Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 19, 2019
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
Reflection
One loaf of bread is more than enough if we trust in Jesus.
Our family experienced a health crisis last year, with one of our children diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. A bone marrow transplant was the only cure. Faced with the prospect of lengthy hospital stay in another city, and a procedure that might or might not work, I didn’t know where to begin.
My mind couldn’t even comprehend the procedure itself, the chemotherapy Mary would have to undergo, the nasty side effects and the months of recovery. I had plenty of other stresses to dwell on. How would we afford the months of time off for one of us to be with our child? How would we handle the logistics of caring for our other children? How would this all go?
But thanks to the small loaves of bread offered by our parents, teachers and friends over the years, God worked miracles. Family moved to be near us and to help with the other kids. Friends not only showered us with prayers, but with home-cooked meals, gift cards for gas and groceries, help with housecleaning and even new wheels when our car conked out. Just before Mary’s diagnosis, I was offered a job with the Alliance for Catholic Education. How could I even consider taking a new job in the midst of this crisis? No matter. They generously offered to hold the job for me until Mary was well. We had never felt so secure and loved.
By God’s grace and the amazing medical teams in South Bend and Cincinnati, Mary not only survived the transplant but she graduated college with her class last May, and is now teaching high school.
I reflect often on this past year with great gratitude, praying we never forget how very much God can do with the little loaf we humbly offer him.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you multiplied the loaves so that your disciples would be one and would know that you are the bread of life. Give us today this daily bread: your flesh for the life of the world. Consume in us whatever prevents us from being consumed in you. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Sister Thea Bowman is a joyful example of contemporary sainthood. Sister Bowman was born Bertha Bowman in Mississippi in 1937. Bertha's grandfather had been a slave before the Emancipation Proclamation, but her parents were both professionals: her father was a doctor and her mother taught. Bertha was raised in a vibrantly spiritual Methodist home, and she became attracted to the life of love and service that the religious sisters in her town led. With her parents' permission, young Bertha converted to Catholicism when she was just nine.
Bertha was enrolled in a Catholic School, which deepened her appreciation for the Catholic faith and for the sisters who taught her. When she was fifteen, Bertha traveled north to Wisconsin to join the order of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in La Crosse. She attended college at Viterbo University in Wisconsin and then traveled to Washington D.C. to earn her master's degree and doctorate at the Catholic University of America. She finished her Ph.D. in 1972 and began to teach at CUA, then her alma mater of Viterbo, and Xavier University.
Sister Thea, as she became known as, worked diligently not only at education but on evangelization of Black American Catholics. The Church in the South had been wounded by the history of segregation and slavery. The social structures of sin prevented the marginalized populations from feeling welcome in the Church that they saw as a Church of white people. Sister Thea worked to create a hymnal that showcased Black spirituality and culture. She traveled across the American continent and even abroad to the Caribbean Islands and Africa to spread a ministry of joy—a ministry of proclaiming the joy of each culture's unique differences yet their unity in Christ.
Sister Thea died on March 30, 1990. Shortly before her death, Notre Dame announced her that year's recipient of the Laetare Medal. Sister Thea's cause for canonization has been opened, and the United States bishops announced their support for her canonization at their 2018 fall conference.
Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, who worked to overcome racial divisions so that all Christians might be united in Christ—pray for us!
To learn even more about Servant of God, Sr. Thea Bowman, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.
Image Credit: Our featured image of Sr. Thea Bowman appears courtesy of Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.