January 28, 2025 //Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church
Read the Word // Open your Bible to the First Reading for today’s Memorial: Wisdom 7:7-10, 15-16
Reflect on the Word//
As a trainer and nutritional therapy practitioner, it’s my job to help women grow in health. I spend time walking with each woman as she grows in knowledge of the ways to best support her body, her mind, her soul, her health. It’s been much of my own journey that’s inspired my approach: I spent years simply longing to transform my exterior on my own, rather than hand my health to Him and invite Him to transform all of me from the inside out. I go to Him in honest prayer.
I am tired and have spent so much time trying to figure out “the best way” to be healthy. I am confused—which direction might I go next? And it is here, in my wandering and wondering, that You approach. You stop in front of me and it is only—finally—in the moment Your gaze meets my own that I am at peace. In Your presence, all things become incredibly clear: even in this—a desire for greater health—You want to lead the way. To remind me that there is so much more to health than the numbers on a scale. That yes, both our bodies and our souls are worth tending to.
"For He is the guide of Wisdom and the director of the wise" (Wisdom 7:14). God desires to free us from a disordered "love [of] health and comeliness" that eventually leads to exhaustion, confusion, wondering, and wandering. Yet, when we seek Him and His Wisdom first—seeking happiness with Him above all else—we no longer have to wonder which way to go.
As I fall into Your arms, overcome with gratitude, clarity, and peace, I desire never to let go. As if You hear my thought, You lean just far enough away to whisper these words into my ear: I will see you in the Eucharist—where My Body meets your own.
He sees you in the Blessed Sacrament, and deeply wants to accompany you in your health journey, to fill you with His Wisdom to know what is most important. He will help you order your steps forward—that you may experience new life from the inside out.
Relate to the Lord // As we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who loved Wisdom with his whole life, pray with his hymn to the Eucharist.
Shalini Blubaugh is a Minnesota transplant living in Coppell, Texas. She served with NET Ministries and went on to graduate with her J.D., though happily left all things law behind. Along with her roles as wife and mom, she now runs her own company, Pray. Train. Grow., as a Certified Fitness Trainer and Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. Her mission is to help Catholic women grow STRONG in mind, body, and heart through the integration of Faith, fitness and food.
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