Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 15, 2022
When Judas had left them, 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 God will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
Time is everywhere in John’s Gospel. The first disciples met Jesus at four in the afternoon. The Samaritan woman met Jesus at the well at noon. Jesus’ crucifixion was about noon. John even describes events with phrases like, “it was not yet Jesus’ time,” or “it was the appointed time.”
Time defines today’s gospel as well. Note how descriptions of when, now, at once, and a little while longer indicate a sense of urgency in Jesus’ last encounter with his disciples. It was essential to John to mark the times when events occurred because grace happens in real-time. Every disciple’s life changed because of concrete experiences with Christ.
Like John, we can recall key times in our lives, such as anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations, because these are the experiences and occasions that shape us. However suitable it is to mark the time and the seasons, we can also labor under time’s tyranny as our digital devices endlessly signal when to exercise, sleep, or jump on a zoom meeting.
Despite our human emphasis and reliance on time, Jesus transforms it rather than being constrained by it.
In today’s gospel, Judas had just left to betray Jesus, yet Jesus speaks and acts with love by focusing on God, his Father, and living out this love. Thus, Jesus’ parting words are this new commandment, to love one another. The more we enter into this commandment, the more time changes for us too.
Perhaps we can take a moment this Easter season to focus on how much we are loved and how we are called to be love for others through our presence, forgiveness, and understanding. Then the moments we want to mark because they change us for the good and unite us with God will be countless!
Prayer
Glorious Jesus, you offer us the bread of life. Inspire our desire to follow you wherever you lead, and protect us from any temptation to deny you. We ask this through your most holy name, as you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Saint of the Day
In the 13th century, two ancient marble tombs were discovered in a city near Antwerp, Belgium. Buried inside were the bodies of two saints: St. Dymphna and St. Gerebernus.
When the relics of these two saints became known to the city, a number of healings were attributed to their intercession. Those suffering from epilepsy and mental illness suddenly found health through prayer to these saints.
Little is known of these saints, so popular belief filled in their history. It is thought that Dymphna was daughter to an Irish tribal king and a Christian princess, who baptized the girl and raised her as a Christian.
When Dymphna was a teenager, her mother died, leaving her father beside himself with grief. He searched the civilized world for a woman who looked like his deceased wife, but found none. Dymphna’s own beauty reminded him of his wife, and he made an advance upon Dymphna, but she escaped.
Her spiritual advisor was an old priest and family friend named Gerebernus. He advised her to leave the country, so together they fled to Belgium and found a small chapel near Antwerp. They decided to live there, both adopting a life of solitude and prayer.
They did not know that Dymphna’s father was pursuing them. He searched the countryside for his daughter, and finally caught wind of where she might be hiding. He discovered them and tried to convince them to return to Ireland. When they refused, he killed both Dymphna and Cerebernus.
The relics of St. Dymphna rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus.
St. Dymphna, patron saint of those who suffer from mental illness—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Dymphna is an illustration by Notre Dame alumnus Matthew Alderman '06, who holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of his art. Used here with permission.