Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 25, 2022
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”
As part of his Farewell Discourse on Holy Thursday, Jesus tells his disciples that he will send the Holy Spirit to guide them after he ascends to the Father. Over the years, whenever the gospels have mentioned the Holy Spirit, I immediately think of Father Hesburgh.
Fifteen years ago, Father Ted gave the homily for the Feast of the Trinity to the returning alumni at the annual reunion. While reflecting on the role of the Spirit, he stated: “Every person’s life has points and counterpoints, where we have to go this way or that and we don’t really know. But I tell you today, you don’t have to feel worried or bothered or powerless, ever, in the spiritual domain.”
Father Ted clearly grounded his life in the words of Christ as his homily echoes Jesus’ message from today’s gospel passage. Particularly, he stated at the end of his homily, “No matter how strong a temptation, no matter how puzzling a dilemma that faces you, no matter a crisis in family life, whatever it is, you have one simple approach: ‘Come, Holy Spirit.’ And I promise you, on my word, that when you say that prayer, suddenly the Spirit will be on you. Not just giving you the light to see what you should do, but even more importantly, giving you the power to do it.”
This weekend, the Class of 2020 returns to celebrate their long-awaited commencement ceremony. Unlike previous classes, the Class of 2020 has already departed campus and begun their post-graduation lives. Many have experienced joy but also confusion and grief over these past couple of years. As they return and are sent out again, we pray that the Holy Spirit’s guidance remains with them and that they will continue to follow Father Hesburgh’s advice.
“Come, Holy Spirit!”
Prayer
Loving God, Christ promised his disciples the gift of the Spirit who would guide them to all truth. In these often confusing and difficult times, many “truths” are spoken. Open us up to the gifts of your Spirit to be able to discern your truth so that we may more faithfully speak it to others and embrace it more fully in our own lives. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Madeleine Sophie Barat is a brave saint who lived a heroic life of faith during the tumultuous years of the French Revolution. Madeleine Sophie, who went by Sophie with her family, was born in December of 1779. Sophie was born two months early, because a large fire at the home of their neighbors had caused Sophie's mother, in terror and stress, to go into labor early. Because Sophie was born as a small, fragile child, she was baptized very early the next morning at the nearby church. Sophie's older brother, Louis, who would continue to be an important influence in her life, was her godfather and a woman from their town who had dropped in for morning Mass was elected the godmother.
Sophie's father, Jaques, was a well-respected cooper and vintner. Sophie's parents were Jansenist Catholics. Jansenism was a Dutch theology, similar to Calvinism, that took hold in seventeenth and eighteenth-century France. Jansenism was harshly austere, emphasizing the total depravity of the soul and the utter sovereignty of God's grace—God's grace could be infused in the soul without the person's consent.
Sophie's brother and godfather, Louis, wanted to become a Catholic priest. He went through seminary education when he was a teenager, but was sent home until he was twenty-one, as he was too young to be ordained. In the intervening years, Louis taught Sophie what he had learned in seminary: he taught her Latin, Greek, history, science, and Spanish. Such an education was rare for a girl of Sophie's class and age, and she enjoyed her lessons with her brother until he was finally ordained.
In 1788, Louis took the oath of loyalty to the state that the new French government required for seminarians and clergy. Four years later, learning that the pope had condemned the oath, Louis retracted. He was immediately sought out for arrest and execution. Louis hid in a family member's attic until he was imprisoned. Louis escaped the guillotine by the brave intervention of a friend. He and Sophie hid in Paris, where Louis was ordained secretly and Sophie continued her education with him while attempting to become a Carmelite.
But, several years later, Sophie met a priest named Joseph Varin, who wanted to found a women's order dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a popular devotion in French spirituality. In 1800, Sophie took her first vows as a member of the new religious congregation of the Society of the Sacred Heart. The sisters kept their name secret from the French government, and quietly opened a school in the north of France. Within four years, they had opened schools all over France that provided much-needed Catholic education to impoverished children. Within twenty years, there were schools spreading out over the European continent and even in America.
Sophie became Superior General of the Society and led her sisters through the rule of Napoleon and two more French revolutions. She died in Paris on May 25, 1865, the feast of the Ascension that year. She was canonized less than one hundred years later by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
St. Madeleine Sophie Barat, who spread the Catholic faith through education during tumultuous French revolutions—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat is in the public domain. Last accessed March 11, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
