Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 16, 2021
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
“Laissez les bons temps rouler.” The Fat Tuesday celebration continues in New Orleans, even with closed bars, canceled parades and laid off float workers. Only this year homes are the floats and beads are thrown to neighbors passing by. God makes all things new.
Mardi Gras isn’t the only thing that looks different in this pandemic. Our classrooms have fundamentally transformed. Courageous conversations around critical issues such as equity and inclusion are being rooted in a spirit of solidarity and social justice. The solutions to the problems facing society rest within our compassionate youth. God makes all things new.
We are all teachers, we are all learners. Lessons occur each day in our homes, classrooms and workspaces. Our parents, teachers and mentors support us as we gain knowledge from study, experience and reflection. Today’s gospel reminds us how students–like the disciples–can be forgetful, even with the Son of God as “the Master Teacher.”
The disciples were present for the feeding of four thousand, yet they worried about their lack of bread. They failed to see the Bread of Life before them and forgot all he had done. Jesus is vexed and peppers them with seven questions. “Do you not yet understand or comprehend?”
Understanding and comprehension are difficult when confronted by the challenges of life. The struggle is real: ongoing pandemic, financial insecurities, isolation, racial injustice and societal inequities. Anxieties and fears around these problems only deepen when we lose sight of the Bread of Life.
This month we honor the history and achievements of African Americans who overcame countless challenges without losing sight of the Bread of Life. As a Catholic school educator, I am constantly reminded of Maya Angelou, the great poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist who once declared, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Today, Jesus invites us to recognize how he makes us feel, and to understand his abiding presence in our lives. As we “laissez les bons temps rouler,” and prepare for the Lenten journey ahead, may we open our eyes to the myriad of ways he gives us this day, our daily bread, and open our ears to his call to do the same in solidarity with others.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you multiplied the loaves so that your disciples would be one and would know that you are the bread of life. Give us today this daily bread: your flesh for the life of the world. Consume in us whatever prevents us from being consumed in you. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Today we honor a group of martyrs in the early Church who demonstrate the power of fearless witness of faith to inspire courage in others.
In the year 309, when the Roman empire was persecuting Christians, a group of faithful Egyptians traveled to Cilicia (in modern-day Turkey) to visit Christians who had been condemned to work in mines there because of their faith. On their return journey, they were stopped by guards in Caesarea. They willingly declared their status as Christians and the purpose of their trip.
They were immediately arrested, hung on the rack, and examined. The judge asked for their names and they offered names they had taken at their baptism: Elias, Jeremy, Isaiah, Samuel, Daniel, and Pamphilus. When they asked about their homeland, Elias answered that they were from the heavenly Jerusalem. The judge ordered them tortured and beheaded.
A young servant of Pamphilus named Porphyry requested that the new martyrs be buried, but the governor arrested him and, discovering that he was a Christian, had him tortured as well. Porphyry was martyred by being burned in a bonfire.
A man named Seleucus witnessed the burning of Porphyry and lauded the courage of the young man, who did not cry out during his beating or martyrdom. Soldiers nearby heard his comments and arrested him, and he, too, was beheaded.
It is easy to see the ripples of courage that spread through the community of faithful from the faithfulness of a few Christians imprisoned in a far-off mine. Their constancy and hope in suffering inspired others who faced death—it gave Elias and his friends the courage to cling to their faith no matter what. May it be so with us today.
Relics of Sts. Pamphilus, Jeremy, Samuel, Daniel, and Porphyry all rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica on campus.
St. Elias and his friends, you adopted the courage you saw in other martyrs who preferred death to renouncing faith, pray for us!