Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 22, 2023
Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another,
preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Accompanying him were the Twelve
and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities,
Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza,
Susanna, and many others
who provided for them out of their resources.
Luke’s Gospel carries us on an emotional journey around the holy land. As we turn to this passage, Jesus’ ministry has recently started: he’s been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, he’s successfully beaten down the devil in a war of words, and his miracles are resonating through the countryside.
After praying all night to the Father, Jesus picks twelve men as his apostles, and off they go into greater Galilee to preach, teach, and heal. To borrow from football vernacular, I imagine Jesus and the twelve shuffling through the countryside, “Three towns and a cloud of dust!”.
But wait! There were women in the group! Indeed, women traveled with the twelve and sustained them with provision and prayer. This portion of Luke’s Gospel shines light on the fundamental cultural revolution that Jesus sparks. In Luke 4, Jesus declares himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy: release of the captives, sight for the blind, freedom from oppression—extraordinary assertions that will launch women and other oppressed peoples into a cultural status they’ve never enjoyed and that far exceed rights bestowed in other religious groups.
Fast forward to today as I celebrate my daughter’s 23rd birthday. She has been set free! She is a product of Jesus’ promises, full of grace, beauty, and love that pours from her in response to the freedom that Jesus gave her. She is comfortable in her skin and confident in her identity in Christ because Jesus made good on his promise and established women as co-equal heirs in his kingdom.
It wasn’t just Jesus and the twelve. Benefactors of his healing, both women and men following Jesus, have joined the journey from one town and village to another to this very day.
Prayer
O Lord, keep us mindful of the journey on which we have embarked from the days of our baptism to proclaim in word and fulfill in deed what the disciples who never abandoned you knew—that male and female share one Spirit in Christ Jesus, who is God forever and ever. Amen.
Saint of the Day

Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, and Candidus were leaders of a legion of Christians in the Roman army who were killed for their Christian leadership and complete allegiance to Christ.
Around the year 287, the Roman army marched out to suppress a revolt in what is now Switzerland. The emperor, Maximian, led the army, which was composed of troops conscripted from various parts of the empire. One legion of 6,600 soldiers was recruited from northern Egypt and was composed entirely of Christians.
When the Roman legions arrived on the battlefield, Maximian ordered all soldiers to offer sacrifice to the gods for the success of the enterprise. The Christian legion withdrew from the army and refused to participate in the rites.
Several times, Maximian ordered them to obey. They refused, and he ordered that the other soldiers decimate the Christian legion—every tenth, randomly-selected soldier was executed. Maximian threatened to continue the decimations until the legion obeyed—he warned them he was willing to execute the entire legion.
Maurice, Exuperius, and Candidus led the legion, and they responded to Maximian by saying, “We are your soldiers, but we are also servants of the true God. We owe you military service and obedience, but we cannot renounce God who is our creator and master… We have arms in our hands, but we do not resist because we would rather die innocent than live by any sin.”
Maximian ordered the other legions to surround the Christians and kill them all. The ground was covered with bodies and blood, and the other soldiers looted what they could from the slain legion. One soldier, Victor, refused to participate in the massacre and looting. Soldiers asked him if he was Christian. When he answered that he was, he was killed as well.
A shrine was built above the ground where these brave soldiers died, and miracles began to be attributed to the intercession of these martyrs.
The traditional story of these martyrs has been scrutinized for its historical accuracy. As there is little supporting evidence for the slaughter of an entire legion of Roman soldiers, the account of the martyrdom has probably been exaggerated. What seems historically likely, however, is that a soldier named Maurice and a number of his companions were martyred in the third century. What remains unknown is the number who were killed; perhaps the story of the martyrdom of a small, brave squadron of Christian soldiers, over repeated tellings over many years, became the slaughter of a legion.
Relics of Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, and Victor all rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica. The bust of St. Maurice pictured above stands in the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art—it is designed to be a reliquary vessel itself, although today it stands empty in the museum’s medieval gallery.
St. Maurice is patron saint of the Pontifical Swiss Guards at the Vatican, and also of soldiers, swordsmiths, and weavers.
Sts. Maurice, Exuperius, Candidus, and Victor, you faithfully led your legion to martyrdom—pray for us!
Image credit: Unknown artist, Northern Italian, Reliquary Bust of Saint Maurice, c. 1530, gilt carved wood. Raclin Murphy Museum of Art: University of Notre Dame Purchase Fund, 1962.030.