Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 22, 2021
Jesus said to the crowds:
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.
It is written in the prophets:
They shall all be taught by God.
Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
this is the bread that comes down from heaven
so that one may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my Flesh for the life of the world.”
In today’s gospel, Jesus identifies himself so closely with the Father that there can be no doubt that they are one. Echoing the prophets, he tells us, “They shall all be taught by God.” The teaching that Jesus is giving to his disciples in the passage, and to us, is the teaching of God.
That teaching is simple: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” What more can we ask for on our spiritual journey? What more could we possibly be seeking? Jesus offers us fullness of life and even life with God beyond death.
I notice, however, that Jesus offers us eternal life and not an easy life. He doesn’t say, “whoever believes will have no trouble paying their bills,” or “whoever believes will never get sick,” or ”whoever believes will be admired by their peers.” The promise of eternal life is not the same as a promise of comfort here on earth. Our paths will still be challenging, full of trials, and perhaps even obstacles that will test our faith.
Fortunately, this passage is part of the larger “Bread of Life Discourse” in the Gospel of John. Jesus does not promise us an easy journey on the way to eternal life, but he does offer us food for that journey: his very Body and Blood. Just as God gave manna to our ancestors as they journeyed through the desert to the Promised Land, Jesus now gives us the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, to sustain us on our journey to eternal life. As many of us are returning to Mass after receiving vaccines, we are grateful that we can receive this gift once again. Let us have faith that Jesus’ gift of himself, both on the cross and on the altar, is truly the way to the Father.
Prayer
All-powerful God, you are near to us and hear us when we pray. Enliven us with your Spirit, the fire of your love. Through our baptism we share in the life of your son, Jesus the Christ. Sustain your life within us by drawing us often to eat his body and drink his blood in the new and everlasting covenant that gives us eternal life. Grant this through Christ our 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.
