Daily Gospel Reflection
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July 13, 2024
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“No disciple is above his teacher,
no slave above his master.
It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher,
for the slave that he become like his master.
If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,
how much more those of his household!
“Therefore do not be afraid of them.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Anytime I read this gospel, I am immediately drawn to the mention of the sparrows and what that means for our worth. So, when I first glanced over the passage for this reflection, I recognized it as the “sparrow one” and ignored the bulk of it. Then, I actually read the whole passage, and for the first time, I got something else out of it.
Surrounding my beloved and easily recognizable sparrows is Jesus’ charge to us: to bear witness to God’s truth. We are called to trust in our Father, to shout that which is usually only whispered, to display our faith openly. The joy of our faith is not silent but a resounding exultation.
It can take time to live up to this task consistently. When I start to struggle with this call, I, like many others I have spoken with, consider the examples provided by my family. My parents raised my four brothers and me as active Catholics, altar serving nearly every week and attending Catholic schools. Both of my parents and three of my brothers either currently teach or at one time taught at a Catholic school themselves. For them, living out our faith as Jesus encourages us to do in today’s gospel is simply part of day-to-day life.
They remind me that proclaiming our faith does not have to involve grand gestures. It can involve daily choices and actions that exhibit God’s love and truth. It can be the sacrifice of a few minutes to help someone or the invitation for a friend to join us at Mass. It is a conscious effort at every chance to choose God.
Prayer
Almighty God, we are humbled as we ponder the mystery of your love for us. Open our eyes and our hearts to see you in the childlike and the wise, to know you in the stranger and the outcast, to love you in the poor and the needy. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Henry was the most important ruler of his time, and is remembered for his virtue and his careful tending of the Church and his people.
He was born in 972 to royalty in Bavaria and was well-educated. At the age of 30, he was chosen emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. As emperor, he was surrounded at all times by honor, power, and wealth, and he fought pride and selfishness with constant attention to prayer, which gave him humility. He understood that his position was an opportunity to serve God and the people he led.
Still, he was an effective and savvy politician and expanded the territory and influence of the empire. Along the way, he helped further establish the Church, restoring churches and monasteries in regions where it had been neglected. He wanted to spread the faith and support the poor, and the institutions he founded ensured that this work would continue past his own lifetime.
In one of his excursions against the Greeks, he fell sick and took rest at Monte Cassino, where it is said that he was cured through the intercession of St. Benedict. The illness left Henry partly disabled for the rest of his life.
Much of what has been passed down to us about Henry has been exaggerated because of his position, but it seems that he took as much care to govern himself as the empire. He helped in efforts to reform and renew the Church, and is considered the most important ruler in Europe at the beginning of the 11th century.
St. Henry’s relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Henry, you were the king who governed yourself with as much care as you did the empire—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Henry is in the public domain. Last accessed March 20, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
