Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
May 22, 2019
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
Today’s Gospel, in which Christ describes his Mystical Body, contains the most glorious news: you and I are now, already participating in Jesus’s Resurrection. “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” I must continually fight to ignore the noise of the world and remind myself of the glorious reality in which we live.
Jesus cautions us not to wither, not to be thrown away. Of course, unrepentant sin can sever us from the vine. But, when I think of how too many of us wither away from Jesus, I imagine, as in the Parable of the Sower, the seed on the rocky soil withering in the sun. This image of the sun, for me, represents the unfocused busyness of the everyday world—a silent killer of our participation in Christ.
It is easy to feel satisfied doing charitable works because “I” accomplished it—again, the sun of busy working withers the seed planted in the soil of our hearts. Focusing completely on our own self, our own “I,” we push God to the margins of our lives. But if we remember to bless God and thank him who is the source and enabler of our love for others, we remain nourished in the light of divine love and bear much fruit. The essence of love is “sending out.” Love transcends the finite limits of the sender, of my ego, of myself.
What fruit shall I produce? The fruit we offer the world is our God’s infinite love. God’s love was sent out first to the world through his Son who now sends out divine love to and through us.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you came not to judge or reject, but to embrace and cherish. You remind us once again that you do exactly what our Father does. Still we shy away from you with feelings of guilt and unworthiness. We know that we will not find peace if we refuse ourselves or others the hope and delight of your embrace. Help us to believe in you, that we might have eternal life and be raised up by you on the last day. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Nearly every stage of her life was marked by suffering and loss, but Rita never lost her faith and trust in God. Because of this faithfulness, she is the patron saint of desperate causes.
Rita was born to aged parents in 1381 in Italy. She was a pious child and wanted to devote herself to a religious life, but her parents arranged a marriage for her. She obeyed, but suffered greatly because her husband was abusive.
She bore twins, and the two boys also suffered under her husband until he was killed by a different family in an honor killing. After her two sons died of illness, Rita applied to enter a convent.
Because some of the sisters in the convent were related to the family that killed her husband, she was denied entry. She persisted in asking to join the community, however, and eventually was accepted.
As a religious, she gave all of her energies to devotional practices and prayer. From her childhood, Rita was devoted to the passion and suffering of Jesus. She received a special form of the stigmata when a wound opened on her forehead similar to what would have resulted from the crown of thorns Jesus wore. The wound caused her to be secluded, and she suffered from it for 15 years until her death. The last four years of her life were marked by illness, and she died on this date in 1457.
In modern times, her body was discovered to have remained incorrupt, and some of her relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. Her bust, pictured here, stands in the offices of Campus Ministry for the University.
St. Rita, you who are the patron saint of the impossible and the advocate of desperate cases—pray for us!