Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 22, 2024
The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?”
The Jews answered him,
“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”
Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.
He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
“John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true.”
And many there began to believe in him.
Reflection
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells his interlocutors that if they do not listen to his words, they should pay attention to what he does. So, I invite us to take Jesus at his word today. What does he do in this passage?
He does not let himself be taken captive and presumably stoned. Rather, Jesus returns to his starting point, where John baptized him. It was a return to a safe place where Jesus was recognized and appreciated. Of course, Jesus did not stay there forever. Soon, he was called again to return to Judea even though the authorities there wanted to stone him. (He will raise Lazarus from the dead in the next chapter.)
This passage tells us that even Jesus knew when to stop fighting and regroup. He went back to the place where he was welcomed and appreciated. It’s as if the Holy Spirit were saying, “Don’t get stoned if you can help it and live again to fight another day. Yes, you will lay down your life but it’s not today.”
Sometimes, doing the right thing, whatever that is, earns us enmity from those around us who are threatened by who we are and what we stand for. And we have ingrained in us the desire to fight until the bitter end (at least I do). Are we allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our path—to show us when it is time to fight and when it is time to escape to safety?
Christ has shown us it’s okay to return to our beginnings and to the people who will nurture and help us. Soon enough, we will be called again to do good works, perhaps even miracles.
Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, the words of Jesus your Son scandalized some of those who first heard them, and he was accused of blasphemy. Centuries later, we still seek to live within the outlandishness of Christ’s promises—promises so deep and abiding that they conquer all sin and death. Make us fearless in proclaiming the truths that set us free. You live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
Saint of the Day

Nicholas Owen was a lay man who attached himself to the community of Jesuits living in London in the late 1500s. England, at that time, was suppressing and persecuting Catholics, and Nicholas was a skilled carpenter who built many secret passages and compartments in homes that were used to hide priests.
He was arrested with other Jesuits in 1594 and imprisoned in the London Tower where he was tortured in an attempt to make him give up names and locations of his Catholic friends and Jesuit brothers. He refused, and a wealthy Catholic family ransomed him from prison. The authorities let him go, thinking he was an insignificant associate of the other Jesuits they had captured.
Nicholas returned to engineer the escape of the Jesuit priest who was imprisoned with him and also being tortured. Nicholas also arranged for the escape of their guard, whom they had befriended, because he would face punishment for their flight. Nicholas strung a rope to the tower across a moat, and they successfully got away.
Nicholas was of very small stature, and people called him “Little John.” He was, nevertheless, very strong, as much of his work had him breaking through thick stonework. He worked at night and alone, and always kept his devices and designs a secret. Authorities could search a home for a week, punching holes in walls and pulling up floors, and still not find his hiding places.
Once, when authorities were close to discovering some priests who were in hiding, Nicholas turned himself in to divert their attention. This time, the captors knew who it was they had arrested, and they tortured him again. Nicholas refused to give up any information, and he died from those injuries in 1606.
St. Nicholas of Owen was canonized in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. His relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Nicholas Owen, the cunning carpenter who saved persecuted priests by building secret passages—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Nicholas Owen is an illustration by Notre Dame alumnus Matthew Alderman '06, who holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of his art. Used here with permission.