Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
October 29, 2020
Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said,
“Go away, leave this area because Herod wants to kill you.”
He replied, “Go and tell that fox,
‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow,
and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.
Yet I must continue on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day,
for it is impossible that a prophet should die
outside of Jerusalem.’
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,
how many times I yearned to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
but you were unwilling!
Behold, your house will be abandoned.
But I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say,
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Reflection
“Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and I perform healings today and tomorrow,
and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.”
As I read this gospel several times I kept coming back to this particular line. It seems so out of place because Jesus is engaging in name-calling. This is his response to the Pharisees when they tell him that Herod wants to kill him. In Jesus’ time it was an insult to call someone a fox; similar to calling them a coward. Let that sink in…. Jesus calls Herod a coward. Those are some fightin’ words if you ask me. Yet, Jesus remained steadfast and unmoved by Herod’s threats. He chose to continue with his ministry and made it clear that his work was not done yet.
When have you felt threatened yet chose to continue your journey? As COVID-19 made its way around the world, it landed in Dallas on March 16, 2020, and forced us to close our schools. As the Associate Superintendent for Dallas Catholic Schools, I worked with a team of educators to pivot how we delivered instruction to our students. This posed a threat to the existence of Catholic schools because, now more than ever, we need to remain relevant and communicate the value of a Catholic education. We worked tirelessly to reimagine how to meet our goals of preparing every child for college and heaven.
Pope Francis has offered that the “present difficulties have stimulated creativity and inventiveness” and this is an accurate reflection of the work our schools are doing. School principals have collaborated with medical professionals to ensure that reentry into our schools are safe. Therefore, all of our schools reopened their buildings while at the same time offering virtual learning for those that choose to stay home.
Catholic schools have survived other threats, such as the decline of teaching sisters and priests, and increasing costs of programs, salaries and building repair, but together we will endure and outlast this threat, and continue our ministry of teaching because we are people of hope. Together, let us show the courage of Jesus in today’s gospel. Consider supporting your local Catholic schools.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you long for us to be united with you in love, yet all too often we choose to turn away from you because of persecution and suffering. Strengthen us to trust in you and joyfully follow your will, despite earthly trials. We ask this in your name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Blessed Chiara Luce Badano was a young Italian teenager who was beatified in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. She was chosen by the bishops as one of the patrons for the 2018 Synod on Youth.
Chiara was born on October 29, 1971 in a small town in northern Italy, to Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano, who had longed to have a child for many, many years. Chiara was a loving and exuberant child, and, despite her headstrong and sometimes defiant temperament, had a close relationship with them. When she was nine, Chiara attended her first meeting of the Focolare Movement. Focolare is a lay ecclesial movement established in Italy by Chiara Lubich, intended to promote ecumenical and global unity on a local level and to build peace through developing relationships. Chiara enjoyed not only strong friendships and community through Focolare, but was particularly attracted to the image of Christ that the group promoted. She began to foster a strong love for Jesus throughout her involvement with Focolare. Chiara developed a profound spirituality through Focolare that caused her high school classmates to teasingly call her "Sister."
Chiara was a supremely ordinary teenager: she loved sports, such as tennis and swimming. She loved hiking, and she loved listening to pop music and dancing with friends. When she was sixteen, Chiara went to Rome on a summer trip with the Focolare community. On that trip, she met the founder of Focolare, Chiara Lubich, and they began a correspondence. Chiara was full of fire for her faith and her love for Christ burned radiantly in her heart. Chiara Lubich gave Chiara a new nickname, "Chiara Luce," meaning "clear light."
Later that summer, Chiara felt a sting in her shoulder when she was playing tennis. At first, she thought it was simply fatigue or tendinitis. But, as the pain persisted, Chiara underwent a series of tests and discovered she had a rare form of bone cancer. When she entered treatment for the cancer, Chiara refused all morphine. She wanted to have a lucid mind to understand what was happening to her. Chiara embraced her sufferings as an opportunity to offer up her life more radically for Christ. For the next two years, Chiara underwent difficult chemotherapy and slowly prepared herself for death as operations failed to slow down her cancer and as she eventually lost both hope of remission and the ability to walk.
Chiara offered up everything—her disappearing hair, her pain, and her sadness at leaving her parents—to Christ. In the hospital, as she prepared for an operation, Chiara described her heart as "filled with an immense joy and all fear left me. In that moment, I understood that if we're always ready for everything, God sends us many signs of his love." Chiara continued to be a bright light of faith and joy for the doctors, for fellow patients, for her friends, and for her devastated parents.
Chiara died after receiving the sacraments, surrounded by the prayers of her families and friends, on October 7, 1990. Chiara's great love for others spilled over into their great love for her—thousands of people attended Chiara's funeral, effectively shutting down her small hometown of Sassello. Chiara was declared a blessed on September 25, 2010, in Rome, and her feast day has been celebrated on October 29 since then.
Chiara Luce is a beautiful witness to the joy that living with and for God brings to the human spirit, and how that joy, if fully embraced, can completely transform even the darkest of circumstances.
Blessed Chiara Badano, joyful witness to holiness and great lover of God—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Chiara Badano is available for use in the public domain under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public domain Dedication. Last accessed October 4, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
