Fr. Jim Lowe 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time 11/8/20

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Jesus tells us in the Gospel, “stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” This is such a true statement. I love it when I ask people here in Detroit how they are doing and they answer, “I am blessed be- cause I woke up this morning and God gave me one more day of life”. Every day of life is a blessing and a gift from God. The scriptures we hear proclaimed this weekend are preparing us for the Solemnity of Christ the King. Jesus is challenging us to be ready to meet Him at the end of our lives. There is one truth that no one can deny. Everyone eventually faces death. The question is, are we ready? Are we ready to met Jesus face-to-face? There is one category of persons who were ready... the Saints! They are already in heaven. Last week we celebrated the solemnity of All Saints. This month as we celebrate Black Catholic History Month, we will be highlighting Black Catholics who lived heroic lives of virtue. This week we celebrate Servant of God, Thea Bow- man. She is a contemporary model of holiness. To be a servant of God means that the cause is underway to eventually be declared a canonized Saint in the Catholic Church. Thea Bowman is a joyful example of contemporary sainthood. Although she is not yet a canonized saint, her life of heroic virtue sets her aside as an example of holiness. 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. Friends, let us take this invitation to pray for the dead seriously. We have been given the privilege of participating in the sanctification of souls. May the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen Let us pray for Sister Thea’s cause for canonization. We pray especially that her life will be an example to young children who seek to live a Christian life of virtue and follow God’s will. Let us pray also that her witness of spreading the joy of the Gospel to all peoples of all cultures and ethnicities will inspire us to continue to be welcoming to all whom we encounter ourselves. Let her witness inspire us to be a joyful band of missionary disciples leading all we encounter into a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Fr. Jim Lowe, CC.