Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 11, 2026
Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have told you this so that you may not fall away.
They will expel you from the synagogues;
in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you
will think he is offering worship to God.
They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.
I have told you this so that when their hour comes
you may remember that I told you.”
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
Jesus tells us that to imitate the life of Christ means that the world will reject us, drive us away, hate us, and maybe kill us, just like it did to our Lord. Jesus also assures us that he will send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us and is God and the very Spirit of Christ: the strongest of allies! Following Christ, replete with suffering, is the life we are all called to live and is the way back to the Father in paradise, where we walk with God.
I’m a convert to the faith. One of the phrases I hear cradle Catholics say a lot is “offer it up.” It took a long time for that to mean anything to me, but I believe today’s gospel is related. Suffering comes in all forms, and it’s not supposed to be a contest. There is the heroic suffering of the martyrs, and there is certainly persecution of Christians throughout the world today.
But even if we do not experience the dramatic suffering depicted in the gospels and in Acts, we live in a vale of tears. Maybe our suffering is an intense workload, maybe it’s the fear that you’ll fail those who depend on you, maybe it’s the pain of rejection, maybe it’s watching over our parents or loved ones as they die.
Whatever it is, our Lord tells us that he is with us. Jesus knows our sufferings to the fullest, for in his compassion, he willingly suffered and died so that through him we may be saved! Alleluia! Our Lord calls us to unite our sufferings to his redemptive work. It has a divine purpose, and that is an encouraging thought.
Prayer
Loving Jesus, as we begin our sixth week celebrating your resurrection, the challenge of maintaining Easter joy is real. You also know from your life on earth the real challenges of maintaining faith and hope. You understand the difficulty of offering love in a world that can sometimes oppose the faith or encourages apathy towards it. Help us feel the support of the Advocate to help us remain faithful to the truth. We ask this in your most Holy Name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Francis di Girolamo was tireless in working to convert sinners and reaching out to the poor, winning many people to greater faith. He is known as the Apostle to Naples because that is where he spent most of his time and energy.
He was born in Italy in 1642, the eldest of 11 children. After making his first Communion at the age of 12, he went to live with a community of priests in his town. They could clearly see that he was special, and began to entrust to him greater roles in the congregation, including teaching the catechism.
Francis went to Naples to study civil and canon law, and was ordained a priest there in 1666 (he had to receive special permission because at 24, he was too young). He taught at a Jesuit university in Naples for five years and students there began to refer to him as “the holy priest.”
He decided to join the Jesuit order, and his superiors tested him with many difficulties. He impressed everyone, however, and was sent to do mission work with a famous preacher. He then returned to Naples and finished his education and was appointed to a church there.
Francis desperately wanted to travel to Japan as a missionary—reports stated that every missionary who landed there was killed. It was decided, though, that he should remain in Naples, so he began to train other missionaries.
Large crowds gathered to hear him preach, and many people sought him out for confession. Miracles and wonders were reported from his intercession. Some estimate that he converted 400 sinners each year. He regularly visited the sick in hospitals and the imprisoned, including those waiting for execution. He was fearless in pursuing sinners even on their own territory in places of ill repute—and he was beaten up a number of times for his efforts.
Sometimes he would feel a spontaneous urge to begin preaching in the middle of the street. One night, in the middle of a storm, he felt called to begin preaching to an empty, dark alley. The next day, a sinner came to his confessional who had heard him through an open window.
The most famous sinner he converted was a French woman who killed her father and fled to Spain, where she dressed as a man and enlisted in the army. She sought direction from Francis, and not only repented from her sins but also went on to become known as a holy woman.
St. Francis di Girolamo died at the age of 74, and his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Francis di Girolamo, you relentlessly sought out sinners on their own turf and won many to the faith—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Francis di Girolamo is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed March 6, 2025.