Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 10, 2025
Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said,
“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this,
he said to them, “Does this shock you?
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.
The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.”
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe
and the one who would betray him.
And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him by my Father.”
As a result of this,
many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
and no longer walked with him.
Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
When I was a senior in college, I received an email about a silent retreat taking place at Moreau Seminary, the seminary for the Congregation of Holy Cross on campus. My gut response was “Yikes, I could never do that! That sounds too hard,” followed immediately by a feeling of “Maybe that means I should.”
For those that don’t know me, I am quite a talkative person, and even when no one is around, my thoughts are loud enough to accompany me. But in saying yes to this retreat, I challenged myself to dwell in the quiet and encounter God.
God does not call us to do easy things; if it were easy to follow God, everyone would be perfect Christians. Because we are human, we will continue to fail daily in our attempts to follow God’s example, but we mustn’t turn away when we face this difficulty. On the contrary, when our society gives reason to move away from something, maybe God is calling us instead to move closer.
In the gospel reading today, we see several disciples choose to leave Jesus behind because his teachings were too difficult for them to digest. But, beautiful, imperfect Simon Peter astutely observes that there is no other option but to follow the Christ. Therefore, we must continue in the difficulty, knowing that the sacrifices we make—the big and the small—are made in obedience to Christ.
The hope of entering into eternal life is inextricably entangled with the love, faithfulness, and attentiveness we give to the will of God in this one.
Prayer
Ancient and Holy One, you never fail to teach us through the mystery of your grace acting in our midst. You beckon all who hear your voice to go out into all the world and proclaim the good news in everything we say and do. Give your people strength and perseverance through communion with our source of life, Christ your Son. May his eternal life dwell within us and bring us at last into your peaceful presence. We ask this in your holy name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Solange is patron saint of victims of sexual assault because she died insisting on her faithfulness to Jesus while refusing the advances of a young man.
She was born in ninth-century France to poor parents who were field-workers in a vineyard. At an early age, she dedicated herself to God and took a vow of chastity. Her job on the estate was to tend the sheep. She would spend her time in the pastures in prayer, and had a caring and gentle touch with animals. Several miracles of healing were attributed to her.
A young nobleman—the son of her family’s landlord—heard of her beauty and holiness, and he rode his horse to the pastures where she would tend sheep alone. When she resisted his advances, he grabbed her and placed her on his horse and began to ride off. She wrestled her way free and fell from the horse. Despite being seriously injured, she tried to make an escape, but the young man caught her and killed her with his hunting sword, which she holds in this image from a stained glass window in the Basilica.
St. Solange is also patron of the province of Berry, France, which explains her presence in this Basilica window. Father Sorin and the Holy Cross brothers who founded the University came from France, and brought with them their French devotion—she was popularly venerated in her home region. In the smaller window shown here, she is shown in prayer in the sheep pastures.
St. Solange, patron saint of victims of sexual assault—pray for us!