Daily Gospel Reflection

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October 5, 2024

Saturday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Lk 10:17-24
Listen to the Audio Version

The seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus,
“Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.”
Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.
Behold, I have given you the power
‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions
and upon the full force of the enemy
and nothing will harm you.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

”At that very moment he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said,
“I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows who the Son is except the Father,
and who the Father is except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Turning to the disciples in private he said,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I say to you,
many prophets and kings desired to see what you see,
but did not see it,
and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

Reflection

Samuel Coffman '25
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Jesus was filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. In this moment, Christ shows how his intimate relationship with God the Father allows him to rejoice in the work he’s been sent to accomplish regardless of signs and wonders. The disciples also needed to understand the importance of rejoicing in the work because of their relationship with God.

From today’s gospel, we gather that these early days were filled with marvelous signs, but we know there would also be long and tiring days—most of the disciples and apostles would even be martyred in ministry. Christ knew they would face discouragement, so he showed them where they could rest in a source of eternal joy.

This joy will not come because of the work they have accomplished, not because of what they have done, but because of what God has entrusted to them and what he is doing through their work. Many powerful people who came before Jesus and the disciples wanted to be there for these moments of the Messiah on Earth. So how wonderful it is that they are present for the culmination of God’s work in Christ.

The blessing of being present for God’s work is one we can still receive today. God is still working through his church and through his people. Just as he entrusted Jesus with a ministry, he entrusts us to minister to our neighborhood, school, community, and world. We are blessed with eyes that have seen the work of the Lord and ears that have heard what he’s done and is still doing. Let us always rejoice in the Holy Spirit.

Prayer

Rev. Kajubi Henry Senteza, C.S.C.

O God, your will reveals your love for us. May Christ’s triumph over evil, sin, and death light the fire of your love deep within us. As we contemplate your protecting care, help us not submit to the lures of the evil one. Grant us the competence to see and courage to act in your name when we face temptation. Attentive to your voice, may we heed the Spirit, who lives and reigns with you forever and ever. Amen.

Saint of the Day

St. Faustina Kowalska

Many people now know St. Faustina Kowalska for her visions that established the devotion to Divine Mercy, but it wasn’t until after she died that these visions became known to anyone besides her spiritual director.

Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in Lodz, Poland, in 1905. The Kowalskas were a large peasant family who depended upon their children to help keep food on the table. From a young age, Helena felt a calling to enter religious life, but in order to continue providing for her family, Helena worked as a housekeeper.

When she was nineteen, while attending a dance in a park, Helena saw a vision of Jesus suffering. She immediately went to a nearby church to pray and received direction from Jesus to leave immediately for Warsaw to enter a convent. That very night, Helena packed a small bag and left for Warsaw without her parents' knowledge or consent.

In Warsaw, Helena visited several convents but was turned away, due to her poverty and lack of education. After several weeks, one convent finally accepted her on the condition that she pay for her habit. Helena did not know anything about this particular community but felt certain that she had been led there.

Helena worked as a maid for a year to earn enough money to pay for her habit, and, in 1926 she joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, taking the name Sister Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament. She served as cook, porter, and gardener in convents in Poland and Lithuania.

In 1930, while Faustina was praying in her room, Jesus appeared to her wearing a white robe with red and white rays emanating from his heart. He told her to have his image painted with these words inscribed below: "Jesus, I trust in you," in Polish: "Jezu, ufam Tobie." Jesus expressed his desire for a feast of Mercy to be established and for increased devotion to his abundant Divine Mercy.

Faustina began taking spiritual direction from the convent’s confessor, Fr. Michał Sopoćko, a professor of theology at Vilnius University. When Faustina told Fr. Michał of her visions, he recommended she be examined by a psychologist. After a number of tests, Faustina was declared to be of sound mind. Fr. Michał told Faustina to begin keeping a record of the visions and helped her find an artist to paint the image Jesus had requested.

Depiction of the Divine Mercy image commissioned by St. Faustina

In a later vision, Faustina recorded a series of prayers—the Chaplet of Divine Mercy—to be used in the devotion to the Divine Mercy. She wrote that the prayers served three purposes: to obtain mercy, to trust in Jesus’ mercy, and to show mercy to others.

Devotion to Divine Mercy spread quickly in popularity throughout the 1930s. In 1936, Faustina became critically ill with tuberculosis. As the disease slowly conquered her body, Faustina suffered intensely for several years. Her visions persisted, until she finally died on October 5, 1938, at the age of thirty-three.

After her death, the Vatican initiated an official inquiry into Faustina's visions and diary, led by the Polish theologian Ignacy Rozycki. Faustina’s visions were approved as authentic and her diary was published first in Polish in 1981, lauded as "a document of Catholic mysticism of exceptional worth, not only for the Church in Poland, but also for the Universal Church." Devotion to the Divine Mercy was a source of strength for the Polish people who suffered greatly in World War II. In 1958, Pope Pius XII blessed the image of Jesus that Faustina had commissioned to be painted. In 1965, Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow initiated the review process of Faustina’s life and visions for canonization. When Archbishop Wojtyla was elected Pope John Paul II in 1978, he sped up the canonization process significantly: Faustina was beatified in 1993, and canonized in 2000.

As part of the canonization of Faustina, Pope John Paul II also declared the second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday. In Faustina's visions, Christ himself had expressed a desire for that feast to be celebrated:

"On that day, the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain the complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet."

(Diary, 699)

To learn even more about Saint Faustina Kowalska, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.

St. Faustina Kowalska, who shared with the world the deep fountain of Divine Mercy—pray for us!


Image Credit: (1) Our featured image of St. Faustina is in the public domain. Last accessed September 27, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons. (2) The Divine Mercy image used here is also in the public domain. Last accessed September 27, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.