Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 24, 2023
[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
Is this really all there is to the work of God—we just have to believe? It seems simple, but think of what comes next: Jesus insists that he is the bread of life and that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood to have eternal life.
Imagine hearing this man on the shores of Galilee. We find nourishment from his words, but then he also gives us literal bread and fish that he multiplied before our eyes. Who is this man who freely satisfies our bodily hunger? Whoever he is, we cannot lose him. We are driven both by what we learn from Jesus but by physical hunger—the needs of our bodies. So we go after this man who feeds us, following eagerly on boats.
But when we find him, he does not give us more bread. Instead he declares that we must eat his flesh. The man who once gave us bread now offers something profane and revolting. Before, he fed our bodies; now, he’s offering his body. Surely Jesus is not offering his arms, hands, ribs, and feet as food that we put in our mouths and digest with our stomachs.
And yet, Christ does offer his arms, hands, ribs, and feet, outstretched and pierced, covered in the blood he wants us to drink. Christ gives himself completely for us on the cross. And in our gospel passage for today, he asks us to believe his words and actions as he gives himself to us as nourishment.
Are we willing to believe in Christ, even if it means celebrating the Body and Blood’s true presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist? As we continue our Easter journey, let us pray for the grace to do so.
Prayer
Lord, we are often tempted to work for “food that perishes.” Too often
we take the easy road and the sure thing. We come to you today with open
hands, that we may be filled with the food that endures for eternal
life. Amen.
Saint of the Day
As a lawyer, St. Fidelis gave special attention to the plight of the oppressed—in fact, he became known as The Poor Man’s Lawyer.
He was born as Mark Rey in Germany in 1577. The more he practiced law, however, the more disenchanted and disgusted he became with the lengths to which his colleagues would go in order to win a case. He decided to leave his life as a lawyer and dedicate his life to God in a religious community.
His brother was a Capuchin Franciscan, so he joined that order, took the name Fidelis, and was ordained a priest. He was zealous in his practice and proclamation of the faith, and once declared, “Woe to me if I should prove myself but a half-hearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned captain!”
He was sent to minister in several different regions of Germany, where he reformed whole cities with his preaching. He also cared for the sick, especially during a severe outbreak of disease. Because of his effectiveness, he was chosen to head a party of Capuchins to go to Switzerland to convert people back to the Catholic faith there.
His preaching was enhanced by his own witness and the hours he would spend in prayer, and many people were inspired by his example. Opponents threatened his life, and tried to rouse people against him by claiming that he was a spy.
One night, his adversaries even shot at him when he was in the pulpit, and tried to storm the church. Friends offered to shelter him, but he declared that his life was in God’s hands, and while he was walking on the road home, he was attacked by a mob of armed men. He asked God to forgive the attackers as they killed him.
The relics of St. Fidelis rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus.
St. Fidelis, the “Poor Man’s Lawyer” who became a priest and was martyred for preaching the faith—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen is in the public domain. Modified from the original. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
