Daily Reflection
May 2, 2026

Before I entered the Jesuits in 1997 I was a diocesan seminarian at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein Illinois.  While a seminarian at Mundelein Seminary I had a good seminarian brother from Nashville, who whenever I said something erroneous or a little left of center would say to me, “Beausoleil, you have a memory like a burnt [American] biscuit … all the ingredients are there but it just don’t come out quite right”.

Years earlier, pre-seminary, speaking of ‘burnt biscuits’, I worked in restaurants in the North Shore of Chicago for a time as a pastry chef (also a waiter, bartender, and line cook from time to time).  As a pastry chef, I have had my share of ‘burnt biscuit’ moments, of forgetting an essential ingredient, forgetting say chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Or through not paying attention to a baked good in the oven, my dessert perfections ended up burnt and not ‘quite right’.  Or, in misjudging the oven temperature being too high, I created loaves of crusty bread that looked properly cooked on the outside but was raw on the inside. 

I bring these burnt biscuit moments from the memories of my mind, for today we celebrate the life of Saint Athanasius. Athanasius was a man whose theological rigor ensured that his articulations of the faith included all the necessary and correct ingredients. He defended his faith with spiritual truth, paying close attention to theological matters that required careful oversight and defense, ensuring he was never burnt in his defense of the faith.  In the end, Athanasius was a man whose theological presuppositions were never half-baked, and always came out ‘quite right’. 

Born in 296 AD, Saint Athanasius lived during a time of immense theological and political turmoil.  Yet, he stood firm against a tide of opposition that often included emperors and a significant portion of his fellow priests and theologians.  He kept the essential ingredient of faith—Jesus Christ and the truth of who Jesus Christ was, is, and always shall be (both fully human and fully divine)—which led to multiple exiles, slander, and even threats to his life.  Athanasius made sure that the essential ingredient of faith is this Jesus Christ, and that this Jesus Christ is truly “consubstantial with the Father,” not just fully human, but truly also fully God.

Jesus is, on this day where we celebrate Saint Athanasius, where Saint Paul and Barnabas stood in defense of God’s good news in the Acts of the apostles, where Jesus proclaims in the Gospel of John, ‘I and the Father are one”, that Jesus is the essential ingredient of our faith that can never be left out of the recipe.   That with Saint Athanasius we, like him, know that our faith through prayer needs to be forever practiced and watched over despite persecution so that in the end our faith comes out ‘just right’ not underdone, and not overdone and dried out. 

Finally, in living out the truth of our faith, we—along with Saint Athanasius, Barnabas, Paul, and Philip—must temper our spirit with humility. We must never form a hard theological crust too quickly, remaining open to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit moves us away from half-baked understandings of our faith. This allows the Spirit to ‘rise’ ever more within us: this great and awesome mystery of God and us together in love.