Exclusively published to the Touchstone website each week, these Daily Reflections are brief commentaries on the lectionary readings contained in the St. James Daily Devotional Guide. The reflections are penned by Patrick Henry Reardon, editor of the Daily Devotional Guide and a senior editor of Touchstone. Father Reardon provides here a very brief directional clue for one of the readings each day. Long-time readers of the Daily Devotional Guide will find these reflections an additional help to their reading of Holy Scripture which they can print and keep with their Guide.

The Daily Reflections will be updated weekly.

Sunday, December 30

John 1:29-42: This Gospel reading presents us with the two quite different brothers, Simon Peter and Andrew. Even though Peter often served as a spokesman for the other Apostles, one has the impression that he sometimes went out of his way to set himself apart from the rest of the apostles — "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be" (Mark 1:29). A consummate alpha personality, Peter simply cannot be overlooked. Andrew, on the contrary, does not draw attention to himself but serves entirely as a conduit for others to come to the Lord. Even in this scene that prompts the Church to remember him as the first-called, he immediately went to share his blessing with his sibling. It is no wonder that he was known among the first Christians simply as "Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother."

Monday, December 31

Psalm 90 (89): Second Peter 3:8 quotes a line of this psalm to remind Christians that God is not subject to our own sense of time: "But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

At the end of this year we recall that God’s treasure here below is borne in vessels of clay, for of the mire He made us to be the very bearers of His glory. Because we are also creatures of the Fall, our own tilling of the soil — that is to say, our labor to support our lives in this world — is infected with the forces of death. At the same time, by reason of our incorporation into Christ, our daily labor may also share in the first fruits of redemption, our glorification as God’s children. Our daily work, done for the sake of His glory, may become the medium by which that glory is rendered manifest.

Tuesday, January 1

Luke 2:21-24: Like the god Janus, after whom this month is named, this biblical text has two faces, so that it looks to both the past and the future. As the rainbow served as a sign of the covenant with Noah, and the blood of the paschal lamb as a sign of the covenant mediated through Moses, so circumcision was the sign of the covenant with Abraham. So when Jesus is circumcised on this eighth day after His birth, it is not only a fulfillment of the Mosaic legislation but a fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant and vindication of the promises made to that ancient patriarch whom St. Paul called "the father of us all."

Wednesday, January 2

Matthew 4:12-17: This is the first of three pericopes about Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. In this text Matthew sets the stage for the Galilean ministry by showing it as a fulfillment of prophecy. This prophecy, having to do with Gentiles finding the light, takes up the same theme as the earlier story of the pagan Magi following the star. At the end of Matthew (in stark contrast to Luke) the revelation of the risen Christ to the Church will take place in this same Galilee of the Gentiles (28:7,10,16).

Thursday, January 3

Matthew 4:18-25: The second pericope (18-22) about the ministry in Galilee, concerns the calling of the first Apostles. As fishermen, these follow a profession with a playful analogy with the ministry of the Church. That is, they become "fishers of men," drawing the whole world into the Holy Spirit’s net, which is the Church. In the third Galilean pericope (23-25), the fishing is extended to the larger region of the Decapolis and Syria. The Church’s fishing net is being spread to cover a larger area. This text is a step in preparation of the Great Commission, given in Matthew’s final chapter, about the discipling of "all nations." The people are gathering here, of course, to hear the Sermon on the Mount, which will fill the next three chapters of Matthew.

Friday, January 4

Matthew 5:1-16: This section of Matthew, which begins with the Beatitudes, finishes once again of the theme of universal "light of the world," the city set on a mountain. This is the same "mountain" in Galilee from which the Great Commission will be given at the end of Matthew (28:16-20). Matthew also introduces, in this section, the "Father in heaven," who will be the dominant figure through the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. It is this same "Father" who will be spoken of also in the Great Commission.

Saturday, January 5

Matthew 5:17-26: In addition to the fulfillment of prophecy (which is certainly a strong motif in Matthew), Jesus also fulfills the Law. Indeed, much more than any other author of the New Testament, Matthew stresses Jesus’ teaching as the "fulfillment of the Law." This principle, enunciated here in verses 17-20, is illustrated in the five pericopes that immediately follow. The first of these, in verses 21, have to do with anger. It is clear that Jesus expects a much stronger control of one’s anger than did the Mosaic Law, which prohibited only murder and physical harm.

 

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