Daily Gospel Reflection
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October 21, 2023
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you,
everyone who acknowledges me before others
the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God.
But whoever denies me before others
will be denied before the angels of God.
“Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven,
but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will not be forgiven.
When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities,
do not worry about how or what your defense will be
or about what you are to say.
For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
Reflection
I’m writing this reflection on the occasion of my dad’s anniversary. It has been four years since his passing, but COVID-19 upended my grieving process. It is only recently that I’m beginning to reconcile my feelings during those last days of his life.
The hardest part to come to peace with is that I was not with my dad when he started to slip away from us. I was, in fact, doing the most mundane thing in the world—moving my car from one hospital parking lot to another and taking a moment in the sunshine to speak to my husband on the phone.
My dad had just come off a ventilator earlier that afternoon, and the big question was, “How much time?” How long would we have, knowing that my dad didn’t want to go back on it? Everything appeared stable, and I recall telling my dad that I had to move the car. He looked into my eyes and held them for the longest of moments, such that I promised him I would be right back. “I promise,” I said. I never saw his eyes open again.
When I read this passage from Luke, I admit I wasn’t sure what to make of it. But as I reflected on it, those last moments with my dad inexplicably returned to me. I realized that my dad was not only saying goodbye, telling me that he loved me, but that, like the Holy Spirit in this reading, my dad was telling me that I would know how to move forward and what to do when I needed to do it. But only if I believed it was possible.
Perhaps I’ve doubted in certain moments that my dad is with God. Like so many others, in my grief, I’ve focused on what I lost rather than what my dad gained that day four years ago—everlasting life. I have to believe in this everlasting gift for myself, too.
My prayer is that we may all come to recognize more readily the small movements of the Spirit in our lives and in those we hold most dear on a daily basis.
Prayer
Lord God, when we are in trouble and are without words, and feel our faith trembling under the pressure of those who would lead us away from you, send your Spirit to build up our faith and to give us the words to say and actions to take. We pray through Our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and that same Spirit. Amen.
Saint of the Day

St. Ursula's legend has its origins in an ancient stone in a church in Cologne, Germany. How an image of this obscure German saint ended up in a stained glass window in a basilica in northern Indiana is its own unique story.
In the church of St. Ursula in Cologne, there is a stone with a Latin inscription from c. 400. The inscription indicates that a senator named Clematius received divine visions directing him to rebuild a ruined basilica on that very spot in honor of several women who had been martyred there. The visions did not specify the names of the women who were martyred.
But, as the visions seemed to indicate, a number of women had been martyred in Cologne, and they must have been highly revered by the community to have a church built in their honor. How the church had fallen into ruin was unclear. Since the church was named for a Saint Ursula, one of the women, one can deduce, must have been named Ursula.
Legend has filled in the gaps in this record. Ursula, the story goes, was the daughter of a Christian king in Britain, and betrothed to the son of a pagan king. Because Ursula wanted to remain a virgin, she asked for a three-year delay to the marriage. Thus, Ursula took her ladies-in-waiting and escaped from England. Eventually, Ursula and her companions ended up in Cologne, where they were captured by Attila and his Huns and killed for their faith around 383.

When Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World, he named the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean in honor of the virgin St. Ursula and her companions. St. Ursula is also the patron saint of the Ursuline Order of nuns, who founded schools for the education of girls and women throughout Europe. She is the patron saint of Catholic education, of students and teachers, and of the University of Paris.
When the Congregation of Holy Cross established Notre Dame, St. Ursula was one of the patrons invoked by the French priests and brothers of that order in intercession for the success of the University.

St. Ursula's relics rest in the reliquary chapel of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. In one stained glass image from the Basilica (above), St. Ursula holds the flag of England in one hand, and the flowering palm of martyrdom in the other.
St. Ursula, patron saint of Catholic education—pray for us!