Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 19, 2021
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”
There was a moment at our wedding when my wife and I ducked into the catering tent and grabbed slices of beef with dinner rolls that were all being whisked away from the buffet table. We laughed and revelled in our private moment as we scarfed down our makeshift sandwiches. We both were so busy and nervous all day that we had barely eaten anything and we spent the entire dinner service talking to our family and friends. We almost missed the food entirely! This reading reminds me of our unintentional fast on our own wedding day.
We don’t fast during occasions of great joy. Like in the celebration of the Eucharist, we come to the table of plenty when we want to draw close to our Lord. But the disciples of John can’t quite understand this in today’s gospel. Perhaps they are more concerned with the outward appearances of religious practices than with the inward meaning of their fast.
Now, the season of Lent gives us the opportunity to realize that Jesus, the bridegroom, did in fact depart from us when we gave his life on the cross. Now is the time of our fasting.
Today, on the first Friday of Lent, my wife and I won’t be having beef on dinner rolls as we observe the modest Lenten fast that our faith prescribes. This reminds me that the small sandwiches my wife and I shared on our wedding day were all the better because of our shared hunger. Before long, the joy of Easter will break our collective fast and draw us all together in the joy of the resurrection. Until then, let us hunger together for our Lord.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, in Christ’s presence is endless joy. He is the bridegroom and the Church his bride. Though the risen Christ is with us always, we live in that age before his final manifestation and coming in glory. Give us faith and hope as our hearts yearn with spousal love for the bridegroom for when he will come in glory and we partake of the heavenly wedding feast. 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.