Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 18, 2020
Jesus said to his disciples, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have said these things to you to keep you from stumbling. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.”
Challenge is a word I have taught both my children and my students to embrace and which I try to emulate in my roles as mother and teacher. It is an ever-evolving word in today’s world. Challenge is oftentimes presented as an individualistic word: one faces challenges head-on, by oneself, with courage and determination.
I would offer, however, that today’s Gospel reading offers us comfort in that the challenge of faith is also a collective one. We take on the challenge of living our faith, of testifying our beliefs and bearing witness to the goodness of God because as a community, we trust in the guidance of the Trinity. I can’t imagine how different it was for the disciples, a community vastly smaller than ours, to face the challenges they knew were coming.
Thus, Jesus provided his disciples, and us, with both a promise and a purpose. An Advocate in the form of the Holy Spirit was gifted to us, to empower, guide, and love us. As an educator, I often advocate on behalf of those I am called to serve and protect. It is both humbling and fulfilling to act as a proponent for another. In doing so, I send the message, “You are not alone.” So it is with the Holy Spirit. We are never alone. We should not be afraid. And with such promise, we solidify our purpose to live and love as Jesus taught us.
In these challenging days of social isolation and remote learning, we more intentionally reach out to connect, to consult, and to console our students, family and friends. May we also continue to intentionally reach out to know Jesus’s presence in our lives and to ask the Holy Spirit for the guidance we need to tackle these challenges we face…together.
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. Venantius is the patron saint of the Italian town of Camerino.
He was an early Christian martyr put to death during the reign of the emperor Decius (249-251 AD). Venantius was martyred with ten other Christians, but before he was killed, Venantius was scourged, burned badly by being torched and hung upside-down over a fire, and was thrown to hungry lions. Venantius, however, remained untouched throughout the entire ordeal. Some legends say that he was tossed off a cliff, Venantius apparently survived that as well, and crawled to the town of Camerino to escape his persecutors.
Finally, his torturers found that the only way they could kill Venantius was to crucify him. They crucified him upside down.
Despite his gruesome story, Venantius became a popular saint in the town of Camerino. A basilica named after him was built in Camerino in the fifth century. Locals began to pray to Venantius for cures from anything from leprosy to peptic ulcers.
Venantius became Camerino’s patron saint: his face began to be stamped on their coins, and the residents of Camerino risked their lives during the sacking of Camerino by Sicilians in 1259 to save his relics.
Venantius is still a beloved local saint and an excellent reminder of who saints are to us and to all the Church: local men and women—our neighbors, small nobodies from our towns and villages, whose witness of love and faith leave marks on the places they lived for centuries to come.
St. Venantius of Camerino, brave martyr of the early church—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Venantius of Camerino is in the public domain. Modified from the original. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
