Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 12, 2019
The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?”
The Jews answered him,
“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”
Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.
He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
“John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true.”
And many there began to believe in him.
The Jews in today’s Gospel had a hard time seeing God at work amongst them. Although they believed in the coming of God’s Messiah, they could not open their eyes and hearts to see Jesus for who he truly was. Typically, when I read these Gospel stories, I pass judgment on them. Aren’t we all, however, sometimes blind to the ways that Jesus performs “the works” of the Father in our own lives?
At twenty-six-years-old, it’s often easy for me to peer deep into the future, searching for where God is ultimately calling me in my life. There’s the capital-V Vocation question of course, but also smaller questions like “Where will I live?” and “What will be my long-term career?” When I find myself lost in these questions, I’m frustrated in the not-knowing, in the waiting, in the lack of control.
In those moments, I don’t break out of myself through finding the answers to these big questions. Nor do I find peace by answering the small questions. Rather, I pay closer attention to the works of God in my life right now! I attend to the amazing men and women of faith I’m blessed to work with and get to know better every day; my family that loves and supports me no matter what; the smile of a stranger as we pass by one another on campus. I notice with gratitude the sweet embrace between a mother and her child or a phone call with an old friend.
God is at work all around us. In today’s Gospel, Jesus pleads with us: if we struggle to find him, struggle to have faith, we need only look to God’s work in the world around us to realize who God is and understand how God is working in our midst.
Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, the words of Jesus your Son scandalized some of those who first heard them, and he was accused of blasphemy. Centuries later, we still seek to live within the outlandishness of Christ’s promises—promises so deep and abiding that they conquer all sin and death. Make us fearless in proclaiming the truths that set us free. You live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Saint Teresa of Los Andes was one of the Young Witnesses selected by the 2018 Synod of Bishops to serve as a patron for their meeting on young people in the Church, which took place in Rome in October 2018. Like another of the great saints with whom she shares a name, Thérèse of Lisieux, Teresa entered a Carmelite convent at a very young age, when she was just eighteen.
Teresa was born Juana Fernandez Solar in Santiago, Chile on July 13, 1900. She was the fourth of six children and was known for her choleric and passionate temperament. One anecdote about this fiery young saint-in-the making tells the story of a time when Juana was pestering her younger sister Rebecca. Annoyed with Juana's antics, Rebecca slapped her in the face. Juana grabbed her to retaliate the slap, but mid-gesture repented, and kissed her sister on the cheek. Rebecca, understandably, was confused and accused Juana of kissing her with the "kiss of Judas."
Throughout her adolescence, Juana continued to slowly convert her passionate outbursts into a single-minded aspiration for union with God. She encountered a kindred soul and spiritual mentor in Thérèse, whose spiritual autobiography, Story of a Soul, she read as a child. Juana was profoundly moved by the sensitive, self-aware Thérèse who was so keenly aware of her own self-absorption and pride, yet who transformed this natural disposition into total dedication to God.
Inspired by Thérèse, Juana sought to become a Carmelite. When she was seventeen, she sent a letter to the prioress of the Discalced Carmelite convent in Los Andes, expressing her desire to join the order. Juana was frustrated by the lack of response and the nagging unfulfillment of her one desire. Juana spoke to her mother, who advised her to speak to her father. Juana wrote her father a letter about her desire to join Carmel while she was away at boarding school. He never answered. Intimidated, but determined, Juana approached her father in March of 1919 when she was home from school, and he granted her permission. On May 7, 1919, Juana entered the Carmelite novitiate and took the name Teresa of Jesus. While still in her first year of religious life, Teresa contracted typhus and her health steadily declined.
As she approached death, the Carmelites allowed her to profess religious vows early, even though she had not completed her novitiate year. On April 7, 1920, Teresa took her first vows, and five days later, on April 12, Teresa died.
Devotion to Teresa of Los Andes spread quickly due to the publication of letters that she wrote to a wide number of people during her year in Carmel, offering spiritual advice and insight. Teresa is an example of the purity of heart cited in the Beatitudes—her life was fueled by love and love alone. Over the course of her short nineteen years, Teresa learned to channel the deep passion inherent in her personality towards the pursuit of God. Her letters attest to this wild love, and firm-minded devotion. When she was beatified on April 3, 1987, Teresa became Chile's first citizen to be beatified, and when she was canonized in 1993 by Pope John Paul II, she became Chile's first canonized saint. She is a patron saint of Santiago, Chile, where she was born and a patron of young people.
Santa Teresa de Los Andes, powerful witness to the great fruit of quiet faith—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Teresa of the Andes is in the public domain. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
