Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 19, 2024
“Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good?
There is only One who is good.
If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
He asked him, “Which ones?”
And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill;
you shall not commit adultery;
you shall not steal;
you shall not bear false witness;
honor your father and your mother;
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions.
What a great question the rich young man asks Jesus: What good are we called to do to serve God?
Professionally, that question extends to how we should educate and form our students toward being a force for good. How do we do so in a way that resonates with all our students, including those who may not share the Catholic faith?
Jesus’ reply went to the heart of the matter.
Jesus’ first directive to “keep the commandments” emphasizes the natural law, which is Catholic teaching with a small ”c”—Catholic as universal. Applied to business, these teachings challenge people to contribute to the genuine good of others, cooperate with all stakeholders in solidarity, and compete in external markets with excellence by competing internally toward the best version of oneself.
Jesus’ second directive, in my interpretation, emphasizes Catholic theology with a capital ”C,” where we recognize that everything is a gift from God. Jesus’ vocation for the rich young man was to give away his possessions and join his group of disciplines.
What do Jesus’ answers mean for my vocation?
As a Notre Dame faculty member, I can rely on the Church’s rich teachings in the social encyclicals on what Pope Francis called “the noble vocation of business.” In engaging with our students from our classrooms to football tailgates, we have the rare privilege of cultivating both their minds and their hearts, encouraging them to understand the purpose of their “riches” as serving God and others.
As a husband and father, I pray to see all as God’s gift to be devoted to a vocation of holiness. By the grace of God, may each of our lives be one of worship through generous service, laying up “treasures in heaven” above worldly gain and material possessions.
Prayer
A young man asked Jesus what he must do to attain eternal life. Jesus gave him a list of the commandments as the basis for his search. The young man simply commented that he had observed these all his life. Then came the invitation from Jesus to him: “Go—sell what you have, give it to the poor, then come and follow me.” A great challenge—we are all being called to something more than just the basic statements. Help us, Lord, to discover how we are to serve you with generous hearts and courageous faith.
Saint of the Day
St. John Eudes captured the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary by honoring them in the liturgy. Thanks to this saint, Holy Cross priests have as their patron Jesus’ Sacred Heart, and Notre Dame has a Basilica dedicated to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
In fact, even though John was canonized a saint after the Basilica was constructed, he is depicted there in a stained glass window leading people in devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
John’s parents were farmers in the Normandy region of France, and were childless until they went to a nearby shrine to Mary. Nine months later, in 1601, John was born, and five more children arrived after him.
John was educated at a Jesuit school, and he went on to seek ordination. He was a very good preacher, and gained the admiration of his superiors by his excellent conduct. He spent his early priesthood at an oratory—a special church (not a parish) set aside for prayer and Mass. When plague broke out in Normandy, John volunteered to return to his region to serve the sick there. He spent two months ministering to the sick and dying.
He returned to the oratory and lived there until the plague reached that area. Again, he went out into the city to tend to the sick and dying. To prevent his brother priests from becoming infected from him, he did not live in the rectory—he lived in a large cask or barrel in a field; nuns from a nearby convent brought him food.
He went on to become a distinguished preacher, and would travel the countryside offering missions to parishes to reinvigorate the faithful. He was widely known as the best preacher people had ever heard.
During his travels, he came to see that the priests needed as much reform as the faithful, so he concentrated his efforts on seminary training. He established several seminaries that were dedicated to producing zealous and well-trained parish priests.
John’s spirituality focused on the love of Jesus and Mary, symbolized in their sacred hearts. He began a feast day for people to honor the heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus; these feast days spread quickly and were taken up around the Church. While John was not the first to be devoted to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, he was the first to capture this devotion in the liturgy, which gave the Church a way to participate and spread it.
He died after giving a parish mission in his old age that left him sick and weak—he preached outdoors, in the winter, every day for nine weeks, and never recovered. He died on this date in 1680.
“Our wish, our object, our chief occupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires, and his disposition live and reign there,” St. John wrote. “All our religious efforts should be directed to this end. It is the work that God has given us to do unceasingly.”
St. John Eudes, you helped people form their hearts in the shape of Jesus’ Sacred Heart—pray for us!