REFLECTIONS ON THE WORD – 01/22/22 (Memorial of St. Vincent)

Mark 3:20-21

20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when His family heard it, they went out to seize Him, for people were saying, "He is beside Himself."

For the full readings, click here: 

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/daily-readings

Blessed Memorial of St. Vincent! We are called by God to love our neighbors, including our enemies. In our gospel reading for today, Jesus and His disciples went inside a house, but the crowd were so many. Then, some of the people in this crowd were saying that Jesus was beside Himself, or He was out of His mind. These were coming from the relatives of Jesus. Because of their hatred of Christ who spoke against their sins when He was preaching the gospel, they were saying hurtful and negative words about Him. But, what did Jesus do? He continued to love them because like His followers who came to Him for a miracle, His enemies had spiritual wounds that were in need of healing even if they did not know it. 

Unfortunately, we should expect some oppositions from other people, including our families and friends, when we devote ourselves to Christ and His teachings. We should also expect to hear negative criticisms and mockeries even if we know deep within that we're simply following Jesus. Why does God allow this? He allows it for many reasons, and one reason is that this is an opportunity to be an instrument of the mercy of God. Rather than being angry at our enemies and responding with hatred, Jesus wants us to imitate Him by continuously loving them regardless of what they say or think of us. We can do this by always praying for them, especially when we bear their faults. At the same time, we can offer up our sufferings to God for the salvation of their souls. It is truly difficult to love our enemies. However, when we look at them and acknowledge that their hearts are wounded by sins, we can be merciful to them just as how Jesus is merciful to all of us. 

May we always love our enemies by praying for them and offering up to God our sufferings for their conversion. Jesus is pleased with our sacrifices, and our rewards are awaiting in heaven if we are always faithful to His mission for us. He will perfect us in love as we strive to be a witness to other people. In this way, many people, including our enemies, may see Christ in us. Let us always serve Jesus by serving our neighbors. As long as we remain in Jesus, He will enable us to do good works for other people which will give glory to our Lord. 

Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic