Daily Gospel Reflection

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March 26, 2024

Tuesday of Holy Week
Jn 13:21-33;36-38
Listen to the Audio Version

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

When he had left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”

Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him,
“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.”
Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.”

Reflection

Alexander Slavsky '17
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When I was eight years old, I lost my mother to breast cancer. It was a stark introduction for me to the fragility and shortness of life. However, amid such pain and loss and the aftermath, I know the real and anticipated joy that awaits all of us in this valley of tears when we will finally be united with our loved ones in heaven.

In today’s gospel passage, Jesus’ words and actions are an opportunity to prepare our hearts and minds for his Paschal Mystery—passion, death, and resurrection. Our Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving give way to an anticipated joy that comes from the Easter season. This joy affects all of God’s beloved children, who are partakers of Jesus’ ultimate victory over the grave.

Pope Francis has reminded us on numerous occasions that, in a spiritual sense, joy is a grace and a gift of the Holy Spirit. And with anticipation of joy, we have this expectancy foreshadowed by Lent and Holy Week. An example of anticipated joy from the passage is Jesus saying, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.” Even though we know things will get worse before they get better, Jesus will be glorified.

Joy is often intermingled with sorrow and sometimes great tribulation and suffering. Jesus says in this same passage, “If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself.” I pray that one day, we all experience firsthand the joy of God glorifying the Son in the dear faithful departed.

Prayer

Rev. Paul Kollman, C.S.C.

On this Tuesday of Holy Week, Lord Jesus, we hear of the betrayal you suffered from Judas and of the foolish boasts of Peter. Their actions seem only to have reinforced your sense that you would suffer after being abandoned by many. Forgive our betrayals, our foolishness, our unwillingness to attend to those in need. May we learn not to fear suffering, and share your own openness to God’s will. You live and reign with the Father and the Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

Saint of the Day

St. Dismas, the Good Thief

On March 25, the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation. March 25, however, is also listed as the feast day of St. Dismas, who was the good thief crucified with Jesus. Today we offer a small biography of St. Dismas as we meditate upon and ask for God's mercy.

The only substantial record we have of this man comes from the Gospel of Luke (other Gospels note that Jesus was crucified between two revolutionaries, but do not elaborate). As Luke tells us, Jesus was crucified with two thieves. As they hung on the cross, one taunted Jesus along with the crowd, telling him, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.”

The other thief rebuked him, saying, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”Jesus told him, “This day you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

The Christian community took seriously Jesus’ words here that this good thief was saved, and honors him as a saint. Dismas’ response to Jesus is a good articulation of steps in conversion away from sin: he came to an honest awareness of his sin and turned away from it, seeking Jesus as the source of eternal life.

Like other personalities close to the story of Jesus, we know little about Dismas. The Christian community constructed a story to fill in this gap, including his name—in some traditions, he is known as Titus or Zoathan. The most popular name, Dismas, was adopted from the Greek word for “sunset” or “death,” and began to be used in stories dating from the fourth century. One legend says that Dismas and his fellow thief held up Joseph and Mary when they were fleeing to Egypt with the child Jesus. Dismas is said to have been moved to compassion and bribed his companion to let the Holy Family pass safely.

The relics of St. Dismas rest in the reliquary chapel, including a piece of Dismas’ cross. His image is used here with permission from Catholic.org.

The Dismas House in South Bend is named after this good thief, and is a halfway house for men recently released from jail. The house is a community partner with the Institute for Social Concerns, and Notre Dame students volunteer there to support former prisoners who are adjusting to life after incarceration. Residents of Keenan Hall have cooked dinner at Dismas House one night a week during the academic year since it opened in 1986.

St. Dismas, the good thief who received Christ's mercy at the hour of death—pray for us!


Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Dismas is in the public domain. Last accessed February 13, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.