Daily Reflection for Thursday, January 20, 2022
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Thursday's readings at this link: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/012022.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: 1 Samuel 18:6-9; 19:1-7
Responsorial: Psalm 56:2-3, 9-10a, 10b-11, 12-13
Gospel: Mark 3:7-12
Our reflection on Thursday’s readings:
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. (Mark 3:9)
In today’s Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples to have a boat ready for him so he can get away from being crushed by a crowd of people who have traveled long and far to be healed by Jesus. I am not sure I have had the experience where I wanted to see someone so desperately that I would risk being crushed and trampled by the crowd. In today’s context, it seems we read about people being crushed at concerts where a popular band or singer was performing.
As I reflect on the Gospel today, I am imagining what would move me to place myself in such a risky position. Perhaps if I knew that someone could have healed my mother from Alzheimer’s, I may have joined the crowd. Or perhaps, if I knew that someone could have saved the 500 plus people who died from gun violence in Philadelphia in 2021, I may have joined the crowd. Or maybe, if I knew that someone could eradicate COVID from our world, I would have joined the crowd to see and touch the healer.
The needs and desires were and are so great. Yet Jesus knew that His time had not yet come. He knew if the crowd crushed him at that moment, His mission would not have been accomplished.
I wonder if people left confused that Jesus did not heal them. I wonder if they lost faith in Jesus that day, as their hope was lost. Or did they feel His spiritual presence just being close to Him? And did they leave spiritually transformed by the full experience?
There have been many times I felt like Jesus left on the boat without hearing my plea for healing. Yet, I know something the crowd did not know that day: that Jesus’ everlasting healing power was unleashed at His Resurrection. And while life is filled with so much need for healing, the belief in the healing power of the Resurrection is enough for me to know that Jesus did not leave me on a boat somewhere. His presence is waiting for my presence to join Him.
May you know the healing power of the Resurrection today,
Margarita Solis-Deal