About Today
Monday 12 January 2026
Monday of week 1 in Ordinary Time
Let us come before the Lord, giving thanks.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Green.
Other saints: St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110 - 1167)
England: 12 Jan
Hexham & Newcastle: 11 Jan
Aelred was born in Hexham in around 1109. His family was well connected and at an early age he was sent into the service of King David of Scotland. There he rose to the position of Master of the Royal Household. In time he became attracted to the religious life, but he was also much attached to the life he lived at court and to King David himself. It took a considerable personal struggle for him at the age of 24 to give up his secular pursuits and to enter the newly founded Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx in Yorkshire in 1133. At 34 he moved from there and took
charge of a new foundation in Lincolnshire. But within four years he had returned to Rievaulx as Abbot where he remained for the rest of his life. He died in 1167.
Aelred is remembered both for his energy and for his gentleness. His writings and his sermons were characterised by a deep love of the Scriptures and by a very personal love of Christ ‘as friend and Saviour’. He was sensitive and understanding in his dealings with his fellow monks and under his direction the monastery at Rievaulx grew to an extraordinary size. He did not enjoy robust health and the last ten years of his life were marked by a long and painful illness. His position as Abbot required him to travel on visitation to monasteries not only in England and Scotland but even in France, and the physical suffering and exhaustion which this incurred seems to have been considerable. A contemporary account of the last year of his life describes him as being left helpless on his bed unable to speak or move for an hour after celebrating his morning Mass.
Aelred was a singularly attractive figure, a man of great spiritual power but also of warm friendliness and humanity. He has been called the St Bernard of the North.
Other saints: St Benet (Benedict) Biscop (c. 628–690)
Hallam, Hexham & Newcastle
He was born of a noble Northumbrian family and was for a time a thegn of King Oswiu.
While returning from a journey to Rome, he visited Lérins, a monastic island off the Mediterranean coast of Provence, and stayed there for two years, from 665 to 667, during which he took monastic vows and the name of “Benedict”.
Ecgfrith of Northumbria granted Benedict land in 674 for the purpose of building a monastery. He went to the Continent to bring back masons who could build a monastery in the Romanesque style, and St Peter’s, at Jarrow, was the first ecclesiastical building in England to be built in stone. Its library became world-famous and it was here that Benedict’s student Bede wrote his famous works.
For the last three years of his life Benedict was bed-ridden. He suffered his affliction with great patience and faith. He died on 12 January 690.
Other saints: St Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620 - 1700)
Canada
Follow me
Gospel: Mark 1:14-20
After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’
Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little further, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Reflection on the Old Master Drawing
Christmas and New Year's joy may still linger in our hearts after the past two weeks of celebrations, yet the Church is already sending us on the road again, into Ordinary Time. Today is Monday of Week 1 Ordinary time. But there is nothing “ordinary” about what unfolds now. In these first days of this new season, we walk with Jesus as he steps into public ministry. Saint Mark wastes no time: no infancy stories, no long introductions... suddenly Jesus appears, and suddenly everything changes.
There are two elements to the way Jesus begins his public ministry in our gospel reading: there is an announcement and a summons. His first words are not gentle warming-up remarks; he start with an announcement that shakes history: “The kingdom of God is near!” God has drawn close, not as a distant ruler watching from afar, but as a humble King who walks into our world. If that is true, then every single day we wake up surrounded by astonishing news: that God is in our midst.
But Jesus does not leave this announcement hanging in the air. A summons follows. If God is drawing near, then this has consequences for the way we live our lives. The call is urgent and personal: “Follow me.” In other words: Do not sleepwalk through life any longer. Something new has begun; respond to it. Let go of what binds you. Step away from the shadows. Allow Christ’s nearness to redirect your choices. The kingdom is not an abstract theory; it is breaking into the world right now, it is real.
Throughout Scripture, God summoned calls his people: Moses at the burning bush, Samuel in the night, Isaiah in the temple, and when Jesus calls the first disciples with a simple yet radical invitation: “Follow me.” A summons from God is not a mere suggestion; it is a personal call to leave behind what we are comfortable with and walk towards a new life in him. In our drawing by Joseph von Führich God summons Noah and His Family into the Ark. It was a summons of God for Noah and his family, requiring their trust in God and believing what Gos was asking of them. The summons of Jesus is even more radical and more personal: each of us are invited to turn, to trust, and to follow. Jesus' ministry has truly started on this first day of Ordinary Time.
God Summons Noah and His Family into the Ark,Drawing by Joseph von Führich (1800–1876),Drawn in 1827,Pen and brown ink, heightened with white gouache, on blue paper© Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Monday of week 1 in Ordinary Time
Let us come before the Lord, giving thanks.
