Monday, March 23rd

They understood it as a worthy opportunity to suffer dishonor for the sake of Christ. I know that for me, much of my life and recovery journey has had me focused on disappointments and rejections as opposed to rejoicing in them as opportunities to offer them up as suffering for Christ.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus feeds His people both physically as well as spiritually. I like to think that the twelve wicker baskets filled “with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat” represents the abundant generosity of the Lord’s grace and mercy (John 6:13). This Easter season, let us be open to the everyday miracles our Lord gives us in our lives and recovery journey.

Reflection Questions

• Is the Lord asking you to transform your sufferings into an opportunity to form deeper intimacy with Him?
• What are some instances in your life and recovery when the Lord provided generously for you, leaving you with abundant “fragments” of His grace and love?

Daily Mass Readings

First Reading: Acts 5:34-42
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14
Gospel: John 6:1-15

Reflection by Aaron W.

(1656-1680) — The “Lily of the Mohawks” was born to a Christian Algonquin mother and a pagan Mohawk chief father in Auriesville, New York. She was orphaned during a smallpox outbreak that also scarred her face and impaired her vision. Kateri was converted by Jesuit missionaries and was abused and ostracized by her tribe for her faith and for refusing an arranged marriage. She was baptized at 18 and fled through 200 miles of wilderness to a Christian village near Montreal, Quebec, where she died at age 24. She was known for her devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and commitment to deep prayer as well as for being a miracle worker.

Kateri had an intense faith from the first moments of learning about Jesus. When her village was declining in morals, she chose life in Christ. She “came to believe that a Power greater than [herself] could restore [her] to sanity” (Step 2).

“Kateri impresses us by the action of grace in her life in spite of the absence of external help and by the courage of her vocation, so unusual in her culture. In her, faith and culture enrich each other! May her example help us to live where we are, loving Jesus without denying who we are” (Pope Benedict XVI, canonization homily on October 12, 2012).

Reflection by Brad Farmer