Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 25, 2026
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved,
he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.
After this, aware that everything was now finished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
Jesus said, “I thirst.”
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop
and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
“It is finished.”
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.
Now since it was preparation day,
in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath,
for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken
and they be taken down.
So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus.
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead,
they did not break his legs,
but one soldier thrust his lance into his side,
and immediately Blood and water flowed out.
Excerpts from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The full readings of the day from the Lectionary are available here.
I’ve been thinking about community a lot lately. What defines it? Why is it important? How do we find it? I know that I deeply crave it, especially in the shadow of a world that feels deeply fractured, where social media serves as a hollow proxy for true connection, and where living up to expectations for success or health or happiness feels unattainable.
Communities can have billions of people, like the Catholic Church, for example, or as few as two people. In my recent experiences, the smaller communities have been the most meaningful and impactful.
In today’s gospel, in one of his final acts before his death, Jesus establishes a microcommunity. By announcing to his friend John and his mother Mary that they are each other’s son and mother, respectively, he reminds them that they are family beyond bloodlines. It’s a community of two, but it quickly grows to include the remaining apostles. Then the other disciples. Then all Christians. Then all humanity, including us today.
But what do we even get out of community? In finding my own, such as my church choir, I’ve realized that it’s not as much what I get out of it, but what I can give to it. This idea is well-described by the lyrics to the song “Most of All” by Brandi Carlile. In it, she writes, “But most of all, [my parents] taught me…to remember what comes back when you give away your love.”
It’s the giving that means something. And if the giving is the meaning, it’s easy to find community everywhere. You build community every single time you give away a little of your love, as Christ did from the cross.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask the intercession of your Mother, Our Mother, Our Lady of Sorrows. You gave her to your church as one of your last acts on earth. May we rely on her prayers as we carry our cross, as we face the sadness and suffering in our lives. As she trusted in your words and promise that after the cross comes eternal life, from the sorrow of Good Friday comes the joy of Easter Sunday, may we too follow as your faithful disciples. 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 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. 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, schools were 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 the tumultuous French Revolution—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.
