Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
August 5, 2024
When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
He said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me,”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over–
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.
Today’s gospel is a story that almost every Catholic learns at a young age. The miracle of the loaves and the fishes reminds us of the abundance of God’s love and our ability to be fulfilled by that love if we are open to it. But less attention is placed on the root of God’s love in this instance—grief— and what it can mean for our own lives.
The first sentence of today’s gospel tells us why Jesus was there in the first place, mourning the death of John the Baptist, his earthly mentor, cousin, and friend. Given the importance of this relationship, it would be understandable for Jesus to need some alone time to process events, grieve, and plan the next steps for his ministry. But instead, he chose to open his heart to the needs of others, miraculously providing for them.
We are all faced with more grief in our lives than we care to admit, far beyond just death. Broken relationships, health crises, career setbacks, and the struggles of loved ones all tempt us to wallow in our own perceived misfortune. But the challenge of today’s gospel is to avoid selfish turns inward as we grieve—where there is no hope, no love, no God. Instead, Jesus demonstrates how we can use our grief as a platform to improve our circumstances and those of the people around us, at least in some small way. And if we do that, there are no wicker baskets that can hold all that we are capable of.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you are merciful, compassionate, and fully understand our human weakness. You know our fears, the things that hold us back from trusting you and from becoming fully ourselves. But you won’t let us use those things as an excuse. You always challenge us to grow, and with the challenge comes the grace to meet it. Thank you for caring so much about us. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Rome is home to the four most important church buildings in Catholicism. The first is St. Peter’s Basilica, located in the Vatican. The other three are the Basilica of St. John Lateran, where the Pope serves as bishop of Rome; the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, which houses the tomb of the apostle Paul; and the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
The Church honors these four churches in the liturgical year because they are pilgrimage sites and they connect all the faithful with the Pope and the universal Church. The Basilica of St. Mary Major is so called because it is the oldest church dedicated to God in honor of Mary. It serves the Church as the oldest Marian shrine for pilgrims.
The origins of this Basilica are wrapped in legend. Two Roman Christians, a Roman official named John and his wife, received a vision from Mary in 358. They were childless and wanted to dedicate their estate to Mary, so they prayed to her for a sign as to how this should be done. She appeared to them both in dreams and told them that a prominent hill in the city would be covered with snow, and this is where they should build a church.
John immediately told the Pope, who had the same dream, and they went to the hill to find it covered in snow on this date, during the hottest time of the year. The pope then walked through the snow to mark out the outline of the church that was to be built there.
This story probably cannot be trusted, but it is the origin of one of Mary’s titles, Our Lady of the Snow. The church building was originally the palace of a prominent family before being transformed into a church in the 300s. Later it was restored and consecrated to Mary after the Council of Ephesus in 432, where the Church came to understand and proclaim Mary as the Mother of God. It was decorated with artwork depicting Mary and Jesus, and a relic from the manger in Bethlehem was used in a reconstruction of the nativity there.
On this feast day in the Basilica in Rome, flower petals are dropped from the ceiling to recall the legend of Our Lady of the Snow. The Basilica of St. Mary Major is also the site of an important commemoration of Christmas in Rome because of its famous nativity scene.
Notre Dame’s own Basilica of the Sacred Heart contains relics from the nativity as well—pieces of the manger that held Jesus, and parts of the cloth in which he was swaddled.
On this feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, let us honor Mary as the Mother of God!
Image Credit: Our featured image of the Basilica of Mary Major is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Last accessed March 28, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
