Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 30, 2026
Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
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.
Today’s reading describes somewhat of a power struggle between Jesus and the religious leaders. Likely out of envy, they question Jesus’ authority to teach and perform miracles. While we know how that story ends, we find ourselves faced with a similar dilemma in our time. Are we willing to acknowledge and submit to Christ’s authority, or would we rather go our own way and make our own decisions contrary to God’s will?
We just celebrated Memorial Day this week in the United States, remembering those who offered our country, as Abraham Lincoln so aptly described, “the last full measure of devotion.” Those in the military are routinely faced with following orders, of submitting to an earthly authority, even when that sometimes puts their lives in harm’s way.
I remember several years ago when I had the chance to visit the beaches of France and the Normandy American Cemetery. It left me breathless to see the rows and rows of graves, each remembering a life lost in war. I thought of all the dreams cut short and the families left to grieve. My grandfather Everett served in Korea, and my father Nolan served in peacetime after Vietnam, and I thought about the possibility that I never would have existed if either of them had been called to a similar destiny as those who rested beneath my feet. Ultimately, I considered the fruits of the sacrifices of so many lives, and I gave thanks for their courage and willingness to give their lives for God and country.
In many ways, those we remember this week followed in the footsteps of Christ, who himself laid down his life for each of us. Though no one can approach the perfection of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are all called to sacrifice, to die small deaths to our selfishness each day and thereby give glory to God. We can be confident that, when we rightly humble ourselves to the Lord’s authority, something greater will happen in our lives than we could have ever produced alone.
Prayer
Lord, what must we do to be saved? How best can we do the work of God? The answer lies in listening to you, and not to the world’s cacophony which pulls us in a thousand different directions. Please help us to hear you more clearly today. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Joan of Arc is a heroine of France and revered as a holy person for her faithfulness and courage, which she displayed in battle, but even more acutely in her trial and execution.
She was born Jeanne in 1412 on the feast of the Epiphany. Her parents were peasant farmers who lived in a small village in the Champagne region of France. She never learned to read or write, but was full of faith.
“She was so good that all the village loved her,” her neighbors said of her. As a girl, she loved to pray and receive the sacraments, and she cared for the sick and the indigent, often giving them her own bed.
At the age of 14, she began hearing voices telling her she had a mission to save France. She began to recognize these voices as those of saints—Michael the Archangel, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch.
It was a time of civil war and political turmoil in France. The English had invaded and allied with an army from the region of Burgundy. Together, this force had displaced the French king and threatened to conquer the whole nation.
When the voices would not go away, Joan presented herself as a resource to the local commander of the French army, but he laughed and sent her away. She returned when the voices became even more insistent. The commander softened his skepticism when a defeat that she had foretold actually came about.
He sent her to King Charles VII with an escort. The king received her in a large audience room, but disguised himself. She immediately identified him and convinced him of her revelations. He had her examined by theologians, who found nothing objectionable, and she was sent to the head of the army in Orleans, a town under siege by the English.
She marched into battle with a banner that proclaimed the names of Jesus and Mary. Within 10 days, the siege was broken. Even though she was wounded by an arrow, she pressed on with the army to other regions and routed her opponents. Her victory regained a bulk of the kingdom of France from the intruders, and concluded the mission that was entrusted to her by the voices she heard. She predicted all of these events before any of them happened.
She went on to lead a bold attack on Paris, but from then on, she found no success in her military quests. She was wounded again in battle and was captured by soldiers from Burgundy and sold to England. The French court did nothing to come to her aid, and she was tried as a witch. She was questioned and examined tirelessly about the voices she heard, her faith, and the fact that she wore armor in battle to appear as a man. She had no one to counsel her, yet faced her inquisitors and accusers with courage and simple cleverness.
They exploited her lack of education by trapping her with theological terms, and she was condemned and denounced. The authorities handed her over for punishment as a heretic if she refused to retract her statements. She stood her ground, even though she was threatened with torture, and was burned at the stake, still a teenager.
Two decades later, her family asked the pope to reopen the case, and her verdict was thrown out. Joan’s case was vindicated, and she was eventually canonized in 1920. She is venerated as a saint, but not as a martyr.
Joan of Arc is the patron saint of France and of soldiers. A bronze sculpture of her stands in the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. She is also depicted in a statue that stands above the east door of the Basilica—the War Memorial Door that bears the “God, Country, Notre Dame” inscription. This door is dedicated to soldiers from Notre Dame who died during World War I.
St. Joan of Arc, you were an illiterate, peasant, teenage Saint who listened to the will of God and led an army—pray for us!
To learn even more about St. Joan of Arc, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
Image credit: (1) Emmanuel Frémiet (French, 1824-1910), Joan of Arc, after 1874, bronze. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: Fred and Delores Geissel Memorial Fund, 1979.049.