Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 27, 2019
John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.”
My mom grew up as a Baptist before becoming Catholic, so I had frequent exposure to other Christian denominations as a child. We often visited other churches where our friends went to, in addition to attending Mass. From a very early age, I was meeting and becoming friends with many Christians, regardless of denomination. To me, that’s what today’s Gospel is all about: unity. “Whoever is not against us is for us,” Jesus says. The Enemy is the Father of Lies and origin of divisions. Satan wants us to be divided: in the world, in the Church, in Christianity, and even our own families. We Christians, however, serve the same God and must remain united.
I live in a bachelor pad with three other guys. Half of us are Catholic and the other half are Protestant. We host a bible study filled with deep conversations, prayer, and fellowship together. I often forget how cool it is to see Catholic and Protestants working together and learning from each other every week.
As Catholics, we have the faith that was handed down from Christ himself. Because of this, we ought to love most similarly to Christ. We must befriend one another and welcome one another regardless of denomination. If we want the world to be more Catholic, our faith must be attractive. It must be seen as warm, welcoming, and loving.
Our faith is proven to others most by how we love and the way we love. So, let us befriend our Christian brothers and sisters and grow in Christian unity! One day when we reach the other side with our Maker, it will be a beautiful sight to see all of us together worshipping the one, true Lord.
Prayer
Christ our Lord, you take joy when others perform mighty deeds in your name. Take joy in us, by giving us the grace to perform good works for others in your name. May others come to know of your love and your healing presence through the charity that you inspire in us. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Venerable Henriette Díaz DeLille is one of six Black Americans, including Julia Greeley and Venerable Pierre Toussaint, who is on the path towards officially being recognized as saints in the Roman Catholic Church. Ven. Henriette does not yet have an official feast day, so she is featured here today in celebration of Black History Month.
Mother Henriette was the founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family in the city of New Orleans. She was born in 1813, to a mother who was a free woman of color, Marie-Josèphe. Her mother lived with a man named Jean-Baptiste, in what was known as the plaçage system. Through the plaçage system, white men lived in common-law—as opposed to civil or sacramental—marriages with women of color. Henriette grew up with her siblings in New Orleans' French Quarter. Her mother raised them Roman Catholic, and educated Henriette to be an accomplished young woman, in preparation for her own marriage to a wealthy patron. But Henriette had different plans for herself. She wanted to bring education to the poor girls of New Orleans and began teaching children around the city when she was still a teenager.
In 1835, Henriette's mother had a nervous breakdown, and Henriette inherited all her mother's assets. Henriette set aside enough money to continue caring for her mentally ill mother and then sold all of her mother's remaining property. With the proceeds of this sale, Henriette began her own religious congregation, which she named the Sisters of the Presentation, later renamed the Sisters of the Holy Family. The Sisters of the Holy Family, to this day, operate schools, nursing homes, and retirement communities for those in need throughout the Southern USA.
Henriette DeLille died in 1862, in the midst of the civil war. Her cause for canonization was opened in 1988, and Pope Benedict XVI declared her "venerable" on March 27, 2010.
Venerable Henriette Díaz DeLille, American witness to holiness—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Henriette Díaz DeLille is in the public domain. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
