Daily Bible Reflections
for January 20, 2025
;

Dear Friend,

Conquer this new week with God's Word in your heart!

Praying for you,

Bo Sanchez



20
January
Monday
TODAY'S READINGS:

DIDACHE | COMPANION | SABBATH
DIDACHE

A NEW MIND
“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” – Mark 2:22, NIV

In Gawad Kalinga, I knew of a boy who grew up in the slums and was adopted by a Catholic family. The boy used to eat rocks when he was hungry because they had nothing else to eat. One day, his adoptive parents saw him still eating pebbles. He was already in a new home where he could eat anything he wanted, but he still carried within him his old environment.

It’s like the “homing instinct,” where the abused return to abusive situations because that’s what they’re used to. They’d rather have pain, since it’s familiar, than face an uncertain future. The homing instinct also happens to lotto winners and people who suddenly become rich. Their poverty mindset makes them squander all their money away in just a few years because they’re still poor inside. But there is hope! We don’t have to return to our old ways of thinking that rob us of God’s joy, love, and abundance. He wants to heal us deep in our souls, starting with the way we think. He gives us a new heart and a new mind (Ezekiel 36:26), a new spiritual home for the new things He wants to give us. Marjorie Duterte (writersretreatph@gmail.com)


reflect

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)

Dear Father, renew our minds this year, create in us the mind of Christ. Amen.


Saint Fabian, martyr, pray for us.

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COMPANION

First Reading | Hebrews 5:1-10

Christ is the perfect high priest because the offering of Himself is without the blemish of sin. He brought salvation to the world through His obedience to the Father’s will. His obedience undid the disobedience of Adam which we participate in through original sin. It is through Christ’s self-offering to the Father that He redeems us. Without the sacrifice of Christ, our own sacrifice would be ineffective.

1 Brothers and sisters: Every high priest is taken from among men and made their representative before God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring, for he himself is beset by weakness 3 and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. 4 No one takes this honor upon himself but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 In the same way, it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest, but rather the one who said to him: You are my Son; this day I have begotten you; 6 just as he says in another place: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. 7 In the days when he was in the Flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; 9 and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10 declared by God high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.


Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4

R: You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek.

1 The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.” (R) 2 The scepter of your power the Lord will stretch forth from Zion: “Rule in the midst of your enemies.” (R) 3 “Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor; before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you.” (R) 4 The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent: “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” (R)


Gospel | Mark 2:18-22

The Pharisees are often fixated on the Law. While the Law is important, it is not the focus of the spiritual life—love is. Let us live the law in love, not in judgment of others’ failures. Our concern must be for our own righteousness and leave others up to themselves. We do not know other people’s situations, so how can we judge their actions fairly?

Gospel Acclamation

The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

18 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to Jesus and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But thedays will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and thenthey will fast on that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. 22 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”


Reflect:

What is more important to you: to love or to be right? Why?


Read the Bible in one year! Read MARK 5 - 8 today.

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SABBATH

The Wonder of the Ordinary

Today, you will notice that priests are wearing green vestments. This signals the return to Ordinary Time in the Church calendar. It comprises the longest period in our calendar—34 weeks in all. During Ordinary Time, we just contemplate the ordinary and everyday events in the life and ministry of Jesus.

But don’t let the term “ordinary” mislead you. Ordinary doesn’t mean insignificant or unimportant. The Ordinary Time of the Church calendar is actually a call to imbibe a particular spirituality. I call it the everyday sense of the sacred.

Ordinary Time reminds us that God does not manifest Himself only in grand and spectacular ways, like the Nativity; Epiphany; the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus; Pentecost; etc. Every day, the sacred can be seen if we only have the right pair of eyes. Ordinary Time reminds us of the things we tend to take for granted because they are, yes, just ordinary.

Do you remember the COVID-19 pandemic that plagued the world in early 2020? When we were all forced to stay in our homes to curb the transmission of the virus, we didn’t rush to the beach, bars, hotels, and golf courses. We rushed to the nearest market and drugstore. We didn’t care for luxury items, nice clothes, and fancy food. We only cared for the basics—things that really matter to keep us alive.

Deprived of our luxuries, we began to appreciate our family, our health, and our relationships. We began to notice “unseen” people, like the doctors, nurses, delivery men, grocery attendants, janitors who disinfect markets, and policemen who maintain social order. After the pandemic, we never saw the world the same way again. We began to treasure every ordinary moment of our life.

 

That is the paradox and gift of Ordinary Time. When you pay attention to the ordinary, everything and every day becomes extraordinary! Fr. Joel Jason

 


reflection question

Every morning, you open two gifts—your eyes. How can you treasure God’s gift?

Every day, grant me the eyes to see You, the heart to love You, and the strength to follow You, O Lord. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ___________________________________________

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