Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
February 10, 2024
In those days when there again was a great crowd without anything to eat,
Jesus summoned the disciples and said,
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd,
because they have been with me now for three days
and have nothing to eat.
If I send them away hungry to their homes,
they will collapse on the way,
and some of them have come a great distance.”
His disciples answered him, “Where can anyone get enough bread
to satisfy them here in this deserted place?”
Still he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?”
They replied, “Seven.”
He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground.
Then, taking the seven loaves he gave thanks, broke them,
and gave them to his disciples to distribute,
and they distributed them to the crowd.
They also had a few fish.
He said the blessing over them
and ordered them distributed also.
They ate and were satisfied.
They picked up the fragments left over–seven baskets.
There were about four thousand people.
He dismissed the crowd and got into the boat with his disciples
and came to the region of Dalmanutha.
“Again” is an important word that is easy to overlook in the first sentence of our Gospel from Mark. It reminds us that, once again, Jesus was moved with pity for his followers. Jesus multiplied loaves of bread, again, to feed the four thousand people, who are with him in the desert and have nothing to eat. It was not too long before, recorded in the Gospels, that Jesus did it to feed five thousand people and had the leftovers of five baskets.
However, his disciples seem to forget or trust only slowly in Jesus—the Son of God—the Savior. When Jesus expresses his care for the hungry crowd, they still question: “Where can anyone get enough bread to satisfy them here in this deserted place?” Yet, Jesus asks them how many loaves of bread they have. With only seven, Jesus multiplies again. The crowd eats and is satisfied, again, and the fragments are left over again.
Always, again and again, Christ feeds us. This Gospel today means so much for us.
In Vietnam, we celebrate the Lunar New Year. We have worked with great efforts and practiced generous charity to make sure we and the poor have abundant food during this traditional holiday. It is very challenging to get enough food for us and enough to satisfy the poor.
When I studied in America, I noticed that in Western countries, we are a culture that is constantly worried about our CVs and resumes. We must remember that Christ isn’t looking for someone with a long list of accomplishments. What we must remember is that Jesus will multiply our capacity—again and again—with whatever little we have to give.
Remember the Psalm: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build.” It is
truly Jesus’ work along with our participation. “Again” seems like such a mundane word but it signals the living Word of God. Jesus speaks with us. He will multiply the “bread” from our tiny contribution; our participation in human development. He will multiply and fragments will be left over again.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, Today is the celebration of the lunar new year for thousands of people throughout the world. Bless and keep those who gather with their families and friends. Renew in all of our hearts faith in your power to multiply our small gifts and talents into the instruments of your grace and love in the world. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day

St. Scholastica was the twin sister of the great St. Benedict of Nursia, whose monastic community not only created Western monasticism as we know it but served as the bedrock of the new Western Christendom that rose after the fall of the Roman Empire. Benedict and Scholastica are two deeply inspiring saints and siblings.
Benedict and Scholastica were born around the year 480 AD, just four years after the final sack of Rome in 476 by Odoacer. They were born in Nursia, a town in the beautiful Umbria region of Italy (where Assisi is also located). Scholastica consecrated herself to God as a young girl. When her brother Benedict moved to Monte Cassino to lead the monastery there, Scholastica moved to the same region of Italy and founded a convent for women about five miles away. We know that St. Benedict was head of both monks and nuns, so it seems that Scholastica was abbess of her community, but took spiritual and practical direction from her brother. Their Benedictine orders are still thriving all over the world today.
Once a year, Benedict and Scholastica would visit one another. Since Scholastica was not allowed to enter her brother’s monastery, they would meet at a nearby house. The two siblings spent their time in prayer and conversation.
The years passed, Scholastica and Benedict grew older, and one year (543), it became clear to Scholastica that the next visit would be their last. After passing the whole day together, Benedict and Scholastica sat down to dinner. Scholastica begged her brother to stay with her throughout the evening and until the next day, so they could continue their discussions of God, of love, of heaven.
Benedict was unwilling to break his famous rule, which has gone on to shape the history of monasticism, in order to stay a night away from his monastery. Scholastica saw that she would not be able to convince him to stay. So she placed her head upon his hands, which were folded at the table, and implored God to move his heart that she might spend more time with her beloved brother.
Suddenly, a great storm arose with violent lightning and thunder, and Benedict could not leave. “What have you done, sister?!” he exclaimed.
“I asked you a favor, and you refused it,” she said. “I asked it of God, and God has granted it. Go off, now, leave me and return to your monastery, if you can.”
They spent the night talking, and Benedict returned to his monastery the next morning. Three days later Scholastica died. Scholastica's biographer, St. Gregory the Great, Benedictine monk and later Pope, recorded this story in his Life of Benedict and noted of Scholastica's prayer: "she who had the greater love had the greater power."
Benedict had a vision that Scholastica had died, and he retrieved her body and buried it in a tomb that he prepared himself.
Scholastica is a patron saint of religious sisters and of those seeking protection against violent storms. The bodies of Benedict and Scholastica were moved from Monte Cassino to Le Mans, France, in the seventh century. Scholastica remains a patron of that city, which was home to Blessed Basil Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross.
Relics from St. Scholastica rest in the reliquary chapel on campus, and her story and image (pictured here today) are used by high school students who come to campus for a summer conference with the Notre Dame Vision program.
St. Scholastica, twin sister to St. Benedict and patron saint of Benedictine sisters—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Sts. Scholastica and Benedict is an illustration by Julie Lonneman, who holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of her art. Used with permission.