Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 20, 2025
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.
But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
“The lamp of the body is the eye.
If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light;
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness.
And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”
As a kid, I always imagined that when I was in high school, playing varsity basketball and volleyball, and getting straight A’s in the classroom, I would finally be able to say I am living my best life. It was only during my sophomore year when these dreams had become my reality that I started to understand how this vision of my best life was missing something.
I thought I was supposed to feel satisfied, like everything I had worked so hard to achieve would somehow transform me, but when I took a step back and looked at my life, I realized these achievements were not enough. I still yearned for something more.
So, I turned to daily Mass, where I began receiving the Eucharist at the start of each day. And as I received the Blessed Sacrament each morning, the way that I saw my life began to change. Rather than focusing all my efforts on academic and athletic achievements, I began to view my life as a gift from God. I began to see how putting my value in test grades and points scored left me feeling empty because the way I understood life’s purpose was missing Christ.
It was in the liturgy that I began to literally see differently, which changed how I lived my life. In this gospel passage, Jesus reminds us that our vision, our way of seeing and understanding this world matters. If we look at the world like a competition where we must achieve great things in order to be worth something, then we live in darkness. In darkness, nothing satisfies us; we keep longing for something more. It is only in the light of Christ that we can understand our meaning and begin to truly live our best life.
Prayer
O Jesus, treasure of our hearts, you are the light of the nations and illumine all darkness. Give us the grace to trust in your providential care that we may be filled with your light and live as children of light. We ask this through your most holy name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Michelina wanted to be at the center of her social network until she discovered a deeper longing that changed her life in radical ways.
She lived in Pesaro, a town on the eastern coast of Italy, in the 1300s. Her parents were wealthy and well-known, and she grew up with every advantage and luxury. She was married at a young age, according to the custom of the time, and had a happy marriage. The couple had one boy.
Michelina’s husband died when she was just 20 years old. Though she was saddened, she wanted to remarry and so entered the social life of the region, attending parties and other gatherings. She went about the business of amusing herself.
Living in Pesaro at the time was a wandering holy woman named Syriaca, who followed the way of St. Francis and lived on the generosity of others. Michelina often would take in Syriaca and give her food and a bed for the night. Gradually, the witness of Syriaca’s life began to speak to Michelina and awaken in her a longing for some deeper happiness than she was finding in her social life.
At about that time, Michelina's son got very ill and died. She was devastated by the loss, but received a vision of him in heaven, and this convinced her to give her life to God so that she might join him.
She gave away all of her wealth, and also took on the way of life of St. Francis and Syriaca—begging for her food and shelter and caring for those who were also living in poverty. She was accustomed to such luxury and this was often a difficult thing for her to do, but she applied great discipline and resolve to carry it out.
Her family thought she had gone crazy, and locked her up. Though her way of life confused them, she was at the same time full of peace and gentleness and patience, so they eventually released her.
She went about caring for the sick and the poor. Stories are told of how she cured lepers by kissing their wounds. Towards the end of her life, she made a pilgrimage to Rome, where she received a mystical vision of Jesus suffering on the cross.
She died on this date in 1356 and was instantly recognized as a holy woman by the town of Pesaro. The citizens there kept a lamp burning at her tomb and converted her home into a church. Her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
Blessed Michelina of Pesaro, you were the wife and mother who sought holiness in order to join your family in heaven—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Michelina of Pesaro is available for use under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Last accessed March 11, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
