Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 1, 2022
Peter began to say to Jesus,
“We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Before today’s gospel passage, Jesus had just had an interaction with the man that we know as the Rich Young Man. He had asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. After telling him what he must do, Jesus talks about how difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.
In his usual way, Peter then says to Jesus, “Hey, look at us. We’re not rich. We have given up everything to follow you. So, what’s in it for us?”
Jesus tells Peter that those who have given up everything and have followed him will receive all these things many times over. What does this mean? Being a priest in religious life, I used to think that this only described my vocation.
As priests, we have given up children and homes and sisters and brothers for the sake of the gospel. In Holy Cross, we have CSC houses worldwide where our CSC brothers and sisters live and work, from Montreal to Tanzania, from Bangladesh to South Bend.
But this is too narrow of a meaning of the words of Jesus. What else might he mean? If we go back to the interaction with the Rich Young Man, we see that the problem is not that he was rich. Instead, the problem is that he spoke too much in the first person singular. “I have observed all these commandments from my youth. I have done this. I have done that.” Jesus wanted him to go from saying, “I have kept all these commandments” to “Your grace has helped me to keep all these commandments.”
So, with us. The less that we speak in the first person singular, the more room we make for Jesus to work in our lives and give us everything we need.
Prayer
Lord, like your first disciples, we wish to abandon all to follow you. Yet we have learned that we still have it within ourselves to hold back. We wish to be whole-hearted, yet we are hesitant. May the promise of your love and friendship continue to draw us along the paths of discipleship in this world to our eternal home in the world to come. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Albinus was so well known for working miracles that faithful people all over Europe, from Spain to Poland, prayed for his intercession. Many French parishes are named after him to this day.
He was born in northern France to a family who landed there from England or Ireland. As a young man, he entered a nearby monastery. By the time he was 35, he was elected abbot of the monastery, and when Angers, France, needed a bishop in 529, the people turned to him.
As bishop, Albinus preached every day, and took great care of the sick and the poor. He had a special care for widows who were raising large families. He also was famous for his work ransoming captives. Nearby barbarian forces would raid the cities, and he spent large amounts of money to buy back prisoners who had been enslaved.
Once, the king himself carried off a beautiful young girl and locked her away for his own pleasure. When Albinus heard about it, he went directly to the castle and demanded her freedom. The guards dared not oppose him and handed her over. The king did not pursue, but had the gall to demand a ransom for her freedom, which Albinus paid himself.
Albinus healed the sick and restored sight to the blind, and even was known to raise from the dead one boy named Alabald. Albinus died in 550, and his image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.
St. Albinus, you were the French bishop who freed captives, cured the sick, and even raised the dead, pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Albinus is available for use under a Creative Commons license. Edited from the original. Last accessed January 30, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
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