Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 31, 2020
Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”
Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.”
They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”
They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.”
As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
The past few weeks have been filled with countless, fruitless searches – the quest for toilet paper, Lysol wipes and diapers to name a few, but also searches for answers to unanswerable questions– when will the world restart? If I become infected with COVID-19, will I recover? Has the market hit bottom? The irony is that, in this search for supplies, answers, and certainty, I consistently end up feeling less prepared, more unsure, and more panicked.
And now Jesus too adds uncertainty? Jesus tells the Jews he is going away. They will search for him, but won’t find him and they can’t join him.
But that’s not where the story ends, there is a qualifier. They cannot come with him (or find him) unless they believe. The same goes for us. When, and if, we believe–that Jesus was not just a man, but the Son of God who was sent to the world by the Father to save us from our sins and to give us new life, who died, but then rose–well, then, the whole calculus changes. When we start looking for Jesus in the right places with the right perspective, then we will not only find him and be able to join him, but we can find an inner peace.
In these times of uncertainty, Jesus is all around us. Let us feel his presence in the beauty of the sunset, the unexpected time together with family, void of much of the typical consumerism, the helpful neighbor delivering food to those who can’t go out, the healthcare workers and first responders showing up day in and day out, and the priests comforting the grieving. And let us find Jesus in prayer, deep within our hearts. For when we believe, when we search for Jesus instead of sanitation supplies, the world suddenly seems a lot more hopeful. Tranquility, even in times of uncertainty, begins to take hold.
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
Sts. Quirinus and Balbina were a father and daughter who were martyred for their faith in the early Church.
Quirinus was a Roman officer in the army who was tasked to guard the imprisoned Pope Alexander I. In conversation with Alexander, Quirinus stated that he would convert to Christianity if Alexander’s prayer could heal the officer’s daughter, Balbina, from a goiter that afflicted her.
Alexander told her to venerate the chains that held St. Peter, and, since Quirinus knew where Peter had been held, they went there immediately. When Balbina knelt to kiss the shackles, she was cured. They both returned to Alexander and Quirinus had the pope released and pardoned, and asked for baptism for himself and his daughter.
After that, Alexander built a church to hold St. Peter’s chains, which still stands today in Rome.
In 116, Quirinus was arrested and beheaded for his Christian faith. Scholars believe Balbina was arrested and convicted of being Christian and executed in 130. She was buried with Quirinus in the Roman catacombs, and their graves were located in written guides for early Church pilgrims who visited the tombs.
St. Quirinus’ feast day falls on March 30, and St. Balbina’s today. Relics of Quirinus rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. A statue of Balbina, pictured here, stands as one of the 140 statues on the colonnade of St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
Sts. Quirinus and Balbina, you were the father and daughter who both gave your lives for the new faith you found—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Balbina is available for use under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Last accessed February 13, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
