Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
July 11, 2025
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
But beware of men,
for they will hand you over to courts
and scourge you in their synagogues,
and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake
as a witness before them and the pagans.
When they hand you over,
do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will hand over brother to death,
and the father his child;
children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but whoever endures to the end will be saved.
When they persecute you in one town, flee to another.
Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel
before the Son of Man comes.”
In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us that he never promised us that following him would be easy. With certainty, he tells us that we will be tried and tested for his sake, and we will be hated by all because of his name. But with the very same certainty, Jesus says that when, not if, we are handed over, we will be given what we are to say, and those of us willing to suffer for the sake of his name will be saved.
This passage reminds us that here on this Earth, we are living in the same world that crucified our Lord, and we cannot expect to escape the same fate. What an honor it is to fight in the army of the Lord, standing strong as a witness to his love poured forth for us on the cross. It can feel like a daunting call, but the Lord tells us not to worry, for he promises to send forth his Spirit to be with us always.
Today, let us pray for the grace not to grow weary of this call but to draw upon his strength, so that at the end of our days we may echo the words of St. Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Jesus knows we are weak and does not leave us to fight alone, so let us call upon the spirit, sharing in the joy of the apostles in Acts 5:41, who went out “rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.”
Let us run forth like an eager child from town to town, daily encounter to daily encounter, assured that if we endure to the end, we will be saved.
Prayer
God our strength, give us the courage to live our faith in a world of lies, betrayal, and hurt. Help us to seek your justice. Show your mercy and grant us your peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Benedict is often called the father of monasticism in the Roman Catholic Church, but his influence extends beyond monasteries—the rule of life he wrote 1,500 years ago is still a pillar of Christian spirituality today.
He was the twin brother of St. Scholastica—the two were born in 480 to a noble family in Italy. Benedict was educated in Rome, but as a young man became repulsed by the laziness and promiscuousness of his classmates. In about 500, he left the city to live in the countryside about 40 miles away.
There, he met a hermit living nearby, St. Romanus, who saw something special in Benedict. He encouraged the young man to take on a life of solitude and offered him the use of a cave near his hermitage in an area known as Subiaco, and Benedict lived there for three years. Romanus would visit him on a regular schedule and bring him food.
Soon, people in the region started hearing stories of Benedict’s holiness and wisdom, and many sought him out. When the abbot of a nearby monastery died, the monks asked Benedict to lead them. He agreed and imposed on them a strict way of life. They soon changed their minds about him and tried to poison him.
On the first attempt, they poisoned his drink. Benedict received the cup, and when he blessed it, the cup broke (notice this cup in the painting of him from the Basilica, shown below). Undeterred, they poisoned his bread next. When he received it, he blessed it, and a raven flew by and stole it away (the raven symbolizes him in the stained glass window below from the chapel in Dillon Hall).
Benedict returned to Subiaco and gathered people around him, founding 12 different monasteries and transforming the region into an area of learning and spirituality.
In 525, Benedict left Subiaco and settled in Monte Cassino between Rome and Naples. He destroyed a temple to Apollo there and evangelized the people living nearby. He eventually built the famous monastery and wrote a rule of life for its monks. This “Rule of St. Benedict” has shaped Christian spirituality and monastic life for centuries.
The Rule offers practical advice for living a Christ-like life and for the administration of a monastery. It is based on common sense and encourages moderation, especially in asceticism and discipline. Prayer (especially with the psalms), study, work, obedience, stability, zeal, community, and hospitality are benchmarks of the Rule, which can be summed in the famous phrase, ora et labora, “pray and work.”
Benedict grew in holiness and became famous for his holiness and wisdom. He advised kings and popes and could read people’s consciences. He had the gift of prophecy and worked miracles.
He died on March 21 in 543, but this date almost always falls in Lent, so the Church moved his memorial to July 11. He was named the co-patron of Europe in 1964 and is the patron saint of students.
The relics of St. Benedict rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, and he is depicted there in a wall mural. His image also stands in a stained glass window in the chapel in Dillon Hall.
St. Benedict, your common-sense rule of life still shapes Christian spirituality—pray for us!
