Daily Gospel Reflection
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April 5, 2022
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.”
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
Today’s passage from the gospel is forceful, and it challenges me to reflect on whether I would respond to Jesus’ words like the Pharisees or like one of the many who believed in him (v. 30).
Jesus here is declaring his divinity, that he is the great “I AM” (Ex 3:14), but this revelation is not simply a kind of boast or a way of bolstering his authority. Jesus says that his divinity will be fully revealed on the cross in his complete harmony with and dependence on the will of the Father.
Herein lies the difficulty. Do I believe that divinity, power, and authority are made manifest in suffering and obedience? Do I believe that God works in my life and gives himself to me when I am suffering, when I am lowly, and when I can do nothing on my own? If I do not believe it, then I reject the cross and, like these Pharisees, I cannot be the recipient of Jesus’ forgiveness. I will die in my sins.
That sounds harsh. But the saving power of God comes to us in our weakness when we give up our self-sufficiency and recognize our dependence on God. In a sinful world, our pride is often cured by suffering and defeat—suffering can then open up a space for God to enter. As Christians, when we look upon the crucifix, we see God, but that must also be true in our own lives.
When we see a cross, we must pick it up and follow Christ.
Prayer
Father, Jesus your Son proclaimed your reign and embodied it in his intimacy with you and his generous self-sacrificing life. Be with us in our Lenten pilgrimage of faith. May our prayer, fasting, and repentance draw us ever more deeply into Christ’s example of oneness with you and kind attentiveness to others. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Vincent Ferrer was the most famous missionary of the 14th century.
He was born in 1350 to an English noble family living in Spain. When he was a child, his parents received an omen that Vincent would become a great holy man, and they taught him prayer and fasting and care for the poor. He joined the Dominican order and became a brilliant student. He progressed quickly through his education and took on a chair in philosophy in the best university of the region at the age of 21. He became known as a great preacher and teacher.
Vincent lived during a great schism in the Church, when rival popes were reigning from Rome and Avignon. He was called upon to serve as confessor and advisor to one of the rival popes, and his pleas for unity were ignored. His role was a great strain on him and he became sick. During his illness, he received a vision from Sts. Francis and Dominic, who told him that he was to go about preaching penance as they had done. His health was restored and he got permission to leave the papal court.
Thousands would gather to hear him preach as he traveled from town to town, and some even started to follow him around. Eventually, those who remained close to him were organized into a religious community; some of the group would stay behind in a place he visited to help people establish greater devotion and faithfulness in their lives.
Conversions and miracles were reported when people heard him preach. He spoke mainly on the realities of sin, death, hell, and eternity, and he preached with such vigor that many sobbed and some fainted. Though he only spoke in Spanish, he could be understood by those who spoke French, Italian, and German, as well as many who spoke other languages.
The disunity in the Church continued to trouble him, and his advice helped finally to bring about a resolution. He died on this date in 1419, during Holy Week, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Vincent Ferrer, great missionary and miracle-worker—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Vincent Ferrer is in the public domain. Last accessed February 17, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
