Daily Gospel Reflection
Join the Notre Dame family of faith. Receive God’s Word and a unique reflection in your inbox each day.
February 23, 2019
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.”
Peter, James, and John, I feel you. “Suddenly, looking around,” I too was startled by someone’s sudden disappearance.
My grandfather often came to my childhood soccer games. Sophomore year of high school he picked me up on Monday nights, we shared dinner, and I did homework at his house. That Christmas, he gave me a rosary in a pouch identical to his. I would carry it in my pocket just like he did and whenever our paths crossed, I would proudly present it to him and revel in our matching beads. For birthdays, Grandpa wrote me letters to say he was proud of me. I enjoyed writing back to express my gratitude and love for him.
One night during my senior year of high school, my mom called and told me to come to the hospital. She told me and my siblings that Grandpa had died suddenly of a heart attack. The news didn’t dawn on me until his post-funeral luncheon. The family was gathered, so the cafeteria felt full, warm, even happy. Yet someone was missing… I wondered who was absent before awkwardly realizing it was Grandpa. That painful loneliness periodically returns to my stomach: where are Moses and Elijah and Grandpa? Jesus dwells in this space “alone with” me, but the face, advice, and love I’m longing for are Grandpa’s. (Sorry, Jesus.)
Jesus and the disciples retrace Moses’ own descent from the mountaintop with Elijah’s name on their lips. Although gone from sight, Moses and Elijah still walk with them, spiritually accompanying them. Thanks to Jesus, Moses and Elijah are not as distant as it feels. We saw, knew, and loved Moses and Elijah and Grandpa only by God’s gift. And it is through the dazzling Incarnate One that we can continue our sojourn in relationship with our beloved people.
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
St. Polycarp was an important early martyr, and the story of his death is famous because he was miraculously preserved when they tried to burn him at the stake.
Polycarp was among a group of Church fathers who were in the first generation of Christians to be taught by the disciples themselves—he learned the faith from St. John, and in turn, Polycarp taught others, such as St. Irenaeus.
Polycarp lived at a time when the faith was still taking shape—the smallest deviation from the truth that he had received would have long-reaching consequences for us today, and he seemed to be aware of that. He had no patience for those who distorted the faith. The story is told that he once passed by a man in Rome who was teaching the faith with error. When it seemed that Polycarp walked by him without recognizing him, the man called out, “Do you not know me?” Polycarp replied, “I know you—you are the first-born of Satan!”
He was an active leader in the early Church, writing letters to far-flung Christian communities and engaging the pope on matters such as the date of Easter. But Polycarp is most famous for the account of his martyrdom.
He lived during a time of persecution, and while some Christians were willingly giving up their lives—going so far as to turn themselves in to be eaten by lions—he is remembered for being ready to die for his faith, but also living to spread that faith for as long as he could.
When he was to be arrested, he fled and hid for as long as he could. He was eventually betrayed and when authorities finally discovered him, he refused to escape any further. He met the officials at the door, and even fed them supper. He only asked for a few hours to pray before they took him away.
He was taken to an outdoor amphitheater where a great crowd assembled to see him face a judge. He was ordered to renounce Christ, and he flatly refused, confessing his faith plainly and forthrightly.
“I have wild beasts,” the judge said.
“Call for them,” replied Polycarp, “for we will not be moved from good to evil.”
“If you hate the beasts, I will have you consumed by fire,” the judge said.
“You threaten me with fire that burns for a season and is quenched after a while” Polycarp replied, “but you do not know of the judgment to come and of the fire of eternal punishment that is prepared for the wicked. Why do you delay? Bring against me what you please.”
They built a pyre and placed him on it, and began to prepare to nail him to the stake. He told them to leave him alone, telling them that “the one who gives me grace to endure the fire will enable me to remain on the pyre unmoved.” They tied only his hands behind his back, and Polycarp proclaimed a moving prayer that praised God and asked that his death be a Christ-like sacrifice.
Witnesses report that when the wood at his feet was ignited, it swelled like the sails of a ship to gently surround Polycarp without burning him. They said that they could smell a fragrance like incense.
Seeing this, the authorities thrust a spear into his body, which finally killed him. This is remembered as happening on February 23, but scholars disagree as to whether it was 155 or 166. The relics of St. Polycarp rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica on campus.
St. Polycarp, you were the early Church martyr who was miraculously preserved from burning at the stake—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Polycarp is available for use under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
