January 30, 2025 // Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Mark 4: 21-25

Reflect on the Word //

I choked on my tears as I read the final pages of Chiara Corbella Petrillo: A Witness to Joy. The story of the young Italian mother who had buried two babies only to be diagnosed with cancer during her third pregnancy had captivated me from the beginning. Now, as the narrative turned to her final hours, and her family gathered for one last Mass at her bedside, I found my heart twisting within me. How could such suffering be endured?

The priest, Father Vito, turned to the dying Chiara during the homily. “Then he asked her: ‘What is Jesus’ lampstand?’ And she said, ‘The lampstand is the Cross’” (A Witness to Joy, 151).

The lampstand is the Cross.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus, the Light of the World, reminds His disciples of the proper place for the light from a burning lamp: a tall stand, a place from which the light can radiate to the corners of the room, revealing, warming, and clarifying. 

Only one like Chiara could recognize, in her agony, the highest, most radiant lampstand: the Cross of Jesus Christ. Only one who shared that Cross, who hung on it with Jesus, writhing and gasping, could understand the luminous privilege and power of sharing in the suffering of Jesus Christ. The Lord invites you to bring your own suffering, be it great or small, into His suffering. He brings you into the light onto the lampstand of the Cross, and you begin to burn with a light the night cannot overcome. 

Sister, we become radiant when we willingly share the Cross with Christ. We become little sanctuary lamps burning to signify, God is here. 

The world, drawn out of its darkness by our flames, will look up and wonder, How can such suffering be endured?

And we will stretch out our arms, bringing them in to hear the secret. We will tell them what we have learned as we’ve walked, prayed, worked, rested, and suffered with Jesus Christ:  It cannot simply be endured. It is the highest, brightest union with a God Who suffered for us. It must be embraced.

Relate to the Lord // Look lovingly on a crucifix. Spend five minutes meditating on Jesus’ love for you.