Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
May 6, 2022
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Eat. Drink. Celebrate. All cultures celebrate events and holidays with food. Food is also sustenance and nourishment for growth and life.
In my Polish heritage, celebrations are all about food, family, and faith—not necessarily in that order, but you could think so! Christmas Eve Wigilia with its seven-course meatless meal and Easter Swieconka were feasts we anxiously anticipated for their savory tastes and aromatic smells. Polish sausage, cabbage, kluski noodles with honey, pierogi stuffed with mushrooms or fruit, baked bread, and desserts were among the countless foods we enjoyed.
Each culture has its dishes excitedly prepared with age-old recipes. These foods satisfy hunger, enrich the spirit, and warm the heart. They make you smile in anticipation of their tastes. They become the essence of celebrations.
As a child, that first freshly baked fruit-filled kolachky (cookie) with powdered sugar was the taste of joy… at least until the final powdery morsel was gone.
Jesus offers sweetness and joy too, but a joy that will last forever. Jesus is telling us to consume him, and by doing so, to have the sweetness of life, not just for a while, but forever—to be at peace, free of worry and pain… forever. When we accept him, that is his message: A joy and peace and love that lasts beyond all comprehension of time—a celebration for always.
Food sustains and nourishes until our physical bodies digest and process it. Like the manna sent down in the desert, like the celebratory foods prepared by all of us, the nourishment and joy of consuming it are gone after a while.
But Jesus is offering nourishment and sustenance that is eternal. Taste the peace that faith in Jesus can bring to a heavy heart. Taste the sweetness of life forever—forever free of pain, worry, loneliness, sorrow—just joy, pure sweet joy, of Jesus.
Prayer
Jesus, we can picture ourselves listening to you in that synagogue. We cannot comprehend what you are saying. It is too much for us to take in—eating flesh and drinking blood to gain eternal life. We need your help to more deeply appreciate the meaning of those words, the mystery of the Eucharist, and what it does for our lives and the life of the world. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Rose Maria Benedetta experienced all the sorrow life could bring a wife and mother, and she responded by growing in compassion for others who were suffering.
She was born in 1831 in Genoa, Italy, one of six children in a well-to-do family. She married in 1852 and the couple had three children. The family moved to Marseilles, France, but had to return to Genoa because of financial trouble. During this time, their oldest child got sick and was left mute and deaf. Then, Rose's husband died in 1858, and a few months later, her youngest child died of an illness.
It seems that her suffering led her to greater compassion for those who also suffer. She continued to care for her two remaining children, but she began to develop a fervent spiritual life, and actively reached out to others who were poor or experiencing pain in some way.
She preferred to remain private with her devotion, but she became known for her insight and holiness, and people started to seek her out. She discerned a call to form her own religious community. Even though everyone around her encouraged her to follow this call, she was afraid that her children would not receive enough attention from her. She spoke to the pope about it in 1866, with the hope that he would affirm her fears, but he told her to begin working on the new community right away. She was allowed to continue raising and caring for her children as she began this important work.
Later that year, she founded an order of sisters under the name of St. Anne, the mother of Mary. Its mission was to care for the poor and sick. She and 12 other sisters professed their vows and she took the name Anna Rosa. By the time she died in 1900, 3,500 sisters had joined the order, living in 368 community houses around the world. They built hostels and schools, and took on a special ministry to the deaf and mute. Today, the order is associated with the Movement of Hope, the Contemplative Order of the Daughters of St. Anne, and the Sons of St. Anne.
Blessed Anna Rosa Gattorno, you transformed your sorrow into hope for the poor and sick—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Anna Rosa Gattorno is used with permission from Catholic Online.