Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
May 25, 2021
Peter began to say to Jesus,
‘We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
This gospel passage promises that we will receive “a hundred times more” than what we give up for the sake of the Gospel. But we also have to keep in mind Peter’s words at that beginning of the passage: “We have given up everything to follow you.”
Have I given up everything to follow Christ? Hardly. It is much easier to think of my faith as part of my life and not the foundation of my entire existence. So I know that I have not given up everything to follow Jesus, like Peter did. I think of myself as like the rich young man from a few verses earlier in this chapter from Mark who asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus answers, “sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” As we know, the rich young man was not able to follow Jesus’ advice.
But I don’t think that Jesus wants me to be an irresponsible son or father or home owner by leaving my parents, my children, and my house, as a literal reading of this passage would indicate. Instead, I feel called to examine how I can sacrifice my selfish desires in each of these roles in my life and center all of these relationships on the Gospel of Christ.
The most important line in this reading for me was the concluding line which reminds us that the first will be last and last will be first. I don’t always recognize that I am putting myself first in so many aspects of my life, but this reading calls me to examine my priorities, motivations and desires. If I can put myself last, rather than first, in each and every aspect of my life, then I am starting down the road of “giving up everything to follow you,” as Peter says in this reading.
Prayer
Lord, like your first disciples, we wish to abandon all to follow you. Yet we have learned that we still have it within ourselves to hold back. We wish to be whole-hearted, yet we are hesitant. May the promise of your love and friendship continue to draw us along the paths of discipleship in this world to our eternal home in the world to come. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi was a 16th century nun who had supernatural experiences associated with her mystical prayer.
She was born in 1566 to one of the most famous families in Florence, Italy, and was baptized Catherine after the great St. Catherine of Siena. As a young girl, she was full of prayer, and her parents sent her to a nearby convent for her education. There, she grew even more devoted, even learning the practice of meditation at a young age.
Her parents had an arranged marriage in mind for her, but she convinced them that she was called to religious life. She chose the Carmelite order because they received Holy Communion every day, entering the community in 1583 and taking the name Mary Magdalene.
The community was reluctant to admit her, but when she fell dangerously ill, they allowed her to make her vows from a stretcher placed in front of the altar. Her illness was very painful, and some of the nuns wondered how she bore the pain with such peace. Mary Magdalene pointed to the crucifix and said, “See what the infinite love of God has suffered for my salvation—that same love sees my weakness and gives me courage. Those who call to mind the sufferings of Christ and who offer up their own to God through his passion find their pains sweet and pleasant.”
Her life as a Carmelite sister revolved around this effort to conform her life to Jesus’ suffering and saving death. For 40 days after making her vows, she experienced deep consolation when receiving Communion—God seemed very close, and she often fell into rapturous prayer. These consolations were preparation for the long desolation that followed—for five years, God seemed very distant. She came to understand that God was not taking away grace from her, just the feeling of grace.
She experienced temptations to gluttony and impure thoughts, and she appealed to heaven for help in resisting them, and disciplined her body and will with fasting. These movements deepened her faithfulness and refined her selflessness.
Finally, on Pentecost in 1590, she was restored to God’s consolations, and ever afterwards experienced an unusual union with God that brought her joy, even though more suffering lay ahead.
God bestowed spiritual gifts on Sister Mary Magdalene—she could read the thoughts of others and could predict the future; she was known to appear to people in far-off places, and cured some who were sick. She fell into ecstatic prayer often—sometimes appearing lifeless and rigid, and other times going about her work in a trance with her mind and heart clearly somewhere else.
This union with God created within her a deep longing for God’s love to be known by everyone. “O Love, love is not loved, not known by your own creatures,” she cried out once while vigorously ringing the church bells in the middle of one night, waking the whole region. “O my Jesus! If I had a voice sufficiently loud and strong to be heard in every part of the world, I would cry out to make this love known, loved, and honored by all as the one immeasurable good.”
In 1604, Sister Mary Magdalene was confined to bed because of excruciating headaches that caused paralysis—she experienced extreme pain if she was touched. She died three years later at the age of 41. Relics of St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame's campus.
St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi, you displayed faithfulness in your suffering, and found union with God in prayer—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Mary Magdalene of Pazzi is in the public domain. Last accessed February 21, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
,_Alonso_Cano.jpg){kind=link}