Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
May 4, 2021
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you,
‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’
If you loved me,
you would rejoice that I am going to the Father;
for the Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you this before it happens,
so that when it happens you may believe.
I will no longer speak much with you,
for the ruler of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
but the world must know that I love the Father
and that I do just as the Father has commanded me.”
When I was in college, I struggled to decide on a career path after graduation. I had some good opportunities but I didn’t know what path would bring me a sense of fulfillment and purpose. I spoke to a trusted mentor who helped me talk through what I was thinking and, at one point, I must have said something like, “I just want to find a sense of peace…” She looked at me quite pointedly and simply said, “Peace comes from within.”
I will never forget that. It was such a startling revelation to realize that I could not find peace only in my choice of career path, no matter how good of a fit it was for my life. At the same time, I could do anything with my life and find peace in that choice. The difference comes from within.
We often look for peace in this way, outwardly searching for it in the world. But Jesus tells us that he is the peace that the world cannot give. He gives us peace from within.
Peace can mean so many things that go beyond our inner personal feelings: harmony within our families, racial and economic justice for all people, an end to violence within our communities, or diplomatic solutions to global problems instead of resorting to war. Peace is not individualistic. But all peace comes from the one who offers his peace to the world. The Christ. Let us look within to find that peace, and share it with the world.
Prayer
Dear God, our campus, our neighborhoods, our world longs for the peace that can only come from you. Help us to place our cares and our hearts in your hands. Your Son taught us to trust in you and the mystery of the cross. Help us when we are afraid to trust in you and your promise of new life. We ask this through Christ our 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.
