Daily Gospel Reflection
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January 8, 2019
When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.
By now it was already late and his disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already very late.
Dismiss them so that they can go
to the surrounding farms and villages
and buy themselves something to eat.”
He said to them in reply,
“Give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Are we to buy two hundred days’ wages worth of food
and give it to them to eat?”
He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”
And when they had found out they said,
“Five loaves and two fish.”
So he gave orders to have them sit down in groups on the green grass.
The people took their places in rows by hundreds and by fifties.
Then, taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples
to set before the people;
he also divided the two fish among them all.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments
and what was left of the fish.
Those who ate of the loaves were five thousand men.
Typically, when I read this familiar scripture passage, I focus on Jesus’ fantastic miracle of feeding five thousand hungry souls with just five loaves and two fish.
When I reflected on the reading now, however, the image of the crowd who were “like sheep without a shepherd” stays with me. The crowd, without their shepherd, are disconnected, untethered, and unanchored.
When my father passed away last year, a major anchor in my life no longer existed. Together, my parents guided, instructed, and protected my four siblings and me. Through their example, they taught us that love is what tethers us to one another and, more importantly, to God. My father’s passing created a void and has made me feel a bit untethered from God. Grief does that.
Thanks to my parents, I have always claimed believer as a core part of my identity. But life has a way of challenging us, and, sometimes, my response to difficult events like death does not come from a place of faith. Consequently, grief, anger, loneliness, or fear can create a chasm between me and God, and I find myself like a sheep without a shepherd.
As I pondered how to find my way back, today’s Gospel provided an answer: “Jesus is moved with pity” by the sight of his lost sheep. He was there, present and available, waiting to share his unconditional love. In today’s first reading, John reminds us that the love of God will always bring us back, for “love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).
My parents were right about love being what matters most. Though my father is gone, my love for him and his for me will forever keep me tethered to him. While love may not completely alleviate my grief, it connects me to my community of loved ones and, most importantly, to the Good Shepherd.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we offer ourselves to you in the hope that, as your Son once multiplied loaves and fishes, you might convert our weakness into strength, our trepidation into courage. You have often called people to tasks they find daunting or beyond their ability. With the same grace you supply the saints, help us to respond fully to the call of discipleship, regardless where it takes us. Dispel the complacency, doubt, or fear in our hearts. Fill us with the love and zeal that alone can nourish us, so that we may help nourish those around us who hunger and thirst. Give us the passion for ministry you instilled in Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton; make us true followers of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Our Lady of Prompt Succor is a title under which Mary is honored uniquely by the people of New Orleans. When Louisiana was still French territory, Ursuline nuns arrived to educate the children of the territory—the children of the French colonists, the Native Americans, and the local Creole people. Louisiana changed hands between the French and the Spanish governments, but, in 1800, Louisiana came back under French control. Anti-clerical and anti-religious sentiment was running high among the French in the wake of the French Revolution, thus many of the Ursulines fled to Havana.
The head of the remaining Ursulines in New Orleans, Mother Saint Andre Madier, needed more sisters to come aid the struggling convent and Lousiana mission. She wrote to her cousin in France, another Ursuline, Mother Saint Michel. She pleaded with Mother Saint Michel to send more sisters. Mother Saint Michel knew that this was going to be a nearly impossible request: due to the persecution of religious men and women during the revolution, France was itself experiencing a shortage of sisters.
Feeling that she had to aid her cousin as much as possible, Mother Saint Michel wrote to a French bishop, requesting a transfer of French sisters to America. The bishop referred her to the pope.
Pope Pius VII was a prisoner of Napoleon, thus his access to mail was extremely limited, to say the least. Mother Saint Michel sent her letter and prayed in front of a statue of the Madonna, vowing to have Mary honored in New Orleans under the title of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, if she would grant her letter a speedy and favorable response. Just over a month later, Mother Saint Michel received a letter from Pope Pius VII granting her and several sisters permission to go to New Orleans.
In December of the next year, Mother Saint Michel arrived in New Orleans with a crew of postulants and the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. They placed the statue in the chapel of the Ursuline Convent on Chartres Street in New Orleans, where it is still honored today.
The image to the right and below shows a mosaic honoring Our Lady of Prompt Succor in the Ursuline Convent garden. The mosaic was created in 1997 by the Florentine artist Sergio Papucci. Around the border, it names two of the famous miracles in which Our Lady of Prompt Succor has interceded for the people of New Orleans.
In the fire of 1812, as the fire was approaching the convent, the sisters begged Our Lady of Prompt Succor for her intercession, and the fire shifted, sparing the convent. It was one of the few buildings in the old French quarter preserved from the flames. In 1815, on the eve of the Battle of New Orleans, the sisters prayed throughout the night with the American troops for their success in battle against the British, who more than twice outnumbered them in manpower. On the morning of January 8, the sisters offered Mass in their chapel for the American army. In the middle of Mass, a messenger arrived announcing the defeat of the British, who had gotten lost in the swampy area outside the city. Ever since, a Mass of Thanksgiving has been offered to Our Lady of Prompt Succor on January 8.
Our Lady of Prompt Succor, who always desires to aid your children in times of need—pray for us!
Image Credits: The image of the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in the Ursuline Convent chapel is by SICDAMNOME and was last accessed November 14, 2024 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). The image of the Battle of New Orleans mosaic, "Our Lady of Prompt Succor," was taken by Mike Young of Mike's Travel Guide. Used with permission.
