Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 30, 2026
When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them:
“Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master
nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.
If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.
I am not speaking of all of you.
I know those whom I have chosen.
But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.
From now on I am telling you before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send
receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
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.
I don’t know you. I don’t know your name. I don’t know where you come from, the life you’ve lived, the dreams you have, the sorrows you carry. But I do know one thing about you: that in the deepest recesses of your heart, you simply desire to be happy. We all do.
Happiness, properly understood, is not some byproduct of a chemical balance within us. Happiness is the result of a life well-ordered, of discovering one’s meaning and purpose, and orienting his or her entire life towards that goal.
In our gospel today, Jesus is in the midst of his farewell address to his disciples. It’s his penultimate sermon! Before he gives his final sermon from the bloodied pulpit of the cross. “No slave is greater than his master, nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.”
This blessedness is the same blessedness that Jesus spoke about during another sermon of his, well-known as the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are the poor; Blessed are the meek; Blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake…”
Throughout his whole earthly life, our blessed Lord lays out before us a roadmap to happiness: it’s the way that we must follow if we desire true and lasting happiness in our lives. So, what is the way to happiness? It’s quite simple, really…
It is Jesus. He is the Way. He is the Truth. He is the Life. And in following him and his example of foot-washing humility, of selfless sacrifice, and of trusting surrender to the will of the Father, we satisfy that deep yearning for happiness and meaning within us.
Prayer
Lord, we thank you for the gift of your Son and for his resurrection. Through his life you have brought us new life. Illumine our hearts and our minds with the light of Christ that we may continue to profess our faith in him and receive him into our hearts. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Eutropius was an early Christian who was killed for trying to evangelize people in what is now southwestern France.
He was sent from the Church in Rome in the third century to accompany St. Denis in spreading the good news. Eutropius was declared bishop of Saintes, France, but the people there refused him and sent him away. He took up residence in a cave outside of the city, and would instruct in the faith anyone who visited him.
Among the people he converted was Eustella, the daughter of the Roman governor of that region. When her father discovered Eutropius had baptized her, he drove her from the household and ordered Eutropius killed. Eustella found Eutropius murdered in his cell, and that is where she buried him.
Eutropius is depicted in this stained glass window from the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, which shows his relics being carried in a procession. His relics rest there as well.
St. Eutropius, you were ostracized and killed for preaching the good news—pray for us!