Lent 2023

 

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent: The Father's Ambassadors

Ambassador

Today’s Gospel tells a story of the power of witness. Jesus is conversing with the Pharisees and Jews, explaining who he is. Jesus tells them, “The One Who sent Me is with Me,” and John concludes by noting that many people came to believe through Jesus’s testimony. 

I went back to the full chapter of John 8 and was intrigued to read the title of this passage: Jesus, the Father’s Ambassador. Are not we, too, the Father’s Ambassadors? As believers, we represent our God and have the ability to turn others toward (or away from) Him. That’s a responsibility to take seriously.

There might be times when our interaction with a suitemate, a classmate, a teammate, is the only interaction they have that day with the name of Christ. We may not find ourselves preaching to big crowds, publicly offering a formal testimony. But the way we live our lives and each small, seemingly insignificant action we take during our day, make up the witness we bear. 

I reflect in gratitude on the way I have come to believe more fully because of the witness of people in my life, like my great-Aunt Marie. During daily Mass one day, Aunt Marie received a phone call informing her of a catastrophic family emergency. She immediately ran to the car, took a deep breath, and wrapped her rosary beads around her hand. The entirety of the ten minutes it took to drive from church to the scene of the emergency, she prayed out loud to our Blessed Mother, begging for her intercession. Aunt Marie credited the miraculous survival of my family member to the protection of Mary. Hearing this story as a middle-schooler, my Marian devotion grew exponentially, and I still think back to Aunt Marie’s example when I am faced with difficult situations.

Today, might we be reminded that what we do and how we choose to respond to situations—both good and bad ones—speak volumes not just about us, but about our Father, whom we represent. As we bear Christ’s name as his Ambassadors, may he show us that he, the One who sent us, is with us always. And may we each rest in the peace of that promise.

Mary Margaret Schroeder '24

Mary Margaret is an undergraduate in Berkeley College.