Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 24, 2025
Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure diseases,
and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second tunic.
Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.
And as for those who do not welcome you,
when you leave that town,
shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.”
Then they set out and went from village to village
proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.
Even at the very early age of nine years old, I had a very strong sense of where God was calling me to be. I knew I was called to be a Notre Dame student. The dream that God instilled in me at such a young age became a path that guided me for most of my childhood, and it inspired me to grab hold of as many opportunities as I could during my time at Notre Dame.
Now that I am a senior, I will be graduating this coming May, and the mere thought of having to say goodbye to the place that I worked so hard to get to and all the amazing people I have met along the way brings a tear to my eyes. But after reading the gospel passage for today, I was struck by one statement in particular that Jesus makes to his disciples before sending them off to proclaim the kingdom of God.
He tells them, “Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there.” Just as someone can’t be a guest in someone else’s house forever, I can’t be a Notre Dame student on campus forever. Each and every one of us is called to spread the message of God’s kingdom to all the world by loving our neighbor as God loves us.
Love is something that has to be shared, and the only way to do that is by going out to the world and, well, sharing it! Notre Dame has been my world for the last three and soon to be four years, and I hope that I will have done what I can to share my love with others during that time. But when May 17th, 2026, arrives, it will be time for me to leave.
As intimidating as it is to transition away from the people, places, or positions that we love, may we trust in God that everything will be ok, because God will be walking alongside us as we go out into the world, proclaiming the kingdom to all we will encounter.
Prayer
O God, you have planted the seed of faith in our hearts and have allowed it to grow and blossom. We thank you for this precious gift. Grant us the opportunity and the desire to freely offer this gift to others that they, too, may know of your grace and love at work in the world and in their lives. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Formerly known as Our Lady of Ransom, Our Lady of Mercy is celebrated today primarily by the Mercedarians, an order of Augustinian friars who honor her as their patron. Now known as the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, the Mercedarians were founded in 1218 by a Spanish merchant, Peter Nolasco. Peter received a vision of Mary in which she asked him to found a religious order to ransom Christian captives from Muslim rulers in the south of Spain. Since the first Umayyad conquest of the southern Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century, fighting between Christians and Muslims had been a regular fixture of the Spanish political landscape. Christian and Muslim armies would often take captives from opposing factions and force their enslaved prisoners to convert. For Peter Nolasco, the Christian captives were truly “the least of these” because their Christian faith—the source of their joy and hope—was in dire peril.
Today, the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy is an international community of priests and brothers who work among a variety of marginalized populations. In addition to the three Evangelical Counsels—vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience—the friars of Our Lady of Mercy take a special fourth vow to give entirely of themselves to those whose faith is in danger.
After the Second Vatican Council, the feast of Our Lady of Ransom was renamed Our Lady of Mercy. Eventually, this Marian feast was removed from the general Roman Calendar, but Our Lady of Mercy continues to be honored by the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy. Today, friars of the Order of Mercy work among those who suffer from social, political, or psychological forms of captivity. The friars bring their charism of liberation to those captive in jails, those living in marginalized neighborhoods, and to those suffering from addiction. The Order of Mercy also gives special emphasis to offering freedom through education, striving to spread the liberating truth of Christ through catechesis and parish work.
Our Lady of Mercy can be a recourse for those suffering from addiction or for those trapped in the throes of mental illness. She can be a patron for men and women in imprisonment, for those unjustly sentenced, and for those suffering from loneliness and isolation. Our Lady of Mercy can serve as a guide to interreligious unity, so that our relations with our brothers and sisters of other faiths is not one of violence or fear, but one that recognizes our common belovedness as children of God.
Although Our Lady of Mercy is no longer celebrated on the general Roman calendar, she is honored in a particular way on Notre Dame’s campus, as the Geddes Hall chapel is dedicated to Mary, Our Lady of Mercy. Our Lady of Mercy is both a fitting intercessor for a world in great need of mercy and a fitting patroness for Geddes Hall, which houses the Institute for Social Concerns and the McGrath Institute for Church Life, organizations which, like many others at Notre Dame, work to bring the message of salvation to a world in need.
Our Lady of Mercy, help of God’s children throughout the world—pray for us!