportunity to share with them the depths of our faith.

Ponder:

How might I work alongside our Christian brothers and sisters to make Christ’s love better known in this world?

Pray:

Lord, help all of us who follow Your Son to work together to bring others to You. May we not let our differences get in the way of spreading the good news.

Click to tweet:
A Catholic, a Hindu, and a Wiccan walk into a conference room . . . No, it’s not a joke, but a pivotal moment in learning to evangelize. #DailyGospel

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