Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 12, 2022
Jesus began to reproach the towns
where most of his mighty deeds had been done,
since they had not repented.
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
And as for you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the nether world.
For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.
But I tell you, it will be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
At first glance, this gospel is tempting to dismiss. It is easy to think there must have been some terrible people then who were doomed by not heeding the words and deeds of Jesus in their midst. How could it apply to us?
Over 2000 years later, it seems the same prophecy could apply to us in one respect—we fight repentance. No, it is not our sins that keep us from God but our failure to seek forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation. The Venerable Fulton Sheen once said, “A sinner, unrepentant, cannot love God, any more that a man on dry land can swim.”
Our faith gives us the incredible gift—a pathway for repentance and forgiveness. It can be emotionally challenging and sometimes scary, but the rewards are great.
A navy chaplain once told me he would hear confessions from young men and women for hours before they deployed. If they didn’t return from war, they wanted to know they were ready to go to their eternal home. If only that mentality could exist in our daily lives—to live at every moment in preparation for our final moments.
Today, let us look not only at what we have done wrong but also at what we have failed to do in charitable words and deeds. Let us talk to God, pray to him, and seek out that true confession that will absolve us in the name of God. Thus may we be ready, our day of judgment glorious.
Prayer
Forgiving God, help us to repent of our sins and failings, and renew our lives by our imitation of you Son. May we be always grateful for the mighty deeds you have done for us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
When Jesus was carrying his cross on the way to his death on Golgotha, a woman named Veronica wiped his face with her veil. An image of Jesus’ face is said to have remained on the cloth.
The story of Veronica and her veil is one of the most famous Christian legends. In the early Church, many people were motivated to find and honor relics of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The veil with Jesus’ face was called a vera icon—a true icon, or true image—to distinguish it from other relics, and this is perhaps where Veronica’s name comes from. Stories about this woman arose to fill in the gaps—some have her as the wife of a Roman officer who was moved with compassion to comfort Jesus; others have her as Jesus’ friend, Martha; or the wife of Zaccheus; or the woman who was healed from her bleeding when she touched Jesus’ cloak.
That a woman filled with compassion wiped the face of Jesus on his way to his death could very well have happened, but we know very little else for certain. St. Veronica is depicted in several places on campus, most often as a figure in the stations of the cross, as in this sixth station from the Basilica. She is patron saint of photography.
The veil venerated as the original is in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Blessed Basil Moreau, C.S.C., founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross, gave a gift to Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C., when he left France to establish a university on the American frontier in northern Indiana: a depiction of the face of Jesus from Veronica’s veil. This image was venerated by the Holy Cross community that lived in the Log Chapel during the first years of Notre Dame, and now stands in the Basilica.
St. Veronica, you were the compassionate woman who comforted Jesus on his way to his death—pray for us!