Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 23, 2026
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.”
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
As a 4th-grade teacher and a member of the ACE Teaching Fellows program, the words, “They shall all be taught by God” from the prophet Isaiah in today’s gospel really hit home for me. At the end of the day, the best I can do for my students is to entrust them to the care of the Father. However, this does not detract from the importance of our mission as educators in the faith. We are reminded by St. Teresa of Avila to be the hands and feet of Jesus, carrying out his mission on Earth as we strive to bring ourselves and others ever closer to him.
In my profession, I find myself constantly “pouring out my cup” for my students, and often I struggle to find some sort of renewal on a regular basis. Our world offers so many empty promises and quick fixes; a sort of false manna upon which we can only rely for a short while (or hardly at all).
In today’s gospel, Jesus invites us to redirect our spiritual hunger and thirst back to him, as the Bread of Life and Fountain of Living Water. We have been blessed with the amazing, unfathomable, glorious gift of Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist; truly the epitome of God’s grace made known to us. Our “cup overflows.” (Ps 23:5)
We hear later on in this pivotal chapter of John’s Gospel that many of Jesus’ disciples turned away from him after this radical discourse, likely out of sheer incredulity. Many people in our world today still struggle to grasp the absurdly beautiful truth of Jesus’ words in this chapter. Let us follow the example of Peter in our response to Jesus’ invitation to the table: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
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
St. George is one of the most decorated and venerated saints in the Catholic tradition, yet all we really know of him is that he was a soldier and a martyr. He was a Roman soldier in Palestine who stood up to the emperor, where Christian persecutions began around the year 300. For this, he was beheaded.
His story seems to have been told among English armies visiting the Holy Land during the Crusades. Convinced of the power of his intercession, soldiers returned to England with a devotion to this saint. From there, many stories were told to fill the curiosity of the faithful, including a tale of George slaying a dragon.
The story tells of a dragon terrorizing a kingdom. The people of the area kept the dragon satiated with gifts of sheep, but when livestock ran out, human sacrifice was required. Victims were chosen by lot, and one day the king’s own daughter was chosen. George rode into the city on his noble steed while this was taking place, and slayed the dragon with one blow. He then gave a stirring speech that converted thousands to be baptized. He was given a great reward, but gave it all to the poor and rode off into the sunset.
Fairytale or not, devotion to George was real, and he is the patron of many cities, as well as England and Canada. His feast day used to be one of the biggest holidays of the year in Europe, rivaling Christmas, and a holy day of obligation for Catholics in England until 1778. He is also patron of soldiers, as well as those who work with sheep and horses. His courage and honor also make him a patron of the Boy Scouts.
The relics of the martyr, St. George, rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. The image above is a depiction of St. George slaying the dragon by the Renaissance master, Raphael.
St. George, brave soldier and martyr, patron saint of England and of Boy Scouts—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. George is in the public domain. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
