Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 14, 2025
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.
Priorities can be hard to discern. Upon my arrival at Notre Dame in the fall of 2023, I was flooded with pamphlets, business cards, and half-sheets of paper. They all contained an urgent invitation to the opening meeting of a club, academic program, or sports team.
Amid this tidal wave of change—a new dorm community, challenging classes, and forthcoming deadlines, I was handed a pamphlet one day that looked quite a bit different from the rest. It was from Campus Ministry, and it advertised their annual Connect Retreat, an opportunity to connect with God and other curious students. Steeped with anxiety over whether I was taking the right approach to my first month under the dome, I skittishly scanned the QR to sign up. On this retreat, I would meet two of my closest Notre Dame friends and leave the retreat feeling as if my spiritual life, and perhaps my life in general, was built on more solid ground.
In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us that above and beyond anything else, he must be our number one priority. Mary, by anointing the feet of Christ with the oil, showed us that she already had her priorities right. At Notre Dame or beyond, the many opportunities to do good—for ourselves, our families, or others, often seem never-ending and, perhaps, overwhelming. Today’s gospel doesn’t render these efforts unimportant. Rather, it offers an urgent reminder that if God falls away from center stage, all else will be out of order, too.
As we enter this most holy week, this message is all the more urgent—now is the time to seek the kingdom! As we grow in our relationships with God’s Son, we can humbly trust that God will put the rest of our lives into proper order.
Prayer
God Almighty, having just yesterday commemorated the passion of Jesus your Son, we continue in this Holy Week to learn of the mixture of friendship and betrayal, of intimacy and hypocrisy, that marked those final days of your Son’s earthly ministry. Help us to be attentive to Christ these days as we remember his forthcoming suffering and death. May we imitate Jesus’ own attentiveness, courage, and faithfulness. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Though he was just a poor shepherd boy, St. Bénézet was responsible for a huge public work—the building of a massive bridge.
Bénézet grew up in southeastern France in the middle ages watching his mother’s sheep. He was thoughtful and pious, and seems to have reflected upon the dangers faced by those who wanted to cross the Rhône river.
One day, during a solar eclipse, Bénézet heard a voice that told him to build a bridge over the river at Avignon, a place where the current flowed strong and rapid.
At the time, the building and care of bridges was considered a magnificent public work, and the wealthy often provided for bridges in their wills. Bénézet was an uneducated, poor boy, but he obeyed the voice he had heard.
He traveled to Avignon and addressed the bishop in that city to tell him of his mission. The bishop did not take him seriously, of course, and legend has it that the boy miraculously carried a huge stone himself to begin the foundation.
Soon Bénézet gathered much attention because of miracles attributed to him: blind people could see, disabled people walked, deaf people could hear again. The bishop and civil authorities granted him power to oversee the construction of the bridge, which began in 1177.
Bénézet supervised construction for seven years before he died—by that time the bulk of the difficult work had been accomplished. A chapel was built into the bridge itself and Bénézet’s body was buried there. It lay there for some 500 years until a flood washed part of the bridge away. His tomb was recovered and it was discovered that his body had not decayed; it was moved to a monastery for veneration. What remains today of the Pont Saint-Bénézet is shown here; it is still a pilgrimage site.
In 1189, the Order of Bridge Brothers was established as a society of wealthy sponsors who provided for the construction and maintenance of bridges, and they adopted St. Bénézet as their patron. He remains the patron saint of those who build bridges, and also of bachelors.
St. Bénézet, you were the poor shepherd boy who followed a call to build a massive bridge—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Bénézet is available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
