Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 22, 2024
Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee,
but he did not wish anyone to know about it.
He was teaching his disciples and telling them,
“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him,
and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.”
But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him.
They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,
“What were you arguing about on the way?”
But they remained silent.
They had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,
“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”
Jesus tried to convey to his disciples what the future held for him. He tried to communicate the most important teachings of faith, what it meant for him to come to this earth fully human yet fully divine. The disciples did not truly understand what he was saying, and they didn’t seem curious enough to ask questions to comprehend.
Instead, they were arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest. Their own egos and need for power distracted them from the message—Jesus was calling upon them to have some humility and to understand that being first with God requires being last sometimes and always being of service to others.
He used a child as an example of who they should focus on. Protecting children, loving children, and being gentle and caring for them is what God calls us to do—the way in which we can best manifest God’s love. Jesus didn’t say exclude others. He didn’t say amass wealth and power. He said to look to the children and receive them as the gifts that they are.
I have been a pediatrician for 30-plus years and have walked with many children and their families. All families, regardless of any political, religious, or cultural differences, truly want their children to be healthy, cared for, loved, supported, and held by God. I wonder what Jesus would say if he came back to earth today. I wonder how sad he would be that power, still, after so many years and so many advancements, determines the fate of so many of God’s children.
Children are born innocent, gentle, and curious. They teach us so much about unconditional love, about being in the moment, and about kindness. We, adults, get so distracted by egos and power—that compulsive need to be the greatest—that we continue to miss Jesus’ main message: By receiving children, serving others, and loving all people, we live what Jesus died trying to teach us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, through sin we curve inward upon ourselves, selfishly desiring to be served and honored by others. Open our hearts in humility to receive the gift of the cross and so give ourselves away in service to others for love of Christ. 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.