John 3:22-30 & Mark 4:1-20
It is a win-win situation, this business of aging and decreasing in terms of worldly powers like fame, fortune, and influence. But it is a question of how I live into the inevitable changes in my be-ing that makes the sum total of my life a growing, flowering and fruitful reminder of God’s Glory Story, or simply a dry memory. John the Baptizer’s life is an example of this. He humbly and faith-fully lived into his gift of proclaiming repentance for the forgiveness of sins, pointing people to the Good News of Jesus, the Son of Man who was the Son of God come to lay down his life for the salvation of humankind. When he began to decrease in popularity and was eventually imprisoned and beheaded, instead of bemoaning his own circumstances, John used his time and energy to point others to the mercy of God walking the earth in the person of Jesus. In this way, the seed of the Word of God planted deeply in his being through his contemplative desert existence, grew him into a mighty prophet that ‘made straight the way of the Lord’ not only to the people of his day but also for us in these days of our lives. As my own be-ing decreases, day by day and year by year, will I become regretful and full of dry memories, or will the fruitfulness of my living, my growing up into the fullness of the Holy Spirit, like the be-ing of John the Baptist, grow up to produce mighty fruits of faithfulness?  Holy Spirit of God, as I decrease, may you increase.
 
Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.  (Psalm 40:7-8)
 
Let us have no desire to choose our own paths, but walk in those which God may be pleased to present to us.
St. Vincent de Paul
 
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1 Corinthians 1:17-18
On Saturday I set out to visit my daughter and family. Distracted by some cares and worries, I found myself northbound on #416, on the way to work, rather than driving south as I had intended. My five year old back seat driver asked the question, “How are we going to get there, Nana?” It was only after I had said it, I realized the depth of the answer: “Find a bridge and turn around…” How often in life do I hurriedly and absently mindedly take an all-too familiar path by force of habit that leads me into error.  I may even realize my mistake at the time, but I need to then patiently go forward to  ‘find the bridge’ so that I can turn off the beaten path, and go in the right direction. The one true bridge is the Merciful Word of God in the person of Christ Jesus. Yes, I can continue on the ‘wrong’ way and drive past any one or all of the bridges of mercy, meekness, faith, hope and love, peace and joy that God scatters along my way – and arrive at my self-selected plans and projects (aka ‘work’) – on a Saturday! Or I can “repent” and seek the next bridge of Grace along my way and real-ize, -that is bring into (my) reality, or ‘take’ - the saving call, the Saving Grace of Christ Jesus. By taking the first bridge we came to, we turned around and drove in the right direction, and had a good visit that softened our hearts and grounded us in family once again. When I take a wrong turn will I drive past the bridges the Saviour of the world holds out to me and continue on my harried, hurried way? Or will I slow down, and make the turn (“repent”) into the salvation of the Master and arrive at the fullness of righteousness – that is, right relationships - with God, others, and myself? Holy Spirit of God help me real-ize the salvation of Christ Jesus.   
 
Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.  (Psalm 40:7-8)
 
Why are [you] always in such a hurry to make a mistake?
Anonymous
 
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Mark 3:1-6
In some ways this passage from Mark’s Gospel is a study in meekness. A man with a withered hand went to synagogue one day, meekly trusting the Living God to nourish and guide him into life through prayer and praise. The Pharisees in attendance there, with all their lawful legalities, were looking forward to seeing whether Jesus would heal the man with the withered hand, so that they could have hard evidence to accuse him. And Jesus entered the synagogue on that same day as was his custom, empowered by true meekness that is the Mercy and the Holy Spirit he shared with his Father.  The stage was set with three actors in place. Jesus, knowing the trust that was in the softened heart of the man, and the judgement that was in the hardened hearts of the Pharisees, called the man with the withered hand forward. As true meekness met false ‘righteousness’, as softness of heart encountered and addressed hardness of hearts, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand in full view of the religious lawyers. Indeed, that day at Synagogue, the meek inherited ‘the earth’ – the man’s hand was restored! And those whose hearts were far from meek, and hardened by rights and rites, laws and lovelessness, left the place of prayer and praise with feet pointed two steps further along the road to the hell of crucifying the Son of Man who was the Son of God. This side of the redemption won by Christ Jesus when he died and rose again at Easter, each day of my life is potentially a synagogue, a place of prayer and praise to the Living God.  Will I go into this day with a softened heart, exercising the virtue of meekness, or with a hardened heart that is complaining and critical? Will I, like Jesus, be healing others, or will I, like the Pharisees, be looking for a way to accuse and continue along the ‘path of perdition’? Holy Spirit of God, soften my heart to practice meekness.   
 
