Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 19, 2022
Jesus took Peter, James, and John
and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.
And he was transfigured before them,
and his clothes became dazzling white,
such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.
Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses,
and they were conversing with Jesus.
Then Peter said to Jesus in reply,
“Rabbi, it is good that we are here!
Let us make three tents:
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified.
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them;
then from the cloud came a voice,
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Suddenly, looking around, the disciples no longer saw anyone
but Jesus alone with them.
As they were coming down from the mountain,
he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone,
except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
So they kept the matter to themselves,
questioning what rising from the dead meant.
Then they asked him,
“Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
He told them, “Elijah will indeed come first and restore all things,
yet how is it written regarding the Son of Man
that he must suffer greatly and be treated with contempt?
But I tell you that Elijah has come
and they did to him whatever they pleased,
as it is written of him.”
Reflection
In today’s gospel, Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured right before them. This revelation of Christ’s identity inspired their faith in Jesus as the Son of God. We cannot see that same transfiguration, but by faith, we can look for how God reveals his Son to us in our everyday lives.
I see evidence of God most in the familiar comfort of a Texas sunset, walking across the University campus, and especially in my grandpa.
My grandpa sent my mom to Notre Dame on a police officer’s salary. He supported me my entire four years at Notre Dame by moving me in at the beginning of every year and visiting multiple times each semester.
He is a Knight of Columbus, lector, eucharistic minister, head of men’s ACTS (English and Spanish), and a St. Vincent de Paul volunteer. He attends adoration, never misses Mass, and is always willing to help our parish out in any way he can.
More than his outward appearance of faith, every little thing he does, he does it with love for God. He thinks only of others—how he can love and serve them. He is my hero, the greatest grandfather a woman could have, and the reason I have the relationship with God that I do.
In the transfiguration, God reveals Jesus as more than a man: Jesus is God. And every day in the miracle of the Mass, Jesus continues to reveal himself to us. How do I reveal myself to God? How do I reveal my faith and love for God to my family and friends?
I know my grandpa loves me because of his actions. I know he is a Christian by the way he lives his life.
Today let us reflect on that one person who demonstrates their faith to us in real and tangible ways. How can we, too, reveal Christ as the Son of God through our love and service?
Prayer
God of wisdom and truth, make yourself known to us and to all people, as the one God, living and true. Affirm your truth in our lives that we may be witnesses of your unchanging presence and shine with your glory. May the life and teachings of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, be our salvation and guide. 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.