Daily Gospel Reflection

The Power of Tiny Habits

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly. Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where we are exploring the genius of Jesus, the genius of the gospels, the genius of Catholicism. And each day looking for a word or phrase or an idea to anchor our day in the Gospel. Today's gospel is from John chapter 20 verses 19 through 31. "On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.' When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord."

"And Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and He said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.' Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails and place my finger in the mark of the nails and place my hand in His side, I will not believe.'"

"Eight days later, His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then He said to Thomas, "Put your fingers here and see my hands and put out your hand and place it in my side. Do not be faithless, but believing.' Thomas answered Him, 'My Lord and my God.' Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen me and yet believe.' Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

Did you pick a word or a phrase or an idea? The phrase that jumps out at me today has massive meaning in my life, has massive impact in my life. And the phrase is Thomas's word. He says to Jesus, "My Lord and my God." When I was a kid in my family's parish back in Sydney, Australia, below the tabernacle was the words, "My Lord and my God," but it was big. You could see it almost from the back of the church. You could see these words engraved into this stone, "My Lord and my God." And I was taught as a child to say this mentally when I genuflected. So when I went into church and genuflected to the tabernacle or leaving church, genuflecting to the tabernacle, always in my mind, "My Lord and my God," and had a very powerful impact on me, firstly in the area of Eucharistic understanding, Eucharistic belief, but also many years later, in understanding that massive engagement can be achieved by very, very small gestures, insights, habits.

And this is an enormous one for me. It's the tiniest habit, gesture, insight to genuflect to the tabernacle, to Jesus in the tabernacle, and to acknowledge, "This is my Lord and my God." Not just, "Okay, genuflect, it's a mindless activity." It could be just a mindless activity, right? But it can also be an activity of massive intentionality. And you don't need a doctorate in theology to make it so. A small insight, understanding, habit can make it very, very impactful. And we're working on the Catholic moment around the Sunday Mass at the moment, or around the Mass in general, really. And we've identified a whole bunch of these small moments. I'm so excited to share them with you, probably later this year or next year. But that's my phrase for the day. "My Lord and my God." What's your phrase, word or idea? Take it out into your day. Let your day be anchored in the gospel. God bless you. Have an amazing day. Be bold and be Catholic.