Daily Gospel Reflection
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December 1, 2023
Jesus told his disciples a parable.
“Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
When their buds burst open,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
in the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that the Kingdom of God is near.
Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away
until all these things have taken place.
Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.”
Reflection
Every year around mid-March, we get a small taste of spring on campus. It’s a day with an unusually high temperature. The dreaded perma-cloud that sits over South Bend relinquishes its reign for the first time since late November, pouring out sunbeams and lifting the hearts of students.
There’s a noticeable difference across campus: students walk a little taller and are no longer afraid of the whipping winds of South Quad; there’s a buzz in the conversations that happen on the sidewalks as students take their time getting to class; there are even a few brave souls playing frisbee on the quad or hanging hammocks in the trees to soak up these precious moments of relative warmth.
Of course, anyone who has experienced a Midwest winter knows that it will probably snow again a week later, and we’ll be tossed back and forth between the promise of summer and the reality of a Northern Indiana winter. And yet, we perk up each time that snowbank melts.
There is a substantial and real hope for the coming summer on that first warm day, although, if we are prudent, we won’t put away our winter coats yet. It is as Jesus says in today’s gospel: “You see for yourselves and know that summer is now near.”
It’s December, and the perma-cloud has descended as we settle into 5 p.m. sunsets. I wish to remind us of that first glimpse of spring and, similarly, of all the glimpses we receive of the kingdom of God.
What if we were to live each day in that springtime hope? What if we allow the rays of God’s eternal promise to warm our cheeks, even while stung with the biting winds of a broken world? When Jesus arrives for the second coming, I hope he finds us basking in his sun, playing frisbee on the quad.
Prayer
Lord, help us recognize your presence in a church or chapel, even a private room, where we can sit or kneel and quietly reflect on your goodness and mercy. Help us to know the richness of prayer offered from the heart. Grant us courage in the face of difficulties, faith in the presence of doubt and uncertainty, and confidence in your strengthening grace. Let us not miss these gifts by indifference and merely routine words. Amen.
Saint of the Day

Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta was a religious sister from Congo who was killed by invading rebels fighting the 1964 civil war.
Anuarite Nengapeta was born in Congo in 1939, and was educated in the first mission in her region of Africa. When she entered the religious community of the Holy Family Sisters in 1959, she took the name Sister Marie-Clementine.
Five years later, civil war broke out across Congo. Rebels opposed foreign influence in the nation, and even suspected religious men and women who were native to Congo because they thought they cooperated with western powers.
On this date in 1964, the Holy Family Sisters convent was attacked by rebels. The rebel commander, Colonel Pierre Olombe, assaulted Sister Marie-Clémentine and attempted to rape her. Before being bayoneted and shot, she managed to proclaim, “I forgive you for you do not know what you do.”
When Pope St. John Paul II visited Zaire in 1985, he beatified Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta. Among the crowd was Olombe, the colonel who had killed her.
After the civil war, Olombe was condemned to death and spent five years in prison before being pardoned by the new president. He was also educated by missionaries, and returned to his Catholic faith when he was released from prison. When the pope made his visit, a newspaper editor found Olombe, who had become a wandering beggar, and shared with the pope the man’s desire for forgiveness. Sister Nengapeta’s parents had already declared their forgiveness for the man, and they sat next to the pope during her beatification Mass when the pope said, “And I myself, in the name of the whole church, I forgive with all my heart."
Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta was beatified from among the Bantu peoples, an ethnic group from the southern half of the continent who share indigenous language similarities.
Blessed Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta, you were the African nun who forgave your killer while you were being attacked—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Bl. Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta is in the public domain. Last accessed October 19, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.