Daily Gospel Reflection

Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.

August 26, 2023

Saturday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 23:1-12
Listen to the Audio Version

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying,
“The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people’s shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen.
They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,
greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’
As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’;
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Reflection

Claire Bourbonnais Darnell ’13
Share a Comment

Pride, ever-present. If we could live the message of today’s gospel perfectly, our world would be radically different. The scribes and Pharisees teach and live a life of pride and arrogance, thinking they are above everyone else, better than others. How very often do we do this ourselves—sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously?

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said, “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” I think this perfectly captures the life of the scribes and Pharisees. Pride can be so blinding, and it causes us to miss so much of the goodness around us every day. It’s such simple teaching—humility is the path to triumph—yet I think it is one of the most difficult to live.

One of my favorite mantras I have to repeat to myself many times a day as a wife, a mother, a friend, a daughter, and a coworker is, “Your life is not about you.” I have to remind myself regularly that living our lives in service of others is the most tangible path to humility and the best way to live a life modeled after Jesus.

May we each pursue humility in whatever path God has called us to so that we may see the beautiful things God is doing today and always.

Prayer

Rev. Herbert Yost, C.S.C.

Dear Lord, today, you talk about being with people who put on airs, who think themselves more important or more knowledgeable than they really are. Oh, how we want to puncture them with a few well-chosen words! Yet in reality they may be the most frightened and lonely people around. Help us to serve them, to ease or grow out of their fear instead of condemning them.

Saint of the Day

Our Lady of Czestochowa

Our Lady of Czestochowa is an image of Mary located in Poland. The icon is also known as the Black Madonna because the image has darkened from the soot of so many votive candles burning near it. Czestochowa is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Poland—many people visit the shrine to venerate Mary in this icon.

Tradition holds that the icon was painted by St. Luke upon wood that had been part of the table in the home of the Holy Family. It is said that the image was kept in royal palaces in Constantinople and Ukraine after St. Helen found it in Jerusalem. It came to Czestochowa in 1382 by way of a nobleman who was escaping an attack in Ukraine—he stopped to rest in the town and entrusted it to a monastery there.

In 1430, robbers looted the monastery and stole the image. In trying to remove precious stones from the icon, they smashed the wood and made slashes in the paint. When the icon was restored, the artists retained the slashes that were made on Mary’s face.

In the image, Mary’s hand points to Jesus, as she did with her whole life. Jesus holds a book of the Gospels in one hand and extends the other to the viewer in a blessing.

The image is associated with a miracle that marked a turning point in a war between Poland and Sweden in 1655. Monks and other people in the monastery were severely outnumbered by the invading Swedish forces but managed to repel the attackers with the miraculous intervention of Mary.

The image also played a large role in the devotional life of the young St. Maximilian Kolbe; he experienced a moment of conversion as a boy when he was praying in front of this image, and the experience shaped the rest of his life.

A replica of the Our Lady of Czestochowa image stands in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and it faithfully reproduces even the slash marks on Mary’s face. The image was a gift to Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C., founder of Notre Dame, from the Polish Carmelite Sisters in the Shrine of St. Bridget in Rome. The sisters gave it to Father Sorin, who was superior general of the Congregation of Holy Cross at the time, “as a sign of perpetual friendship.”

Personalize and share a prayer card with this image of Our Lady of Czestochowa at our prayer card page.

Our Lady of Czestochowa, you are captured in the miraculous image of Mary venerated by Polish people--pray for us!