Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 4, 2019
When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea,
embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum.
It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.
When they had rowed about three or four miles,
they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat,
and they began to be afraid.
But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”
They wanted to take him into the boat,
but the boat immediately arrived at the shore
to which they were heading.
It is I, do not be afraid.
He found himself suddenly a frightened widower at age 25—with no automobile—while going to college and living on the G.I. Bill—with a five-month-old son.
I was the five-month-old son.
In today’s reading, Jesus had just walked across the water to his terrified disciples after he had fed 5000 followers: impressive miracles, for sure. But to me, it is his words that are most powerful…It is I, do not be afraid.
After my mother’s death, my aging maternal grandparents, well past having raised their six children, invited my dad and his five-month-old son to live in their home. How fitting that my grandmother’s name was Elizabeth. At her advanced age, she suddenly became the surrogate mother of a five-month-old infant.
Throughout my youth, I often wondered what it would have been like to hear my mother’s voice and to see her smile. I longed to look into her eyes, know her touch and feel her loving embrace.
Looking back, I realize that while I felt longing, I was never frightened. My dad was the one who had been terribly frightened in those early days. But, with his bravery and my grandparents’ generosity, love, and prayers, I grew up surrounded by care and love.
How can I ever begin to repay all that I have been given?
Recently at mass, these words of “The Servant Song” kept calling out to me as clues to the answer:
I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night-time of your fear/
Let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you
Let us comfort each other. In the darkness of fear, let us shine Christ’s light for one another, which will light the way for generations to come.
It is I, do not be afraid.
Prayer
God of all strength and consolation, you hear those who cry out to you in their need. Though we face darkness and rough seas, you never let your faithful people be overcome. You send to us your Son to walk with us in the storms that threaten our journey. Let your face shine upon us and we shall be saved. Grant this through Christ, our risen Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
For 150 years during the 16th and 17th centuries, England was at war with Catholicism and the pope. Hundreds of men and women, Catholic and Protestant, were killed during this dispute. Today, the Catholic Church remembers about 300 martyrs who were killed for their faith in England and Wales between 1534 and 1681.
A brief history: Mary I, queen of England and Ireland from 1553-1558, restored Catholicism and papal authority to England. She was known as “Bloody Mary” for having some 300 Protestants burned at the stake for heresy against the Catholic faith.
Mary’s sister and successor, Elizabeth I, reversed this Catholic restoration and denied papal authority in England. In 1570, the pope excommunicated Elizabeth and called Catholics in England to rebel. Fearing invasion by a Catholic nation assisted by English Catholics, Elizabeth repressed Catholicism harshly. To be Catholic was to be a traitor, and it was forbidden by law to attend Catholic Mass.
Catholics in England and Wales were arrested and imprisoned, and many were executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Some 300 Catholic men and women are honored today in separate lists for having died for their faith. They include bishops, priests, religious, and lay men and women.
A list of the Protestant martyrs who were killed during the reinstatement of Catholicism can be found here. Some relics from Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, and a complete list of their names can be found here.
Martyrs of the English Reformation, you faced persecution and were killed for your faith—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of The Martyrdom of the Priors of the English Charterhouse of London Nottingham and Axholme is in the public domain. Last accessed March 6, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
