Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 10, 2019
Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.
The names of the Twelve Apostles are these:
first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew;
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew,
Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus;
Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot
who betrayed Jesus.
Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,
“Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town.
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'”
When I had the chance to visit St. John Lateran in Rome, I found myself gazing for some time at the larger-than-life statues of the Apostles lining the walls. Eleven of these great men, whose names we read in today’s Gospel, gave so much to further Jesus’ mission, even to the point of laying down their lives for the Lord. In light of that, I find myself wondering how I, seemingly small and far separated from these figures of faith, can do the same.
The story of Chiara Corbella Petrillo, whose cause for canonization recently opened, gives me hope. She was an Italian woman who died in 2012 of a carcinoma, leaving behind her husband and young son. She was only 28 years old. Although there are many examples of her heroic virtue, I am always so moved by this story her husband, Enrico, shared in a testimony in 2016:
“It was around 7 on her last morning, before the Tabernacle, and I asked her: ‘Chiara, is this Cross really sweet like the Lord says?’ She smiled at me, and with a frail voice replied: ‘Yes, Enrico. It is very sweet.’”
Both the Apostles two thousand years ago and Chiara within our lifetime discovered the same truth: the Lord’s yoke is easy and his burden is light. In Chiara’s voice we hear the paradox of the sweetness of the cross, for it is in following Christ and emptying ourselves as he did that we truly encounter him and one another.
So today, as we continue to strive to be disciples of Jesus and to proclaim the good news that he has come to set us free from sin and death, let us remember that any greatness of ours really is because of him, and because of his love, every cross, no matter how enormous or insignificant it seems, truly is sweet.
Prayer
Lord God, every time we read the names of the Twelve disciples, we wonder what it will be like to meet them all some day in heaven. Though we know a little about some of them—Peter denied you three times, Matthew was a tax collector, Judas betrayed you, they were fishermen—we don’t really know them. Some day we will know them. Help us to not be afraid of the truth that each day we are one day closer to our heavenly homeland. And send us out, Lord, to witness to the Kingdom, to preach the Kingdom. May our words and actions be a sign to all the world that your Kingdom is here among us and yet to come. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Amelia, or Amalberga, was a noblewoman who lived in Belgium in the eighth century. She and her brother were raised in a devout household and she wanted to give her life to God as a religious sister.
In her legend, her beauty is said to have caught the eye of the young man who would become King Charlemagne. He became obsessed with Amelia and asked for her hand in marriage. She had dedicated her virginity to God, and refused. He persisted, and one day, as she was praying at a church, he tried to pull her away and ended up breaking her arm.
In some stories, her arm healed almost instantly, and Charlemagne withdrew his request. In other stories, he withdrew his request, but became ill; Amelia forgave him and prayed for his healing and he recovered.
She died at the age of 31 and there are many miraculous stories attributed to her. In one account, she crossed a lake by riding on the back of a giant sturgeon fish. She is patron saint of those suffering from bruises and arm pain.
The relics of St. Amelia rest in the reliquary chapel, and she is shown in this stained glass window in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus.
St. Amelia, you are patron saint of people with broken arms—pray for us!