Saturday January 18, 2025

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The word of God is living and effective,
sharper than any two-edged sword,
penetrating even between soul and spirit,
joints and marrow,
and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.
No creature is concealed from him,
but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him
to whom we must render an account.
(Mark 2:12-13)

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Good News Reflection for:

Saturday of the 1st Week of Ordinary Time
January 18, 2025

Today’s Readings:

Hebrews 4:12-16
Psalm 19:8-10.15
Mark 2:13-17
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011825.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-january-18-2025

Where will the blade of Jesus strike next?

The word of God is living and effective…. Jesus is the Word of God (as the first few verses of the Gospel of John explain), living and effective.

Jesus is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit…. He is a blade that cuts into the heart of the matter, and it hurts if we are in sin, especially if we don’t want to let Jesus heal the destruction that sin is causing.

No creature is concealed from him…. No one can hide from Jesus. When we feel convicted of our need for repentance, we are feeling the work of the holy blade. When we act on it by becoming willing to let Jesus cut out what he did not give to us, we experience the joy of new freedoms — freedoms that we did not realize we needed and have been longing for.

Many, many people today are not willing to let Jesus do this for them. They want to be their own god. They do not want to face their need for change.

Judy grew up in a faith-filled, Catholic home. As a teenager, she made a pledge to Jesus to delay sex until after marriage. However, in her late twenties, she dated an atheist and gave into his pressures and “logic” for having sex. After that, she stopped going to church. She began hiding from Jesus and the sharp blade that continually pricked her conscience. Several years and a few more atheist boyfriends later, she has lost her interest in having a family, and she is still avoiding church. She is still trying to ignore the prick of the blade.

This story is being lived out in almost every Christian family. Perhaps you know someone like Judy, someone who is trying hard to ignore the invitation by Jesus to repent and discover (or rediscover) a much better way.

Eventually everyone — absolutely everyone — must render an account. Jesus is Lord, after all, and even those who don’t accept his Lordship come face to face with the Truth at the moment of their death.

We should care deeply about the condition of the souls who are rejecting Jesus and his ways. I once had a vision of Jesus crying over a friend of mine who was dying yet still refused to turn to him. If you feel like crying over the state of an unbeliever’s soul, you are united to the tears and suffering of Jesus.

When I was a child and first learned about heaven and hell, I thought, “Well, I should be nice to those who are headed for hell, because their earthly life is the only chance they have for goodness and happiness.” As an adult, it motivates me to pour endless hours into Good News Ministries.

We are all called to wield the blade of Christ — not as a weapon that hurts others but as weapon that frees others. We live in a time when many people feel the blade is too sharp. They fight back or they flee. We must be brave and strong enough in our convictions about Christ to withstand their reactions. Wear the armor of God. It really does deflect most of the pain of their barbs and arrows.

Here’s a prayer for that: gnm.org/prayers/armor-of-God.

© 2025 by Terry A. Modica

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