The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

Mark 1:22

Mark 1:21-28

Reflection

Jesus is teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum, and while there, a man with an unclean spirit cries out that he knows Jesus is the Holy One of God. Jesus rebukes the spirit and it comes out of the man. Everyone is amazed because Jesus did this and also teaches with authority, unlike the scribes.

Jesus has clear authority in this passage. Not only do the people comment that he teaches with authority, unlike the scribes, but he also commands unclean spirits to leave people. That authority has been passed down through the Church for more than a millennia. The Catholic Church has retained its authority as the Church Christ founded, even amidst scandal and sin.

Our Church on earth is not perfect – it is full of sinners. Yet Jesus himself calls us to follow his Church, for it will lead us to heaven. How do you view the Church? Do you pray for its ministers, especially the Pope? We must always be faithful to our Catholic teaching, which follows Jesus’ teaching and strives to bring us to our Lord for eternity.

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Saint of the Day

St. Hilary of Poitiers: ca. AD 315 – 368

“There is no space where God is not; space does not exist apart from Him. He is in heaven, in hell, beyond the seas; dwelling in all things and enveloping all. Thus He embraces, and is embraced by, the universe, confined to no part of it but pervading all.” St. Hilary of Poitiers