Year: A(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Green.
Other saints: St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110 - 1167)
England: 12 Jan
Hexham & Newcastle: 11 Jan
Aelred was born in Hexham in around 1109. His family was well connected and at an early age he was sent into the service of King David of Scotland. There he rose to the position of Master of the Royal Household. In time he became attracted to the religious life, but he was also much attached to the life he lived at court and to King David himself. It took a considerable personal struggle for him at the age of 24 to give up his secular pursuits and to enter the newly founded Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx in Yorkshire in 1133. At 34 he moved from there and took
charge of a new foundation in Lincolnshire. But within four years he had returned to Rievaulx as Abbot where he remained for the rest of his life. He died in 1167.
Aelred is remembered both for his energy and for his gentleness. His writings and his sermons were characterised by a deep love of the Scriptures and by a very personal love of Christ ‘as friend and Saviour’. He was sensitive and understanding in his dealings with his fellow monks and under his direction the monastery at Rievaulx grew to an extraordinary size. He did not enjoy robust health and the last ten years of his life were marked by a long and painful illness. His position as Abbot required him to travel on visitation to monasteries not only in England and Scotland but even in France, and the physical suffering and exhaustion which this incurred seems to have been considerable. A contemporary account of the last year of his life describes him as being left helpless on his bed unable to speak or move for an hour after celebrating his morning Mass.
Aelred was a singularly attractive figure, a man of great spiritual power but also of warm friendliness and humanity. He has been called the St Bernard of the North.
Other saints: St Benet (Benedict) Biscop (c. 628–690)
Hallam, Hexham & Newcastle
He was born of a noble Northumbrian family and was for a time a thegn of King Oswiu.
While returning from a journey to Rome, he visited Lérins, a monastic island off the Mediterranean coast of Provence, and stayed there for two years, from 665 to 667, during which he took monastic vows and the name of “Benedict”.
Ecgfrith of Northumbria granted Benedict land in 674 for the purpose of building a monastery. He went to the Continent to bring back masons who could build a monastery in the Romanesque style, and St Peter’s, at Jarrow, was the first ecclesiastical building in England to be built in stone. Its library became world-famous and it was here that Benedict’s student Bede wrote his famous works.
For the last three years of his life Benedict was bed-ridden. He suffered his affliction with great patience and faith. He died on 12 January 690.
Other saints: St Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620 - 1700)
Canada
Follow me
Gospel: Mark 1:14-20
After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’
Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little further, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Reflection on the Old Master Drawing
Christmas and New Year's joy may still linger in our hearts after the past two weeks of celebrations, yet the Church is already sending us on the road again, into Ordinary Time. Today is Monday of Week 1 Ordinary time. But there is nothing “ordinary” about what unfolds now. In these first days of this new season, we walk with Jesus as he steps into public ministry. Saint Mark wastes no time: no infancy stories, no long introductions... suddenly Jesus appears, and suddenly everything changes.
There are two elements to the way Jesus begins his public ministry in our gospel reading: there is an announcement and a summons. His first words are not gentle warming-up remarks; he start with an announcement that shakes history: “The kingdom of God is near!” God has drawn close, not as a distant ruler watching from afar, but as a humble King who walks into our world. If that is true, then every single day we wake up surrounded by astonishing news: that God is in our midst.
But Jesus does not leave this announcement hanging in the air. A summons follows. If God is drawing near, then this has consequences for the way we live our lives. The call is urgent and personal: “Follow me.” In other words: Do not sleepwalk through life any longer. Something new has begun; respond to it. Let go of what binds you. Step away from the shadows. Allow Christ’s nearness to redirect your choices. The kingdom is not an abstract theory; it is breaking into the world right now, it is real.
Throughout Scripture, God summoned calls his people: Moses at the burning bush, Samuel in the night, Isaiah in the temple, and when Jesus calls the first disciples with a simple yet radical invitation: “Follow me.” A summons from God is not a mere suggestion; it is a personal call to leave behind what we are comfortable with and walk towards a new life in him. In our drawing by Joseph von Führich God summons Noah and His Family into the Ark. It was a summons of God for Noah and his family, requiring their trust in God and believing what Gos was asking of them. The summons of Jesus is even more radical and more personal: each of us are invited to turn, to trust, and to follow. Jesus' ministry has truly started on this first day of Ordinary Time.
God Summons Noah and His Family into the Ark,Drawing by Joseph von Führich (1800–1876),Drawn in 1827,Pen and brown ink, heightened with white gouache, on blue paper© Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York