Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 22, 2019
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”
While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, “You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
It is easy to forget to place our trust in God. As a law student, I often find myself catastrophizing multiple aspects of my life: “What if I don’t do well in this class? What happens if I don’t get a good job? Is law even supposed to be what I’m doing with my life?”
I tend to get so wrapped up in my own head that I spiral my fear and anxiety into this monstrous ball of stress. I recently went through a period in my life where all of these amazing things were falling into place, and I kept thinking, “The other shoe is going to drop. Something is about to happen.”
And it did.
After my fears were realized, I felt angry, alone, scared, and frustrated. I let these feelings fester and didn’t talk to anyone. So, when my mom finally asked if I was okay, I emotionally exploded. My mother, and this Gospel, reminded me that, even in the midst of my feelings of abandonment and loneliness, I am never alone. When I felt abandoned and defeated, God never left my side. It took an emotional breakdown and a wise woman to remind me of that.
Today’s Gospel serves as a good reminder that God can curb our greatest fears and create miracles that we never thought were possible. In other words—God is always there. No matter how fearful I may be, I know that God will “show up” and walk alongside me through my highest highs and my lowest lows.
Prayer
Loving God, during this sacred and joyful octave of Easter, we ask for you to strengthen and guard those Christians who have been devastated by acts of violence and persecution, particularly the Christian community of Sri Lanka. Comfort those who mourn, heal the wounded, and may the dead rest in the peace of your embrace. We ask this, as all things, through Jesus Christ Our Risen Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu was a Sardinian woman who became a Trappist sister and whose life ended in an unusual kind of martyrdom.
Maria Sagheddu was born in 1914 to a poor Italian shepherding family on the island of Sardinia. She was the fifth of eight children. Her father died when she was only five years old. Her mother and older siblings raised the strong-willed Sagheddu family. Maria was a stubborn child, and she was prone to disobedience and to criticize whatever displeased her. But Maria was bright and quick-witted. She excelled at school and loved to learn. Her love of learning led her, when she was in her late teen years, to become a catechism teacher for the local schoolchildren.
Their local pastor helped Maria fulfill her dream to enter religious life. Her family had mixed reactions to Maria's choice, but eventually, shortly after her twenty-first birthday, Maria entered the Trappist convent in Grottaferrata near Rome. She took the name Maria Gabriella.
In the early twentieth century, the cause of Christian Unity was sweeping Europe. In an increasingly divided world, wracked by wars and violence, Western Christians began to realize that their deep divisions, fomented by the many turns of history since the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, were a scandal to the rest of the world. Christ prayed on the night of his death that all his followers might be one (John 17:21), in imitation of his unity with the Father.
Sister Maria Gabriella entered a convent that had caught this fervor for Christian Unity. The Octave of Christian Unity was first proposed in 1908 for a week in January. It was further developed and renamed the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 1935. A French priest, Abbé Paul Couturier, was widely influential in promoting this week of prayer, and he was a great apostle for ecumenism. Sr. Maria Gabriella was inspired by his witness.
During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 1938, Sister Maria Gabriella asked permission from her superior to offer up her life as a sacrifice for Christian Unity. Mother Superior agreed and, soon afterward, Maria Gabriella fell ill and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She suffered for eighteen months before she died in the evening between April 22 and April 23, 1939.
Maria Gabriella was recognized by John Paul II in his encyclical on Christian Unity, Ut Unum Sint ("That they may be one") as a model of concern for Christian unity. Christian unity is not a cause for "special times" John Paul II writes, rather it is a cause for "everyone, always, and everywhere."
Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu, Trappist sister and martyr for Christian Unity—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu is in the public domain. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
