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Catholic Daily Reflections

21 January 2022

Topic: Being Called Up the Mountain with Jesus

Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. Mark 3:13

Message
This Scripture passage reveals Jesus summoning His Apostles up the mountain so as to give them the commission to preach and to cast out demons in His name. One significant aspect of this Scripture passage is that Jesus summoned the Apostles “up the mountain.”

Everything Jesus did in life was filled with significance. This particular action displays great symbolic value. The commission of the Apostles to preach and to cast out demons only took place after they went up the mountain at Jesus’ invitation. Why did He do this only after calling His Apostles up a mountain?

A mountain is a symbol of our journey toward God. It’s an indication that we are to go up toward Him. And it reveals that we are only equipped to go forth and fulfill God’s will after we have first gone up to meet Him.

The “mountain” we are called to go up is first and foremost prayer. We are to daily go up to meet our Lord, seeking Him through a life of deep surrender. Jesus calls us to Himself where He waits for us so as to be alone with Him basking in His glorious presence.

Unless we go up that mountain with our Lord, we will be ill-equipped to fulfill His divine commission. We will be insufficiently prepared to bring His love and mercy to a world in need.

Reflect, today, upon the invitation Jesus offers you to follow Him up the mountain of prayer. Respond to that invitation so that you can then be sent forth by Him to fulfill His divine command of love.

Pray: My inviting Lord, I do accept Your gentle invitation to go up the mountain of faith and prayer. I desire to seek You out and to be with You. As I meet You in prayer, give me the grace I need to then go forth and fulfill Your divine will. Jesus, I trust in You.

DAILY FOUNTAIN DEVOTIONAL

Date: 2022-01-21

TOPIC: TOTAL ALLEGIANCE FROM GOD'S PEOPLE

TEXT: Hosea 1:1- 2:1 (NKJV)

1. The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2. [When] the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry [By departing] from the LORD."
3. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4. Then the LORD said to him: "Call his name Jezreel, For in a little [while] I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, And bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5. It shall come to pass in that day That I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel."
6. And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then [God] said to him: "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away.
7. Yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah, Will save them by the LORD their God, And will not save them by bow, Nor by sword or battle, By horses or horsemen."
8. Now when she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
9. Then [God] said: "Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you [are] not My people, And I will not be your [God.]
10. " Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, 'You [are] not My people,' [There] it shall be said to them, '[You are] sons of the living God.'
11. Then the children of Judah and the children of Israel Shall be gathered together, And appoint for themselves one head; And they shall come up out of the land, For great [will be] the day of Jezreel!
2:1. Say to your brethren, 'My people,' And to your sisters, 'Mercy is shown.'