 
Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.  (Psalm 40:7-8)
 
Those who are truly humble within themselves will never find their tongues betraying them.
St. John Climacus  
 
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Gospel Mystery of the Day                             January18, 2026
                                                                
                                                                         
Good Morning!      
Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. (Psalm 119)
 
Holy Spirit of God, teach me the treasure of meekness…
 
Luke 1:46 - 55
I used to equate meekness with weakness, and up until recently would interchange meekness with humility. Then on January 1st, in praying through the Feast of Mary, Mother of God, these lines in the Magnificat struck me: He has put down the mighty from their seat and has acknowledged the humble and meek.  If meekness were weakness, why would it be paired with the treasure of humility?  Why would the Redeemer of the world teach “Blessed are the meek – they shall inherit the earth”? So, I turned to the Teacher of all things true, the Holy Spirit, and have been praying with this Gospel Mystery since then. Each day, I have been discovering something new about the virtue of meekness. It was the power of meekness that marked the Redeemer of humanity and his disciples as he walked through his ministry in the Judean countryside, eliciting not ‘rights’, but ‘righteousness’(that is ‘good’ and right relationships). It was meekness that allowed Jesus to constantly turn away from the false powers of the world, the passions of the flesh and the deceits of the devil, and place all his faith, hope and love firmly in the love and mercy of his Father, God. Meekness was the strength of Christ Jesus, that kept him silent when he scourged and tortured, standing on trial before the Sanhedrin, Herod and finally Pilate and the crowds on Good Friday.  It is meekness that prevented Jesus from calling on the angels and his followers together to ‘fight for the truth’, to insist on his innocence and to tell all of his accusers how wrong they were, to fight for his rights..  It was meekness that compelled him, hanging on a Roman cross, to pronounce, Father, forgive them; they know not what they do, and Into your hands I commend my spirit. It is this virtue of meekness to which we, as Christians, are called today, now more than ever!  Holy Spirit of God, teach me the treasure of meekness. 
 
Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.  (Psalm 40:7-8)
 
Those who are truly humble within themselves will never find their tongues betraying them.
St. John Climacus  
 
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Matthew 2:1-12
This past, last Sunday of the Christmas season as we lit our Christmas candles my granddaughter confidently sang “Joy to the world, the wonders of his love, the wonders of his love” in her five year old voice and I joined in the last phrase with her, “The wonders, wonders of his love”. Mulling over this final act of the Christmas story, when it is recorded that three Magi from the East sought, found, and worshiped the infant Christ Jesus, I realized that indeed, it is the Joy and the Wonders of His Love that are the lasting Christmas gifts designed to carry each of us through the new 2026th ‘Year of Grace’. In my seventh decade of life, I am familiar with joy, but have I truly integrated within my heart, mind, body and strength, the profound Joy of the saving Grace of God, that arrived in the world through Christ Jesus? Do I really understand and engage the Wonders of His Love in my daily tasks and routines? Do I  - Can I – actually comprehend the full mystery of the saving Love of Christ, an earthly extension of  the Love of God that set the galaxies in motion and is available to us for the asking through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? It will certainly take ‘practicing the presence of God’ each day of this New Year, if not of the remainder of my lifetime, to discover the fullness of the Joy and Wonders of His love at work in the incarnation of the Son of the Living God, born into this world through the fiat of Mary, his Mother, and nurtured by the obedience of a carpenter named Joseph. Will I, like the Magi of old, be faithful to my quest to know and adore Christ Jesus Immanuel? Holy Spirit of God, teach me the ‘Wonders of His Love’ that I might know Joy throughout this year!
 
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us!   (Psalm 67:1)
 
Think often on God, by day, by night, in your business and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave him not alone.
Brother Lawrence, Practicing the Presence of God
 
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