Sisters and brothers in Christ, we read in today's Gospel that a "large number of people followed" Jesus that he told his disciples to get him a boat so that the crowd "would not crush him." Why wouldn't people follow Jesus, right? He cured many of their afflictions - physical ailments and unclean spirits - which caused them to press upon him to touch him so that they may be cured.
What about us? Do we have this same desire in our hearts to follow Jesus closely? Do we trust that God will heal us mind, body, soul, and spirit when we seek Him out? Saint Paul, as he usually does, tells it to us like it is, saying: "Jesus is always able to save those who approach God through him, since he lives forever to make intercession for them." Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is always ready, able, and willing to save us but, out of respect for our freewill, he waits for us to come to him.
While many of us are counted among the "large number of people" who follow Jesus, so many still do not, including our own family members and friends. One of things that Bishop Robert Barron encourage all Mass-going Catholics to do in the new year it to invite a friend or a family to attend Mass with them. Perhaps we ought to take this challenge to heart - for their sake, for the Church, but most of all, for the sake of our salvation.
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Gospel of the Day
Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples.
A large number of people followed from Galilee and from Judea.
Hearing what he was doing,
a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem,
from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan,
and from the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon.
He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
so that they would not crush him.
He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases
were pressing upon him to touch him.
And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him
and shout, “You are the Son of God.”
He warned them sternly not to make him known.
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