Overview:

Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

A Reflection for Tuesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.” (Mt 3:14)

Find today’s readings here.

The most iconic image of France is the Eiffel Tower—but a close second, and arguably more impressive—is that of Mont St. Michel, the monastery-town on the northern coast of the country which is an island during high tide. 

The abbey on this tidal island was first constructed in the 700s, when dragging huge stones to build a massive church across marshland and into the Atlantic was an even more impressive feat than it would be today. The island played a role in the wars between France and England over the centuries, but its role as pilgrimage site has lasted longer than its martial usefulness. 

Coming upon Mont St. Michel with a car feels like you’re approaching a fairytale castle or a mirage in the desert. The flat topography of the surrounding area and its relative lack of trees make the island visible from hours away. Seeing the monastery from a multiple-days journey away as a medieval pilgrim must have been even more exciting than the drive up today. 

Mont St. Michel cannot be hidden away. Everyone traveling by sea or by land in northwestern France or on the English channel can view its 300-feet-above-sea-level majesty. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples to be the city on a mountain and not to hide their light under a bushel basket. In a time without GPS or fast transportation, back when cities were often constructed on hills, the highly defensible area was visible for miles around. The city on the hill can’t hide even if it wanted to. Jesus beseeches the disciples to do good works that are visible by all, acting as that city on a hill by setting an example for those around them. 

Even in the face of France’s fraught religious history Mont St. Michel remained a Catholic abbey and pilgrimage site, and its glory still radiates. It testifies to the stability of the Church and serves as an inspiration, a physical manifestation of Jesus’ metaphor to the disciples.

My family visited Mont St. Michel in November, and we didn’t know it at the time, but it was the last trip we would take with my mom before her passing in December. It is fitting, then, that she who was an unmissable beacon of hope and love in the world is forever associated in my head with this very visible stronghold of faith.

Like Mont St. Michel, we can be visible signs of God in the world, glowing with an inner light and seen by all for miles around.

Jill Rice is a 2022-23 O’Hare Fellow at America. She is now the SEO and Analytics Associate at America. She graduated from Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus and majored in classical languages and comparative literature.