Daily Gospel Reflection
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March 31, 2023
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.
My sobriety date was simultaneously the worst and the best day of my life. My lived experience of that day at the moment was that it was most certainly the worst. I physically felt sick. I abruptly left my medical residency, my wife, and two children, and enrolled in treatment in a different state. I was scared my career, family, and marriage wouldn’t survive.
In reading today’s gospel, I can relate to the Jews and their fear of Jesus. I remember being afraid. The Jews viewed Jesus as challenging their belief system, control, and way of being. Likewise, my ego doesn’t like challenges to my beliefs, especially when those challenges rob me of power or disrupt the comfort of the way things are.
Jesus challenges me, in my moments of fear, doubt, and desire for control, to “believe the works” that he has performed in my life. I think back to that worst day of my life and now see it as the best day. In hindsight, I can see Jesus’ hand directly moving me into recovery.
My sponsor often reminds me that God’s work in my life can sometimes be difficult to discern in the moment. I tend to judge events based on how they make me feel, not what they will mean. Often proper perspective is born of time.
God has performed many more works in my life since that day, but it was the one that allowed me to “realize and understand” as he directs in today’s gospel.
Seven years later, I am a practicing physician, have two more beautiful children who have only known a sober father, and my marriage is stronger than ever. I still go through periods of doubt and fear where my ego wants to remain in power. But it’s reminders like the one in today’s gospel that keep my faith grounded.
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
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.
