Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
March 23, 2021
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.”
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
As I read today’s gospel, I felt like a child listening to an adult explain the concept of God. My children ask me all sorts of questions about God as they grow up, and I do my best to explain our faith to them in terms they will understand. But I know that they have to accept answers they don’t fully comprehend. And I know that I am offering explanations that can’t fully communicate the mystery of our faith.
So, it is a familiar feeling to struggle with a difficult reading like this one from the Gospel of John. Jesus is trying to explain his relationship to the Father in the context of his forthcoming crucifixion. His audience openly wonders if he is talking about killing himself and, “they did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.” Clearly, they don’t get it… and I didn’t feel as if I was understanding the passage much better than they were after a few readings.
But one thing I learned was that Jesus identifies himself with God the Father in a strong and unusual way in this passage. He says, “I AM,” in two places: “For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins,” and, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM…” I learned that, in saying “I AM,” Jesus is naming himself as God: he is truly one with God the Father. I AM is the name of God from the book of Exodus and is the equivalent of “YAHWEH.”
For me, the most important takeaway from this reading is not just that Jesus is one with God, but that he demonstrates that intimate connection to the Father by willingly giving up his life on the cross. There is perhaps no way to explain this mystery to our children or even ourselves. We can only embrace Jesus and his sacrifice as he himself embraced the cross.
Prayer
Father, Jesus your Son proclaimed your reign and embodied it in his intimacy with you and his generous self-sacrificing life. Be with us in our Lenten pilgrimage of faith. May our prayer, fasting, and repentance draw us ever more deeply into Christ’s example of oneness with you and kind attentiveness to others. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo was a 16th century Spanish missionary to the new world who defended the rights of Latin American natives.
He was born to a noble family in Spain, and capitalized on a very good education by studiously developing a sharp intellect. He went on to teach law at the famous University of Salamanca. His virtue and wisdom led him to appointments from the king, and he was ordained a priest.
In 1578, he was sent to Peru and named Archbishop of Lima. He often traveled throughout the immense diocese on foot, engaging anyone he met. He learned the local dialects in order to converse with the native people there—he instructed and baptized them. He traveled alone and was exposed to extreme weather, wild animals, tropical diseases, and even threats from hostile tribes.
He was a powerful voice for reform in the new world. The conquistadores exploited the indigenous people, and the clergy were often complicit in this oppression. He was known as a staunch defender of the rights of natives against the Spanish settlers, and though he met powerful opposition from Spanish governors in Peru, he persisted in his advocacy.
In Peru, he built roads and churches, schools, and hospitals, and opened the first seminary in the western hemisphere. It is said he welcomed 500,000 people into the Church in Peru, and among those he confirmed were St. Rose of Lima and St. Martin de Porres.
He died on this date in 1606 from a fever. Relics of one saint named Turibius rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica on campus.
St. Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo, who defended indigenous people from Spanish conquistadores—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo is in the public domain. Last accessed February 6, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
