Tuesday 24th January

There is strength in gentleness

Francis de Sales is famous for his gentleness. He used it on his stubborn father, convincing him he was meant to become a priest instead of a lawyer. It was a virtue Francis tapped to win hardened Calvinists back to the Catholic faith following the Protestant Reformation, a time of much bitterness. Explaining that a “spoonful of honey gathers more flies than a barrel full of vinegar,” Saint Francis practiced what he preached by greeting everyone with simple kindness, speaking good-naturedly about the goodness, truth, and beauty of the Catholic faith. “Be who you are and be that well,” he reminds us in Introduction to the Devout Life.

Today's readings: Hebrews 10:1-10; Mark 3:31-35 (318).

Wednesday 25th January

I can see clearly now

We’ve all had the rather unpleasant experience of “being shown the error of our ways,” though none perhaps as dramatically as Saul of Tarsus, zealous persecutor of early followers of Christ. On assignment to round up these dissidents, Saul was knocked from his horse by a blinding light and a voice from heaven. Three days of blindness ensued before the scales literally “fell from his eyes” and the newly awakened apostle and great evangelist we know as Saint Paul emerged. Don’t wait to be knocked to the ground before considering how your own life may have gone astray. Pray that anything that blinds you may fall away from your vision.

Today's readings: Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22; Mark 16:15-18 (519)

Thursday 26th January

Our moment is now

In the ’90s, it seemed everyone wanted in on the “dot.com” internet startup craze. Many were excited to be in on the ground floor of something brand new. It’s tempting to think that Timothy and Titus (both of whom have letters in the New Testament addressed to them) were like the dot.com entrepreneurs when it came to the new, exciting religion of Christianity. In contrast, today’s Christianity can seem weighed down by centuries of precedent and proscriptions. Titus and Timothy dealt with plenty of church trouble in their time, however, from division to drunkenness to false teaching. Their witness reminds us to pray for the strength to rise to the challenges of the moment we’ve been given, just as they did.

Today's readings: 2 Timothy 1:1-8 or Titus 1:1-5 (520); Mark 4:21-25 (320)

Friday 27th January

Stay the course

Sometimes when the going gets tough, if they are honest, the tough want to curl up under the blankets and never come out! Life is not always an easy road, even when we feel called by God. But we’re not alone on the journey. We can look to the saints to see how they’ve weathered the storms. Today, on the feast of Angela Merici, educator and founder of the Ursuline Sisters, let us take heart in her wisdom. “Strive with all your might to keep yourselves as you have been called by God, and seek out and desire all those means and ways that are necessary to persevere and prosper till the end.”

Today's readings: Hebrews 10:32-39; Mark 4:26-34 (321).

Saturday 28th January

Be resolute 

Sometimes your commitment to your faith or choice of a vocation or calling can lead to uncomfortable conflicts with loved ones who have a different idea of who you should be or how you should live your life. Even a saint as illustrious as Saint Thomas had to struggle against opposition. His family was so opposed to his decision to enter the Dominican order that they had him abducted and held captive for a year! Thomas stood firm and they finally relented, and as a result the church gained perhaps its greatest theologian. Stand firm when you need to—who knows what God has in store for you!

Today's readings: Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Mark 4:35-41 (322).