Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 8, 2025
On the evening of that first day of the week,
when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,
for fear of the Jews,
Jesus came and stood in their midst
and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you.
As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”
And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,
and whose sins you retain are retained.”
In Pope Leo XIV’s first address to the world, he echoed Jesus’ words in this gospel, “Peace be with you.” Out of all the possible messages, he decided peace was the most important. Peace for a distracted, angry world. After reflection, I agreed with the relevance of the message, but I did not know how to bring this peace to people in my own life. The answer came from a Mass celebrating the very sacrament this gospel laid the framework for—confirmation.
Two weeks ago, I witnessed the 8th-grade students that I teach daily be confirmed into the Catholic church. Just as the apostles received the Holy Spirit and were sent out to spread the gospel, the sacrament of confirmation bestows the same gift and mission on us.
In Bishop Hanchon’s homily at my student’s confirmation, he made it clear how we are to spread the gospel. At our confirmation, we are bestowed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. It is our job to live our lives so that people would describe us with these gifts. This is how we bring others to the gospel.
There are many days I feel overwhelmed by the divisions in our world: divisions in family, politics, church, and more. In this Jubilee Year of Hope, it is hard to teach this message of hope to myself and my students while so much division exists. However, it is helpful to remind ourselves that creating a map for peace is not the job we were given. This map was given by Christ. My student’s confirmation Mass reminded me that by living with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we become peace for the world. Our mission is what gives us peace.
Prayer
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructed the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations, through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Jacques Berthieu was a French Jesuit priest martyred in 1896 while he was spreading the faith in Madagascar.
He was born in 1838 in France to a simple farming family. He studied at seminary and was ordained a diocesan priest in 1864, then went on to serve at a local parish for nine years. He had a thriving and well-developed prayer life grounded in St. Ignatius’ spiritual exercises. When he heard a call to become a missionary, he joined the Jesuit order in 1873.
Two years later, Jacques sailed to an island just off of Madagascar, where he studied the local language with several other Jesuits and some nuns. At the age of 37, the new climate and culture challenged him. “My uselessness and my spiritual misery serve to humiliate me, but not to discourage me,” he wrote. “I await the hour when I can do something, with the grace of God.”
He did what he could with his limited language and skills—he started a garden to help feed the missionary station and offered what pastoral service he could to the people there.
In 1881, the French government closed French territories to the Jesuits, so Jacques and the team of missionaries he was living with moved to the larger island of Madagascar, which was an independent kingdom. They built a church and began serving and teaching the people.
Within a few years, the kingdom of Madagascar was at war with the French. Soon a revolt targeted Christians, who were seen as complicit with the colonizers. Jacques asked a French colonel to help protect the Christian community he was working with, but was refused because Jacques had criticized the colonel’s treatment of the village women. The group fled instead, but were soon caught.
On this date in 1896, Jacques was found, stripped, and beaten. One rebel grabbed his crucifix and said, “Is this your amulet? Will you continue to pray for a long time?” Jacques replied, “I have to pray until I die.” He was struck on his head by a machete.
Wounded, he was marched some six miles to the village where he had been living, and was further tortured. His captors decided to kill him. Jacques knelt at the sight of the approaching gunmen, but they missed when they first fired at him. Jacques made the sign of the cross.
One approached him and offered to spare him if he gave up his faith—in fact, he said, they would make Jacques their counselor. “I cannot consent to this,” Jacques replied. “I prefer to die.”
They fired again, missing once more. Jacques bowed his head in prayer and was finally killed. His body was dumped in the local river. He was 57.
After his death, the people of the village noticed that miraculous healings began to happen when they drank the water of the river into which Jacques’ body was thrown. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
St. Jacques Berthieu, you were the missionary to Madagascar who preferred death to denying your faith—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Jacques Berthieu is available for use under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Last accessed March 6, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
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